Why is Fleetwood Town’s stadium called Highbury?

Arsenal fans travelling to Lancashire for the Carabao Cup fourth round could be forgiven for doing a double-take when they first see the fixture list.

The Premier League champions are heading to Fleetwood, a coastal town on the Fylde, to face a League Two side at a stadium called Highbury.

There is, however, no Arsenal connection behind the name.

Fleetwood Town's Highbury Stadium takes its name from Highbury Avenue, the road beside the ground. 

The coincidence has nevertheless given the stadium an amusing connection with Arsenal's former home in north London, particularly with the two clubs now preparing to meet there in one of the more unusual fixtures of the 2026-27 season.

Is Fleetwood Town’s Highbury and Arsenal’s Highbury the same?

Fleetwood's Highbury Stadium is named after Highbury Avenue, which runs alongside the ground.

The stadium sits on the south-western edge of Memorial Park and was opened in 1939, following Fleetwood's move from its previous home near the North Euston Hotel. 

Contemporary descriptions of the ground's history make the connection with Arsenal particularly clear: Fleetwood's stadium has no historical link with Arsenal, despite sharing the name of the London club's former home.

Arsenal's Highbury, meanwhile, was named after the north London district in which the stadium was built. Arsenal moved there from their former home at the Manor Ground in Plumstead in 1913.

So while the two stadiums share a famous name, the origins are completely separate.

When did Fleetwood move to Highbury?

The current Highbury Stadium opened in 1939, following a successful period for Fleetwood football.

The club had won the Lancashire Combination Cup three years in succession before moving to the new ground. Before that, Fleetwood had played at a ground beside the North Euston Hotel.

Highbury soon developed a history of its own. Between 1948 and 1952, the ground was also used for speedway, with Fleetwood Flyers competing there.

This explains one of its unusual features: the western side of the stadium was originally set back from the pitch, leaving a sizeable gap that reflected the speedway track that once surrounded the football field.

The stadium also became closely associated with the fortunes of Fleetwood's football club, which went through several incarnations during the second half of the 20th century.

Fleetwood FC folded in 1976 before a new Fleetwood Town was formed. That version of the club eventually also collapsed, with the gates at Highbury closing in 1996. 

At the time, the stadium fell into a serious state of disrepair, with grass reportedly growing waist-high and parts of the ground requiring extensive work.

The present Fleetwood Town was formed in 1997, initially as Fleetwood Wanderers, and returned to the ground.

What about the shirts?

There is another Fleetwood-Arsenal coincidence in the club's history, and that is their traditional colours.

Fleetwood originally played in amber and black, but changed to red and white around 1919. According to the history of Fleetwood football published by Visit Fleetwood, the change was connected to an arrangement with the town's trawler fleet, whose colours were red and white.

The story has sometimes been told more specifically as local trawlermen offering to buy the club a new kit if Fleetwood adopted the colours of their boats.

Whatever version of the story is used, the important point is that Fleetwood's red and white colours pre-date the modern era and were not adopted because of Arsenal.

The visual similarity is therefore another coincidence rather than evidence of any connection between the clubs.

Two Highburys: one famous, one rebuilt

Arsenal's Highbury was considerably larger and more famous, but the two grounds have followed remarkably different paths.

Arsenal Stadium, almost universally known as Highbury, opened in 1913 and remained Arsenal's home until 2006. 

The ground underwent major redevelopment in the 1930s, producing the famous Art Deco East and West Stands, and became one of the most recognisable stadiums in English football. 

Arsenal's official history records that the stadium was known as Arsenal Stadium from the 1930s, although Highbury remained its universally recognised name.

The stadium eventually closed when Arsenal moved to the Emirates Stadium after the 2005-06 season. Parts of the listed East and West Stands were retained when the site was converted into the Highbury Square residential development.

Fleetwood's Highbury has had a much more turbulent existence.

When the club folded in 1996, the stadium was left in a severely neglected condition. Jim Betmead and a group of volunteers helped bring the ground back into use after the club was reformed, before Andy Pilley took control in 2004 and began a major programme of investment. 

Contemporary reporting described the stadium as derelict, with the pitch and stands requiring substantial work.

Pilley's arrival coincided with Fleetwood's extraordinary rise through the English football pyramid. The club won six promotions in 10 years, eventually reaching the Football League in 2012 and League One in 2014. 

The stadium was redeveloped alongside that progress, including the construction of new stands and improvements designed to bring Highbury up to Football League standards.

Today, Highbury Stadium has a capacity of 5,327. Its compact dimensions and close proximity to surrounding residential streets give it a very different character from the vast Emirates Stadium or the old Arsenal Highbury.

The stadium's record attendance remains 6,150, recorded for Fleetwood's FA Cup first-round match against Rochdale on 13 November 1965.

Arsenal fans when they come to visit Highbury Stadium in the next round of the Carabao Cup. pic.twitter.com/C5HQPkB98y

— Fleetwood Town Football Club (@ftfc) September 17, 2026

Why the Fleetwood-Arsenal meeting is so unusual

The shared name has rarely meant much beyond being a quirky piece of football trivia, but that changes when Arsenal actually arrive.

On 27 October 2026, Arsenal are scheduled to visit Fleetwood in the Carabao Cup fourth round, bringing together two clubs whose stadium histories have a curious connection despite having no direct relationship.

One Highbury was home to Arsenal for 93 years and hosted league titles, FA Cup finals, European nights and some of the greatest players in English football history.

The other began life in 1939 on the Lancashire coast, survived the collapse of the club that played there, endured years of neglect and was eventually transformed during Fleetwood's extraordinary climb through the divisions.

For one night, however, the distinction between the two Highburys will become particularly easy to understand.

Arsenal's famous Highbury is now a residential development in north London.

Fleetwood's Highbury is still a football ground, and it is where Arsenal will be expected to play in a stadium carrying the name of their old home.

FGG Says: Fleetwood's Highbury has a story of its own

The temptation when discussing Fleetwood's stadium is to treat its name as little more than an Arsenal joke, but that would undersell the ground.

Highbury Stadium has its own history, from the Lancashire Combination era and the speedway years to the club's collapse in 1996 and the remarkable redevelopment that accompanied Fleetwood's rise into the Football League.

Its name may immediately remind visitors of north London, but the ground itself is unmistakably Fleetwood.

That is what makes the EFL Cup meeting particularly appealing from a stadium perspective. Arsenal will arrive at a Highbury, but not their Highbury.