Brentford FC Griffin Park, Brentford FC's home for 116 years (1904–2020), was the only stadium in English league football to have a pub on all four corners — a quirk that, more than any trophy cabinet, captures the character of the West London club. The team was founded on 10 October 1889 by members of the local rowing club, looking for a way to stay active during the winter months. The red-and-white striped shirts still associated with the club today were adopted in 1925, while the nickname "The Bees" emerged earlier, likely as a mishearing of fans' chants.
The club's history has been far from a straight upward line. After winning promotion to the top flight in the 1935–36 season, Brentford were relegated in 1947 and would not return for another seven decades. The darkest moment came in January 1967, when severe financial trouble brought the club to the brink of bankruptcy, with rivals Queens Park Rangers reportedly poised to take over Griffin Park. Supporters and local figures rallied to save the club through a fundraising campaign, and thwarted a second takeover attempt a year later.
The turning point came in the 21st century under owner Matthew Benham, a businessman with a background in sports-betting data analysis who also owns Danish club FC Midtjylland. Together with director of football Rasmus Ankersen, he built a statistics-driven recruitment model designed to identify undervalued players and sell them on profitably after developing them. In 2016 the club scrapped its traditional youth academy in favour of Brentford B, a team focused on developing older, overlooked talent.
That approach culminated in promotion to the Premier League in 2021, secured with a 2–0 win over Swansea City in the play-off final at Wembley — Brentford's first appearance in the top flight in 74 years. Since 2020 the club has played its home matches at the modern Brentford Community Stadium, built close to the old Griffin Park site, blending contemporary infrastructure with an identity forged over decades spent in the shadow of London's bigger clubs.