Hook's £2.15m sports pavilion opens on Saturday 17 October from 2pm: ribbon cut at 2.30pm, the Stags' first home match at 3pm. The full running order.
Hook’s new Sports Pavilion opens on Saturday 17 October. Gates open at 2pm, the ribbon is cut at 2.30pm, and Hook and Odiham Rugby Club’s first XV play their first home match at the new ground at 3pm.
Hook Parish Council announced the day in a notice on 9 October, under the headline “It’s almost time!”. The event is organised with the rugby club, whose senior side is known as the Stags.
The pavilion is at Papermill Avenue, Hook, RG27 9QU, on the North East Hook development opposite the Shack Café on the A30.
The running order
- 2.00pm: gates and bar open
- 2.30pm: official opening and ribbon cutting
- 3.00pm: senior first XV rugby match
- 4.00pm: hog roast
- 7.00pm: live music
- 9.00pm: evening entertainment
- 10.00pm: close
Tours of the new building run during the afternoon, with a bouncy castle and a magician for children. The council’s notice does not name who will cut the ribbon, nor whether tickets are needed. The contacts it gives are Rob Cruikshanks on 07971 491355 and Stu Oakley on 07976 692993, both from the rugby club.
Four years in the making
The parish council took on the land from the North East Hook housing development for sports pitches and a clubhouse. Its project page records a public consultation in August and September 2023 and a planning application in January 2024.
Hart District Council’s planning committee considered the scheme on 17 July 2024 and permission was issued on 29 August 2024, under reference 24/00098/FUL. It covers a two-storey pavilion, a single-storey community building and parking for 77 cars. Revised plans were approved in July 2025.
The money comes from two places:
- £250,000 from a Section 106 contribution by the housing developer
- up to £1.9 million from the parish council’s own reserves, to be repaid through council tax over 30 years
The council put the total budget at £2.15 million. It said the repayments would add less than £10 a year to a Band D bill.
Rugby and football teams have been using the pitches since 2023, with temporary changing rooms and toilets while the building went up. Rugby was chosen as the lead user when the developer needed to know what kind of pitches to lay.
What is inside
The council’s own decision records for the project describe a building with:
- changing rooms with tiled shower areas
- a bar, with a ground-floor kiosk and serving hatch
- a first-floor balcony with composite decking over the pitches
- a lift
- sheltered parking for 12 bikes, with three more spaces uncovered
- a post and rail spectator fence along the pitch, added at a cost of £6,701 and paid for from savings elsewhere in the contract
Those details are in the committee’s log of decisions taken outside meetings, updated in September.
Next door is a separate single-storey building for the Hook Shed. The parish council describes it as “a welcoming hub for companionship, personal and community projects”, open to men and women, aimed at loneliness and mental wellbeing in the village.
The delay, and who paid for it
The contractor is Birchen Construction of Bursledon, with Sports Clubhouses Ltd acting as the council’s agent. The contract completion date was 8 May 2026.
In May, Birchen applied for 14 weeks and one day of extra time because of delays getting a wayleave and final electrical connection from SSE. The council’s agent accepted the claim on 6 May, moving the completion date to 14 August 2026. The letter confirms that the delay carries “no associated loss and expense”, so the council does not pay extra for it.
By 10 June the council’s finance report showed about £100,000 of the pavilion budget still to pay. Part of that is retention money, held back until handover and for 12 months afterwards.
The council’s September bulletin said the pavilion and the Shed were almost complete, with Birchen working through the snagging list. Once handed over, the council will issue leases to the rugby club and the Hook Shed, which will run the buildings.
What it means for you
- Going on the day. Papermill Avenue is off the A30 London Road, on the North East Hook development opposite the Shack Café. The site has parking for 77 cars, but it is also the rugby crowd’s car park on match day, so expect it to fill.
- Hook Shed. The Shed is a separate building on the same site. Its opening arrangements have not been announced; the council said in September to watch its website and social media.
- The judges noticed. Hook was runner-up for Hampshire Village of the Year last month and won the award for best recreational facilities, with the pavilion among the facilities listed. Our report on the awards has the detail.
- More in Hook this winter. Christmas in the Park returns on 6 December, and the parish council has published its objection to 2,160 homes at Murrell Green.
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