New Tottenham stadium: Daniel Levy's grand plan launches an urban revolution

It was all decided in a phone call. Shortly after the 2011 London riots, Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy spoke to his closest advisor, executive director Donna-Maria Cullen, from his holiday home in Florida. “That’s it,” Levy said. “We stay in Tottenham.”

Since becoming chairman in 2001, Levy had wanted to build a new stadium, but he had become deeply frustrated by the reluctance of local and national government to engage with his vision. He had even considered relocating the club to the Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

The riots, which began a stone’s throw from White Hart Lane, finally focused minds on the fifth most deprived borough in London and proved, according to Cullen, a “defining moment” in the bid to reshape not only the club but the entire locality.

From the ashes of that fateful week in 2011, and the old Lane itself, Tottenham’s breathtaking new home has risen and it will officially open with the visit of Crystal Palace on Wednesday night, with the pre-match ceremony expected to include a reference to the unrest.

Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino has said it is a moment for Spurs to start “behaving like a big club” by winning trophies but, for Levy, the new era is about far more than taking the club to a level where they can genuinely compete for silverware every season.

A burned out car on Tottenham High Road in 2011.
Joel Goodman/LNP

He sees the stadium as the stone at the centre of a “ripple effect” which will transform Haringey. Some 34 per cent of the borough’s residents live below the poverty line and the rate of unemployment is roughly the same. Until now, the area has had next to no investment.

Levy is reserved by nature, but those who know him say he becomes animated whenever regeneration is discussed.

You need only look at the stadium to understand the scale of the task ahead. While the old Lane fitted its surrounds, Spurs’s gleaming new home resembles a spaceship that has touched down among the barbers, kebab houses and nail bars of Tottenham High Road. Levy’s hope is that it will become the centre of change across the community, more like a city hall than a stadium.

The process has already begun. Levy has confirmed the club have spent in the region of £1billion on the stadium project, which includes 258 affordable new homes, two schools, shops and a supermarket. The number of new homes could eventually total 1,200, along with a 158-bed hotel. The club have created 2,508 jobs, with more to come, while Transport For London has invested an initial £100m in surrounding stations.

Cullen has described the plans as a “virtuous circle”, enabling locals to live, study and work in Haringey, while decision-makers at the club have taken to describing the area as “a new destination”.

Tottenham Hotspur FC via Getty Images

Clearly, the stadium itself is about more than just football. It can host 16 non-football events per year and Spurs have already lined up two NFL matches and a rugby match for next season, with an Anthony Joshua fight possible, and confirmed interest from concert promoters. The stadium is the third-largest conference facility in London.

Local MP David Lammy said: “This stadium is going to make a massive, massive difference to the people of Tottenham. It’s about putting this constituency, which has struggled with hard times, on the map.”

Elsewhere, the club’s plans have drawn a mixed reaction from locals.

“It’s exciting,” says Tom Gibson, landlord of the Bluecoats pub. “Different areas get opportunities at different times. You had Stratford and east London 10 years ago and it looks like they’ll be putting a bit of money and effort into Tottenham over the next few years. It’s a positive sign.”

Around the corner at the Antwerp Arms, there is less confidence. “[Levy] wants to make money back on flats,” says Martin Burrows, a committee member at the pub. “I don’t know that it’s going to be easy. We’ve seen a lot of over-development [elsewhere].”

One thing local businesses can agree on is the positive effect of the club’s return to the borough and none of the pubs is overly concerned about Levy’s desire to change the culture of English football.

Federico Gaia, manager No8 pub in Tottenham.

The club’s aim to keep supporters in the stadium for a day, rather than simply the a match, could be seen as at odds with the mission to stimulate local business, but the stadium’s gleaming array of bars and wide selection of beers hold no fears for local publicans.

Federico Gaia, manager at the No8 pub, says: “I think there’s going to be enough business for everyone. Obviously, people will love to go in the stadium for a drink — I will do it myself — but people love to go to the pub. We are confident the pubs are going to be busy again.”

Michael Nicholas, publican at The Beehive, agrees. “We’ve got a huge increase in the capacity at the new stadium, so we’re hoping to get some of that business,” he said. “Obviously, some people will spend longer in the stadium but, hopefully, the overall cake is much bigger. Mr Levy has been crafty, [there are] some great prices.”

Tina Chisholm, landlady of the Coach and Horses in Tottenham.

For the locality, Spurs’s homecoming means the return of the area’s soul and the club have aimed to put plenty of local culture into the stadium, including artwork and live music.

So many of the stadium’s small touches are Levy’s own doing. He wanted the mechanics of the escalators to be in Spurs colours and even had input into the toilets.

“I’m a perfectionist,” Levy said at a media presentation yesterday. “Which is a problem, perhaps, for some of the people who have to work for me, because perfection is very hard to come by.”

Those in the know believe he has come close. Chris Lee, the stadium’s architect, believes Levy has created the best sports arena in the world but revealed: “I quickly stopped travelling with him because he never sleeps.”

For the chairman, though, the hard work has only just begun.

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