HOPES of football returning to the historic home of defunct AFC Newbury have gone up in flames.
The empty buildings at the Faraday Road ground, which had been used for football for over a century and where the former Wessex Premier Division outfit played from 1963 until they folded in 2006, were destroyed by fire shortly after midnight last Saturday.
Six fire engines attended and crews drew water from the nearby Kennet & Avon Canal to fight the blaze, but could not prevent the buildings being reduced to charred ruins.
A year after AFC Newbury lost the lease on the 2,500-capacity ground, local side The Old London Apprentice FC signed a 10-year lease on it, renamed themselves Newbury FC and played there until 2016, when it was used only for youth football.
West Berkshire Council closed the ground in 2018 to make way for the proposed London Road Industrial Estate redevelopment, while agreeing a deal to develop a new floodlit stadium up to Step 4 standard with an artificial grass pitch and clubhouse at Newbury Rugby Club to bring football back to the town.
Newbury FC, members of Hellenic Division Two South, are currently playing at Lambourn Sports club but hope to move to the rugby ground.
But the Newbury Community Football Group had been campaigning to reopen Faraday Road, and had been supported by opposition councillors.
A spokesman said that the fire does not mean the end of the group or their battle to see football return there.
Local favourite England striker Theo Walcott started his career with AFC Newbury's youth section before going on to play for Southampton, Arsenal and Everton.
