Matchday at Elland Road starts long before kick-off, and for generations of Leeds United supporters it has started in the same place: The Old Peacock. Now the pub directly opposite the ground has given that ritual an upgrade, unveiling a brand-new mezzanine bar called the Kaiser Lounge just as the Whites prepare to host Brentford in their first home league game of the season on Sunday.
What the new Kaiser Lounge actually is
The Kaiser Lounge sits in an upstairs area of the pub that had previously gone unused. After what the venue describes as a major investment, it has been turned into a dedicated matchday destination with its own bar and its own facilities, and its elevated position is designed to give supporters a different perspective on the day without losing the buzz that has always made the place tick.
In plain terms: the same pub, with more room in it. Anyone who has tried to get served in there 45 minutes before kick-off will recognise that as a genuine public service.
The Old Peacock is older than Leeds United
The pub’s back story runs deeper than the club’s. There has been a pub on the site since 1826, when it was known as The Peacock Inn. The land across the road was later developed by Bentley’s Brewery into a sporting ground called the Old Peacock Ground — the site that eventually became Elland Road, home of Leeds United since the club was formed in 1919.
So the pub came first, the ground came second, and the club came third. It also explains a nickname that still puzzles newcomers: if you have ever wondered why Leeds are called the Peacocks, the answer is standing on the corner of Elland Road with a bar in it.
The building supporters know today dates from 1963, replacing the original pub that stood closer to the road. It has been a meeting point before and after games ever since, in the good years and in the considerably longer stretches that were not.
‘Much more than a pub’ for the Old Peacock’s landlord
The Old Peacock has been run since 2013 by Ossett Brewery Pub Co founder Jamie Lawson, a lifelong Leeds United supporter who has kept investing in the venue while leaning into its status as the unofficial supporters’ pub.
“The Old Peacock has always been much more than just a pub to me,” Lawson told the Yorkshire Evening Post, describing taking the place on as a dream come true for a supporter of the club.
That is not marketing gloss. Pubs like this one are part of the fabric of a football club in a way that is hard to explain to anyone who has never stood in one, and the Kaiser Lounge reads as an attempt to give more people a spot inside rather than to gentrify what is already there.
Perfect timing before Brentford
The opening lands on a decent weekend for it. Daniel Farke’s side arrive at their Elland Road opener on the back of a 1-0 win away at Nottingham Forest on the opening day and a 2-0 victory at the same ground in the EFL Cup second round three days later — two trips to the City Ground, two clean sheets, and a place in the next round banked.
Expect the streets around the ground to be busy early, then. Supporters should also note that there are car parking, shuttle bus and ticket changes in place for the Brentford match, so working out the logistics before setting off is worth ten minutes of anyone’s morning.
Elland Road has been reshaped plenty over the past century and there is more redevelopment to come, as our guide to the stadium’s capacity, stands and history sets out. It is quietly fitting that the pub across the road is growing at the same time. Two hundred years in, The Old Peacock is still finding new rooms.
