How it all started

The club was founded in 1972 when a group of enthusiasts got together in a local public house and formed a football club called Chester-le-Street Garden Farm, after the pub in which the idea germinated. The club entered the Newcastle City Amateur League that same year, and played on a pitch in Low Fell, Gateshead, because no grounds were available in Chester-le-Street. However, after one season they were allotted a pitch at the Riverside, Chester-le-Street. This was to be their home until 1977.

In 1975 the Cestrians joined the Washington League, winning the Championship, the Durham Minor Cup and the Washington A.M. Cup. By then flourishing, Garden Farm moved to the Sacriston C.W. ground, and were admitted to the Wearside League in 1977, and changed their name the following year to Chester-le-Street Town F.C. Over the next few years they won the Championship and the Monkwearmouth Cup on two occasions. In 1980 the club moved to its present home at Moor Park. The club were admitted into the Northern League in 1983 and won the Championship of the Second Division at the first attempt and gained promotion to the First Division.

When the club first moved to this Moor Park in 1980 it had only dressing rooms located away from the playing area and a perimeter fence around the pitch. Up to date around £750k and many man hours has been spent bringing the ground up to the National League standards, there is a 200 seater stand, covered terracing for 500, uncovered terrace, hard standing all round and floodlights to the minimum 120 lux requirement.

New dressing rooms and spectator toilets, including disabled facilities, were built in the summer of 2000.

There are facilities for spectator refreshments in a brand new clubhouse, completed in November 2020. The facility was enabled to be constructed through funding from the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, Premier League Fund, and through Chester le Street and District Area Action Partnership they administered funding from DCC Local Councillor Neighbourhood Fund and Covid 19 Fund

The club also boasts a 3G Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) constructed in 2014 and funded by Sport England and DCC Councillor neighbourhood Fund allowing players of all ages to train in a safe and floodlit environment. The MUGA pitch is also available for hire to outside organisations and individuals.

Club Honours

Wearside League Champions 1980/81
Runners-up 1982/83
Monkwearmouth Cup Winners 1980/81 | 1981/82
Northern League Division 2 Winners 1983/84 | 1997/98
Durham Challenge Cup Runners-up 2006-07
Ernest Armstrong Cup Runners-up 2009-10
Ernest Armstrong Cup Winners 2017-18