For 300 Years the name Molineux has been indelibly linked with the town of Wolverhampton, known throughout the World as the home of Wolverhampton Wanderers FC, but only for the last 130 of those years. Built in 1720 as one of the finest private homes in the town, with large formal gardens, Molineux became in turn a hotel with pleasure gardens and a home for major exhibitions, and cricket and boxing matches and the home of cycle racing in this country, but then the local football club moved in and began developing a stadium in which the Wolves won famous victories against top European teams in floodlit friendlies, and inspired the creation of the European Cup. After both the hotel and the team and stadium fell into the depths of decay, they eventually re-emerged as the home of the City’s Archives, and a magnificent home for a re-energised team which brought back European football, and local pride.

Alec Brew was born and raised in Wolverhampton and an author with 40 published books on local history. A Wolves fan all his life, he went to his first game at the Molineux as a babe in arms, and has suffered the highs and lows of the team’s fortunes ever since. Often to be found in the stands but also, as a historian, in the City’s Archives, housed in the former Molineux Hotel, he has watched the decay and resurgence of both with a partisan eye.