Newcastle United Football Club has agreed a deal to purchase the Woolsington Hall estate as the site for its new £190m training complex for an undisclosed price.
The football club will acquire 260 acres of land to the south of the Newcastle International Airport, which includes a derelict listed country house and parkland.
Subject to planning permission, the site will be carefully restored alongside the introduction of new elite performance facilities for the men’s first team and academy. The masterplan for Woolsington Hall will also retain the flexibility to integrate bespoke women’s and girls’ facilities.
Woolsington Hall was purchased in 1994 by Newcastle United Football Club’s former owner and chairman, Sir John Hall, who had a vision for the estate to become a club academy facility.
Brad Miller, Newcastle United’s chief operating officer, said: “This is a homecoming for Newcastle United given Sir John Hall’s initial vision for the site in the 1990s. Woolsington Hall will be a magnificent location for our new training complex, so we are delighted to have finalised our agreement to acquire the land. We are finalising hugely exciting plans for the estate, which include renovating and enhancing listed structures and parkland and retaining them as key elements in our designs.
“Our aim is to carefully and thoughtfully develop world-class facilities for our players and staff, while bringing out the beauty of the location and preserving it for generations to come. It is a highly complex project. We have a rigorous planning process ahead of us, but we will demonstrate how we intend to build something iconic that the club, fans, community and region can be proud of. We look forward to engaging with planners, our supporters and interested parties about our exciting plans. Our aim is to sustainably and responsibly move the project forward, delivering a facility that the city and region can be immensely proud of.”
David Hopkinson, CEO of Newcastle United Football Club, added: “This is a landmark moment for Newcastle United. Subject to planning permission, our proposed performance complex will create the world’s best performance environment for our teams. We’ll develop purpose-built facilities that are geared towards developing sustainable success in the future, where players, coaches and staff can perform at their very best every day.
“We will be submitting a detailed planning application that not only demonstrates our vision, but also how we will preserve and enhance an historic estate, its biodiversity and wildlife habitats, and how we’ll be a great neighbour. I want to thank everyone who has played a role in getting us to this point today, and extend my gratitude to Sir John and the Hall family.”
A formal planning application is expected to be submitted in early 2027 with a view to the men’s first team moving in for the 2029/30 season.
