Changes are being proposed for Anfield as work nears completion on a stand at Liverpool FC’s historic ground.
The Reds will open a new-look stadium when they host Bournemouth in their first home game of the new campaign on August 19. After almost two years in the making, the finishing line is almost in sight for the club’s redevelopment and expansion of the Anfield Road stand.
The £80m project will allow the club to boast the fifth-largest football stadium in England - and the fourth-highest capacity in the Premier League. The change will bring an extra 7,000 seats to increase the venue to 61,000.
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With work now just weeks from completion, the club has lodged an application to Liverpool Council to secure a new premises licence for the entire stadium to bring its terms up to date. The application seeks permission to serve alcohol on the premises from 11am to 1am daily and from 8am to 2.30am on New Year’s Eve.
The application, listed on Liverpool Council’s website, said: “On match days when the kick-off time for a game is scheduled before 15:00, then the commencement of the activity will start at either 09:00 or 4 hours before kick-off whichever is later. Such sales will be subject to the conditions for match day use.”
The club is seeking terms to provide late night refreshment indoors between 11pm and 1am daily and until 2.30am on New Year’s Day. The ground would be able to open from 8am to 1.30am Monday to Sunday, subject to local authority sign off.
The majority of scaffolding inside the stadium has also gone as the main bulk of inside lifting is seemingly now complete, with seats slowly being added to the upper tier now that the old roof has been removed. Fans are expected to see the new stand for the first time in the middle of August.
The club made a request to the Premier League to start away from home to allow for completion of the stand, having made a similar ask in 2016/17, when they opened the season with fixtures at Arsenal, Burnley, Burton Albion and Tottenham. The newly revamped Main Stand was opened to fans on September 10, 2016.
A date for a decision to be made on the new licensing application has yet to be confirmed.
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