The first hotel integrated with a football stadium in the UK? Such an idea is to be put into practice in Edinburgh, where the Hearts of Midlothian FC team plays. What will be included in the facility that will be connected to the venue?

Hearts FC unveils revolutionary stadium plans

Heart of Midlothian FC has revealed plans to build a 25-room hotel and event space. Connected to Tynecastle Park stand, it will be the first club-owned and operated hotel in a soccer stadium in the UK. Tynecastle Park Hotel will offer family, executive and wheelchair accessible rooms, as well as a club lounge and a selection of six new meeting and event spaces. Selected rooms will be equipped with technology that will provide guests with the ability to watch the live pitch or city skyline on HD plasma screens.

Hearts' managing director Ann Budge said: The hotel rooms and additional conference and events space will offer the club an ideal opportunity to host even more events at Tynecastle while appealing to the millions of visitors that Edinburgh attracts each year as the UK’s second most visited city. As well as our vast supporter base both in the local area and from further afield, we hope to attract international visitors and guests from around the UK looking for high quality, contemporary accommodation as part of an Edinburgh city break.

© Heart of Midlothian FC

Three centuries of Edinburgh stadium

It's hard to believe that this facility, the oldest in continuous existence in Scotland, was once called "new." In 1886 it was the site of Hearts' move from the field next door. The first expansions took place in 1892, 1903 and 1911, but the one in 1914 is far more significant. The grandstand, still standing today, designed by the famous Archibald Leitch, was built then.

The major tragedies of Glasgow (1971) and Hillsborough (1989) had the greatest impact on the shape of the stadium. After the former, the venue's capacity was reduced from 49,000 to 30,000, and after the latter (1994-97), three stands were rebuilt and the number of seats was reduced again, this time to about 18,000. Ironically, the new elements of the stadium were made of steel construction, while in 1954 Tynecastle was the first Scottish stadium with all stands made of concrete.

The symbolic closing of the stadium came in November 2017, when the largest and newest stand - the east stand - opened. Behind the stand, three floors of backstage facilities were built, where not only offices, but also a store and cash registers moved in.

© Heart of Midlothian FC