For the 2025/2026 season, West Bromwich Albion opened the refurbished Millichip lounge – and we’ve been in to film, photograph and experience it first-hand.
After spending a matchday inside the new space, it’s clear the club’s summer redevelopment has landed in a confident place: more polished, more contemporary and noticeably more aligned with rising expectations around English football hospitality.
A Refurbishment That Respects Its Roots
For a room named after former Albion and FA chairman Bert Millichip, heritage matters. The club’s redesign embraces that rather than diluting it. The standout feature is the new trophy cabinet, which anchors the room with a sense of history without making the space feel dated.
The decor strikes a balance between modern hospitality styling and unmistakable Albion character – clean lines, updated lighting, contemporary furnishings and enough club identity woven through to avoid that generic “could be anywhere” feel.
Around the rest of the stadium, the The Hawthorns 125-year branding has been executed with the same level of detail. It runs through the hospitality spaces tastefully, reinforcing the club’s heritage in a way that feels intentional rather than overplayed.
Menu, Food & Matchday Offering
The match-by-match menu was a clear highlight. The club now rotates dishes each fixture and offers multiple options per course, which gives the experience more flexibility without sacrificing consistency. Several ingredients are sourced locally, and that approach came through in the dishes we tried on the day.
For a club that has spent so much of it’s history in the top flight, it’s clear that off the pitch those standards still remain at a very high level.
Seating & Match View
The padded, central seating on Executive Level Two is another strong part of the package. It offers a balanced view of the pitch and feels aligned with what supporters now look for in premium matchday experiences: comfort, clarity of view and proximity without isolation.
The Space in Practice
The Millichip’s design positions it as both a matchday lounge and a multi-use venue. From what we saw, the layout and finish make it suitable for weekday meetings, private events and networking sessions — something more clubs are prioritising to ensure rooms deliver value beyond the 90 minutes.
Service throughout our visit was attentive but not intrusive, and the room handled movement, dining and pre-match build-up smoothly.
How It Compares to What Was Promised
Before launch, the club outlined a premium, four-course hospitality package with structured service, a complimentary bar (excluding champagne), central seating, Q&A sessions with an Albion legend and matchday extras such as programmes and team sheets.
Our experience aligned with that summary. The upgraded dining, the feel of the room and the quality of the seating all matched the direction the club had signposted publicly. The refurbishment doesn’t try to reinvent the lounge into something unrecognisable — instead, it presents a more confident, more polished version of what a legacy space can become.
Final Take
Clubs face a familiar challenge when refreshing established lounges: elevate the offer without stripping out the identity that keeps long-standing guests returning. The Millichip manages to land in that middle ground well.
The decor is thoughtful, the heritage elements have purpose, and the food and service now sit comfortably alongside other top-end packages in the league. It’s a smart evolution rather than a reinvention — and one that should strengthen Albion’s hospitality line-up for both matchdays and midweek events.
How to Enquire
Bookings can be made via hospitality@wbafc.co.uk or through the club’s hospitality page.
