It's five years ago this week since we reported on a "friendly local club" returning home.

A football club which spent 25 years playing in a different borough is finally moving back to its ancestral home.

Woodford Town Football Club is in talks with the Football Association (FA) to to develop a new ground at the Ashton Playing Fields, in Chigwell Road.

Tony Scott, who has been the club chairman for five years and is a Redbridge local, says the club is aiming to move by the start of next season.

Mr Scott said: “Redbridge residents can look forward to the return of a friendly local club with a wonderful new set up and a community activity they can come along to twice a week. It will be their club as much as ours.

“It has always been our dream to bring the club back to Woodford. It was the only way the club could thrive.”

Woodford Town charge £5 for tickets, which Mr Scott said is staying the same for the foreseeable future.

Low cost and local talent is driving a renewed interest in non-league football.

The new ground was secured thanks to efforts from Cllr Jas Athwal, the leader of the Labour group in Redbridge, and Labour Cllr Lloyd Dudderidge.

Mr Scott said: “People are starting to realise there is real talent in the non-league. We have a good, young, ambitious team that wants to entertain people in Redbridge.”

Woodford Town FC has had football legends like former England international players Jonny Haynes and Jimmy Greaves, who was Tottenham Hotspur’s highest ever goalscorer, play for it in the past.

The club left their local area in 1993 when the rising costs of grounds and the emergence of the Premiere League led to the decline of local clubs across England.

They currently groundshare with Broxbourne Borough FC at their grounds in Goff’s Lane, Hertfordshire.

Mr Scott said: “We can’t get supporters to come and see us play. You need them and volunteers to make things work.”