Ground #412 - The Hive

Date: 30th August 2025
Location: Harrow, London
Ground: The Hive

My fifth new ground of 2025 was on Saturday 30th August at The Hive in Harrow, London. The game was Barnet vs. Colchester United in Football League Two.

The Hive is a large sports complex in north-west London, six miles west of Barnet itself. It contains multiple full-size and mini pitches with a mixture of grass and artificial surfaces. The complex is surrounded by a combination of residential and industrial units and has the Jubilee Line on the London Underground running next to the West Stand. Though Canons Park tube station is within 400m of the ground, it is a 1.5 mile walk due to no direct route. It is a similar walk to Edgware tube station on the Northern Line. Construction on the venue started in 2003 as a home for Wealdstone FC but after the club ran into financial problems the site was bought by Barnet FC as a training complex. When Barnet needed to leave their former Underhill home in 2013 they moved to The Hive. 

Most of the facilities reside in the East Stand - it has a bar, outside picnic bench seating area, reception, club shop, ticket office and a physiotherapist. Inside the building has a banqueting suite which was being utilised for an event during the game. Unusually there are no hospitality boxes looking out over the pitch and the seating area is quite small with six rows of seating. Most of these are covered by the roof overhang and the players and staff sit at the front in the middle of the stand. The tunnel can be found in the north-east corner. 

The West Stand is the largest at the ground with room for 2,700 supporters while the similar looking North Stand behind the goal is given over to away fans and can hold 1,890. The southern end of the ground is currently vacant. It used to have a covered terrace but this was moved to an artificial pitch behind the stadium. There were plans to construct a new stand at this end to increase the venue's capacity from 6,500 to 8,500 but these were later shelved. Given Barnet's average attendance the current capacity is adequate for them.

Colchester came into the game off the back of two home defeats in a row, whilst Barnet had won their last two away games after an initially poor start to the season. The U's started on the front foot and took the lead in the 9th minute - Jack Payne laid off a free-kick to Arthur Read and his shot pinballed around the box before Jack Turner drilled into the bottom of the net. In the 15th minute it was close to two when the Barnet keeper Cieran Slicker rushed out of his box to intercept a ball over the top but when the ball fell to Jack Payne he tried his luck from 40 yards and it needed Slicker to palm wide whilst rushing back. The hosts stemmed the tide after this and were a match for Colchester beyond this point. Each side had chances with Ollie Kensdale going close for Barnet and Samson Tovide inches away from poking home a cross at the other end. In the final minute the hosts pushed Colchester back and got their reward in the 90 minute with Idris Kanu's cross from the right struck home by Danny Collinge to rescue an equaliser for the Bees.

Result: Barnet 1-1 Colchester United

Division: Football League Two

Attendance: 3,098