Some supporters will be in there today for a pre-match drink but three decades ago it was a gala evening as the club was officially opened by former Manchester United manager Sir Matt Busby and a plumber from 
It all started though five years earlier when the club, under the control of Commercial Manager Jack Butterfield revealed plans for a massive entertainment complex that would see us leading the way once again in football.
The Football League Review recorded at the time, “There’s a miracle taking shape at Turf Moor, where Burnley FC are fashioning a new million pound project which will change the face and function of the ground. And of the Football Club.
“Already one new stand is completed and functioning, the main stand is cordoned off and in the process of demolition. A modern style replacement will start going up in a few months while other revolutionary plans are under way too.
“Ground has been bought on the adjacent Cricket Club field where a vast new complex of banqueting halls, restaurants, bars, games rooms, offices, rest rooms to name but a few are to be built into an entertainment complex of vision and luxury.
“Star spot will be a large concert auditorium where top star entertainment is planned.”
At the time Burnley was excited by the news and the Burnley Express carried an artist’s impression of the new complex with the name ‘Shirley Bassey’ on display, and at the time
So where is it? When was it built? The answer is that it was never built but the land is still Burnley Football Club’s and is, and has always been since they acquired it, a car park. The Cricket Club got themselves a tidy sum of money along with a new pavilion and scoreboard which opened for the 1970 season. All in all the visionary complex became the most expensive of car parks.
It was five years later before anything happened but then finally a new stand (the Bob Lord Stand) was built to replace the old main stand on 
The opening was lavish but in true Bob Lord style supporters weren’t able to get in as a hand picked audience saw the two former
The players were there of course with the specially invited guests and for Peter Noble it was a special night as he was called onto the stage and presented with the match ball from the previous Saturday’s win against
On the following night some fans were let in – but only the elite fans, the lottery agents, as they got a sneak preview and were entertained by
Membership was somewhat expensive for 1974 as Butterfield looked to make it an exclusive cabaret club and on the first night a double bill of singer Margot and comedian Al Dean (they appeared for the first three nights) attracted a massive audience of around 20.
And that’s how it was – nothing short of a disastrous failure – and the only night that ever proved popular was an old time dancing night that used to attract a number of non-drinking pensioners.
It just didn’t work and became the town’s white elephant, something had to be done to improve it. It was franchised off, that didn’t work and in the eighties in a bizarre move it was converted into a pub and opened seven nights a week.
One night, showing an
The only way the club has ever in its thirty year history attracted people is for private functions and on match days, prior to the game but even the match day trade has slackened in the last few years following a scandalous decision by the former Chief Executive Andrew Watson.
He decided that many supporters who had been using the place for years should suddenly be charged for going in – that is unless they became one of his elite group of supporters, the ones he dared to call the ‘Real’ supporters and join his Foundation.
He even revealed that he was changing its name from the Centre Spot to the Foundation Bar, strange because he himself had changed its name from the Centre Spot to the Jimmy Adamson Lounge two years earlier but he had somehow forgotten that.
It might not have been the most successful of clubs but it has become part of the club and only last night the Clarets Trust held its Race Night there, maybe in true Centre Spot it didn’t attract just as many as hoped.
Centre Spot – yes that’s what it should be called and yes, it should be a club for the supporters of Burnley Football Club and not just Watson’s elite. That’s just how it failed in the first place – trying to make it an elitist club and not for the fans. It looks as though thirty years on we still haven’t learned.
As for Shirley Bassey – I think she’s cancelled now but at least there will be somewhere for her to park if she does turn up.