Phil Jones (left) and Councillor James Cooper (right) at the ‘topping out’ ceremony on Friday, with Matt Searston, Commercial Director for Britcon.

Goole Town Council and the Goole Town Deal Board have this week announced that another significant milestone has been reached in the redevelopment of the town’s Victoria Pleasure Grounds.

With the steel framework of the brand new pavilion now in place, representatives of Goole Town Council and the Goole Town Deal Board were invited along for what’s known as a ‘topping out ceremony’ to mark the occasion. On Friday morning (29 August), the bolts were tightened and the steel framework was signed by Mayor of Goole Councillor James Cooper and Phil Jones, Chair of the Goole Town Deal Board, who inscribed their signatures, the date and good luck messages on the structure.

Phil Jones signing the steel framework of the structure.

The Goole Town Deal Board allocated more than £4.6 million to the redevelopment of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds, with a further £2.2 million coming from the Football Foundation. As the main contractor for the project, Scunthorpe-based Britcon is responsible for the redevelopment of the site, with the exception of the artificial grass pitches and athletics facilities, which were installed by S & C Slatter, a specialist contractor linked to the terms of the Football Foundation’s funding award.

Having attended the ‘topping out ceremony’ on Friday, Phil Jones said: “With the highest part of the new pavilion structure now in place, Britcon organised the topping out ceremony to commemorate this exciting milestone in the redevelopment of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds. It was wonderful to be invited along to see the fantastic progress that has been made on the second phase of the redevelopment work, which began earlier in the summer following the installation of the new artificial grass pitches and athletics facilities.

“Week-by-week and month-by-month, we’re edging ever closer to having a top-class community sport and events venue that the entire town can be proud of, which will be enjoyed by hundreds of local people every week.”

Mayor of Goole, Councillor James Cooper, said: “As well as benefiting existing users of the site, this enhanced community facility is also for future generations of children, and adults who may never have been involved with the Victoria Pleasure Grounds before.

“As always, we’re incredibly grateful to all those people living nearby for their patience during the construction phase. We will continue to make every effort to keep disruption, noise and mess to a minimum, but thank you all for bearing with us during what has been a particularly busy phase of the project.”

Completed earlier this summer, the first phase of work involved the installation of the new artificial grass pitch, a multi-use games area (MUGA) and athletics facilities. This made it possible for the town’s semi-professional football club, Goole AFC, and professional rugby side, Goole Vikings RLFC, to return to the venue to play their home games. This arrangement was made to ensure that neither team incurred a financial or operational penalty from its respective governing body for not being able to fulfil its home fixtures for the 2025/ 2026 season while the Victoria Pleasure Grounds remains a construction site.

With construction work still taking place elsewhere on the site to create the new two-storey pavilion and enhanced parking facilities, use of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds will continue to be limited until the project is completely finished in spring 2026. This is due to the need to carefully manage health and safety on site.

In preparation for the completion of the project, Goole Town Council, which leases the site from East Riding of Yorkshire Council, is recruiting a Community Engagement Officer to ensure that the Victoria Pleasure Grounds can offer a balanced and inclusive programme of activities shaped by feedback from local people of all ages and interests. For further information about this role and details of how to apply before the closing date on 12 September, click here.

Goole Town Council is also in the process of procuring an experienced site operator to manage the Victoria Pleasure Grounds and its facilities for the benefit of the many different users teams, clubs, groups and associations, and for private hire.