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The future of this town centre sports stadium has been secured with the development of a new, full-size, artificial 3G pitch; compact athletics offer; a state-of-the-art, two-storey pavilion, providing modern changing facilities and a cafe, as well as a 160-seat conference and hospitality suite capable of hosting sporting, corporate and social events. The new layout has also significantly increased on-site parking.
The first phase of work, which was completed during the summer of 2025, 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.
As the redevelopment of the Victoria Pleasure Grounds edges closer to completion, grassroots teams and community groups have also begun to return to enjoy the impressive new facilities on offer and Joe Hodgson is now in post as Community Engagement Officer. His role involves ensuring that the new-look venue can offer a balanced and inclusive programme of activities, shaped by feedback from local people of all ages and interests. Joe is also first point of contact for the many teams, clubs and community groups who wish to make use of the state-of-the-art sports facilities and events space, as well as for the Football Association (FA), England Athletics and the governing bodies of other sports that take place at the site.
More than 200 children from junior football teams are already using the venue each week for matches and/or training, along with several adult football and rugby sides, including local teams for women and girls, and four different local athletics clubs and groups. The number of local people enjoying the venue each week is set to rise even further when construction work is completed later this spring and an even broader range of local teams, clubs and community groups is able to access it. Goole Town Council has fielded enquiries about using the pitch from as far afield as Bridlington, demonstrating the urgent need for all-weather sports pitches in the area, but priority will be given to the partner clubs and other local clubs and groups where possible.
Paul Challenger, Chairman of Goole Town Tigers, said: “For us, it has made a huge difference being able to train and play locally, and not having to travel out of town, which has been a nightmare for some parents, who have done it for so long because their kids just want to play football. That’s what always makes it worthwhile, seeing kids getting out and enjoying playing football.”
Phil Jones, Chair of the Goole Town Deal Board, said: “The Victoria Pleasure Grounds has a long and proud history dating back more than 100 years, but it was no longer fit for purpose and was in dire need of investment. As a Board, we chose to use some of the £25 million in Town Deal funding that had been allocated to Goole by the Government to its redevelopment.
“That investment really couldn’t have come at a better time for the Victoria Pleasure Grounds and it has been terribly exciting watching the plans become a reality. I’m delighted that the town will soon have a state-of-the-art sport and events venue that can be enjoyed by local people of all ages. It’s just one of the very fitting and lasting legacies of the Goole Town Deal programme.”
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. Work on site is due to completed in late Spring 2026.
When the Victoria Pleasure Grounds first opened in 1888 it was situated on the very edge of Goole. In 1909, the VPG was described as a ‘spacious and well laid out sports pavilion’. At that time, it was home to Goole Town Cricket Club and Lawn Tennis Club during the summer, and to Goole Town Football Club in the winter months.
In fact, the VPG, as it’s fondly referred to locally, has been the home of football in Goole for more than 100 years. The town’s semi-professional football club, Goole Associated Football Club, which plays in the Northern Counties East League Premier Division, is still based there today, along with Goole Vikings Rugby Club, a professional side competing in League One of the Rugby Football League. Several other local sports clubs, including Goole Youth Athletics Club, also use the site.
The site itself is now owned by East Riding of Yorkshire Council, having formerly belonged to Boothferry Borough Council, which had leased it to Goole Town Council for a 30-year period. Sadly, the facility was no longer fit for purpose and in dire need of investment to ensure that it could remain open. Goole Town Council had been subsidising the VPG to the tune of £32,000 per year, just to keep the venue operating.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government made some early funding allocations to towns involved in the Town Deal process, which had to be spent by a strict deadline. Goole was given £750,000 and some of this money was used to install energy efficient floodlighting at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds, helping to reduce the running costs of the venue and make it more environmentally friendly.
More than £4.6 million of Goole Town Deal funding was then earmarked for the VPG’s redevelopment, offering a much-needed and timely lifeline that can be used to halt the venue’s long-running decline and secure its future by making it financially viable, as well as enabling a much broader cross-section of local people of all ages, abilities and interests to use it. The Football Foundation is providing a further £2.2 million in funding towards the cost of the project.
The Business Case developed for the site estimates that the improvements being carried out will increase the number of visits to the VPG by 376 per cent, from 13,000 to 63,000 per year. It also forecasts that the VPG will become financially viable within three years of the improvements being carried out, with no need for Goole Town Council to subsidise it beyond that.