The early days saw the team that would become QPR ply their trade on some old waste ground in Kensal Rise. It was only after the merger of Christchurch Rangers with St. Judes in 1886 that Queens Park Rangers were born (most of the players came from Queens Park) and we moved to our first “real” ground.
Known as Wellford’s Fields it was located in Kensal Rise, not far from Kensal Rise tube station. The club soon outgrew the venue and, after only two years, made the first of many grounds moves.
The London Scottish Ground in Brondsebury was chosen and upon our move there in 1888 we took advantage of the enclosed arena and began charging admission for the first time.
However the pitch was extremely poor, forcing Rangers to look elsewhere and enter a period of uncertainty. In 1890 Rangers started the season playing at Home Farm in Kensal Green but finished the same season playing on Kensal Rise Green.
Again we were in occupancy for less than a year before moving to the Gun Club in Wormwood Scrubs in 1891.
A year of football in the Scrubs followed before another move, this time to Kilburn County Cricket Ground occurred in 1892 making it four grounds in just two years for Rangers.
After enjoying four successful years in Kilburn it was back to Kensal Rise for the start of the 1896 season as Rangers took out a ten year lease at the Kensal Rise Athletic Ground. However the landlord terminated the lease six years in and in 1901 we were once again wandering the streets of West London.
A ground was eventually found in St. Quintins Avenue near Latimer Road, the players had to change in the nearby pub and run down the street to the ground. This didn’t please the local residents who petitioned to have us removed and were successful. Rangers were homeless again after just one season.
We returned to our former stomping ground of Kensal Rise for the start of the 1902-03 season, signing a two year lease. The club enjoyed some success so at the end of the lease the landlord decided to increase the rent by 100%. At this stage Rangers were just scraping by and couldn’t afford this so, once again, we were out on our ear!
Our tenth ground became the Agricultural Showground in Park Royal which had a capacity of over forty thousand. Unfortunately things didn’t go our way and when the Royal Agricultural Society fell into insolvency the ground was sold and it was back to the Estate Agents for QPR.
We didn’t have to look far, the new Park Royal Stadium had just been built half a mile up the road, it boasted a capacity of sixty thousand and Rangers settled in for their longest stay at a ground in their history – seven seasons!
When the war started the army took over the Park Royal Stadium, forcing Rangers back to our old Harvist Road ground in Kensal Rise. Football during the war was a scattered affair and with ground a precious commodity clubs would play anywhere they could. Rangers suffered again when they lost another ground to the war effort; Harvest Road was turned into allotments. It was about this time that an amateur club called Shepherd Bush FC disbanded and Rangers heard there may be a site available in a little place called Loftus Road.
Using some of the stands and equipment from the old Park Royal stadium Rangers set up home in their modest new ground. At the time Loftus Road was little more than a field but it would go on to be our home for the next eleven years.
After a settled run at Loftus Road the club began to build some impressive attendances so a move to the much bigger White City Stadium at the other end of South Africa Road was undertaken in 1931. Loftus Road was kept for reserve team games with plans to sell it at a later date.
Unfortunately attendances didn’t rise and with the death of the clubs chairman Rangers found themselves in financial trouble and were only really saved by the fact that Loftus Road hadn’t been sold as planned.
We moved back down the road in 1933 and, save for a brief spell in 1962 which saw another failed attempt to grab some big attendances in the White City Stadium, there we have stayed ever since.
Rangers moved sixteen times between thirteen different grounds in the first fifty years of our history but, for the most part, we have been based at our unique little ground in Shepherds Bush, our spiritual home, Loftus Road.
Bibliography Queens Park Rangers - A Complete Record by Gordon Macey Britain in Old Photographs - Queens Park Rangers by William A. Powell Images of Sport - Queens Park Rangers by Tony Williamson
