For me Barrow's Holker Street ground shares with the old Sealand Road ground at Chester, the distinction of being the only two grounds I've walked out of before the games had finished - in both cases to catch the last train to get me back home.
Chester was a 2 1 win in the League Cup in August at the start of Tommy Docherty's first full season at Villa Park in a sea of mistaken optimism in 1969, ending with our relegation to Division 3.
Four weeks later I watched Barrow draw one each with Orient on a Tuesday night at Holker Street. At half time the steel works just behind one goal belched out clouds of filthy smoke so thick (and smelly) that for several minutes at the start of the second half it was impossible to see both goals, Peter Brabrook (ex West Ham and England) was the most famous player on show that night, playing for Orient at the end of his career.
This was all part of a mad week, watching 5 games, using a 'railway runabout' ticket that cost in my memory just a couple of quid. Burnley 1 Leeds 1, Monday; Barrow, Tuesday; Workington 2 Wrexham 0, Wednesday; and another sad climax, watching Villa lose 1 0 at Ayrsome Park to Middlesbrough on the Saturday.
My only other trip to Holker Street also ended in disappointment, watching Stenhousemuir, lose 3 2 in a pre season friendly about 30 years later. I doubt the ground has changed that much - a trip to Barrow is like a step back in time anyway.
Erm that side contained Angela Lansbury..... 