‘Fulham Pier engaging community like never before’

Article posted by Coliseum, June 30^th, 2026

Image: Coliseum GSVA

Glen Sutton who is with Fulham Pier, London’s (UK) newest luxury lifestyle and entertainment destination, proudly states that “It’s been a phenomenal first year and we have been actually quite astounded and surprised at the reaction to it. I have spent more of my career in luxury hospitality to creating hospitality experiences and I was not a football person at all or a stadium person per se.”

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Fulham Pier is engaging the community like never before.

Sutton’s hospitality career has spanned both fine dining and casual restaurant businesses, entertainment venues, private membership clubs, large-scale outdoor events, and high-end event dining, both in the United Kingdom and further afield. He is presently the Director of Fulham Pier, UK.

In an exclusive talk with ‘Coliseum’, Glen Sutton, Director, Fulham Pier, UK, share insights with Declan Sharkey, Global Director and Senior Principal, Populous, UK, on the design, delivery, operation, and more importantly, the lessons learned from the Fulham Pier project. Sutton shared, “I think you always know in the development of these projects you live in a bit of a silo and you have to sort of remind yourself constantly that out there in the real world not everybody cares about your project apart from you and it is all-encompassing of your life and you sort of encourage your teams every day and remind them that we have to make the people care about the things that we do and I think the local community reaction to it is something that we hoped for but was difficult to measure. The big projects disturb the community for quite a long time because of the enormous amount of disruption and nuisance and you wonder how long it will take.” He also told Sharkey that the delays in the Fulham Pier project came as a blessing in disguise.

Fulham Pier

Fulham Pier is an extensive £100m+ redevelopment and leisure project by the Premier League team ⁠Fulham F.C. The multiyear development transformed the 27,782-seat Craven Cottage Stadium’s (home of Fulham F.C.) Riverside Stand into a year-round destination on the banks of the River Thames.

Community Factor

Glen Sutton began the talk by stating that the first time they had just casually opened the gates to the riverwalk and “it was a nice surprise to see the community groups meeting in the riverside market. They were not asking for permission. Just understanding that it is a space where they can gather in, organize things in, just owning it. We always wanted it to be a little village square. It’s been great and probably more natural and was a great surprise.”

Community Asset

Declan Sharkey informed that Populous “had the great fortune of being the Lead Architect for the design and delivery of the phenomenal Riverside Stand of Fulham F.C. This project was only possible through the great partnership we have with our client – Fulham Pier. An incredible team effort was required to deliver this really unique and phenomenal stand. It is an asset to the community.”

‘Reverse Thinking’

Sutton pointed out that “The fundamental mistake that has been happening over and over again in large-scale arena design is that lot of time is spent on 20 or 30 event mode days and only after all that is over does anybody sit down and really invest time, energy and money in thinking about how to monetize the venue for the rest of the time. By then it is too late and you know the design teams have not considered any of it, the logistics out there, the interior design probably appropriate those kinds of concepts. So, that reverse thinking was very interesting.”

Sharkey wondered what made Fulham Pier’s non-matchday model unique and how successful has it been in driving matchday and more important non-matchday revenue.

‘Incredibly Successful’

Stated Sutton, “It’s incredibly unique which was a challenge for us when we did this project. It was one of our benchmark venues and we really couldn’t go anywhere to find out how people did this. In some ways the technical solutions weren’t even available on the market for what we were doing, especially the motto switch, you know the sort of technicalities of today – you walk in and we want a Barista machine making you coffee but on matchday we need a bulk brew, how do you have those two things in the same unit, how does that unit look, a credible kind of retail unit with all those Multi-Dwelling Units (MDUs), dispense units and those kind of stuffs. It’s been incredibly successful but the growth cycle of our hospitality concept is way slower than a stadia concept. You know the food critics came, Michelin came and we just didn’t know any of those things would happen and probably we invested a lot of time and energy in those concepts to get them right. Our Members’ Club is oversubscribed now, our restaurant starts picking up awards, our hotel was just listed in the top 50 hotels openings in the country last year and one of six in London and now fit into matchday really profoundly.”

‘Delays are Gifts’

Said Sutton, “Well, we had a lot of delays. One thing you can come through with a lot of delays is you can pile in extra detail. The delays are our gifts in many ways. I think we have achieved levels of detail here that we probably could not have achieved on the original program actually. But I think the stat that I had in I think there are 800 or so finishes in the building – upholstery, joinery and carpets, floor finishes in these areas and that is a testament to that you had to manage a bunch of interior designers on the project, completely different designer statics and concepts in each area. That’s painful. No projects need more interior designers. It’s a difficult process. But that commitment has to be so absolute. If you are not willing to do that don’t get into this. It’s not for you. That is what it takes. You know we hand drew the cloakroom tags in the restaurant. When you go into the restaurant the first thing that you hold in your hand is the cloakroom tag. So, when you start thinking about the journey like that and that first interaction-connection has to be thought for, intentional and when you start from that level of detail it is required I think.”

Declan Sharkey opined that great architecture, great design can only be delivered when there is a great vision.

Wrap-up

Glen Sutton wrapped up by stating, “What am I most proud of is definitely the community elements, the idea that for a long time these stadiums sit like fortresses within their communities, they are in them but incredibly detached from them. Despite what people say you know the gates close after matchday, there is barbed wire, there is no entry sign, security staff, they are apart from their communities obviously despite what they say and once you open those doors and break down those barriers then you genuinely become a part of the community in the way that this club would have first begun, this community that is built around it in the beginning and now it is engaging again in the first time in decades.”

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