Inglis is best known for his work on football history and stadiums,[5] and as editor of the Played in Britain series for English Heritage (later Historic England).
[9] After six months travelling in Central and South America, from where he submitted articles to The Guardian, Simon Inglis settled in Manchester in 1980.
[15] After the Hillsborough disaster, Inglis was appointed to sit on two bodies set up on the recommendation of the Taylor Report; the Football Stadia Advisory Council (FSADC) and the Football Licensing Authority (FLA), renamed the Sports Grounds Safety Authority in 2011.
[16] During the 1990s, Inglis edited a number of design guidelines and technical documents for the FSADC on topics such as stadium seating, toilets, roofs, disabled access and terraces.
This partnership resulted in the launch, in 2004, of the Played in Britain series, with English Heritage as the publisher and Inglis as editor.
[34] Inglis's research for Played in London led him to propose the listing of The Rom skatepark in Hornchurch, Essex, which was opened in 1978.
[37][38] Other buildings listed as a result of Inglis's research for Played in London include a late Victorian tennis pavilion in Beckenham, a 1930s diving board at the former Purley Lido, a 1930s squash court in Hammersmith and Britain's oldest surviving concrete cantilevered grandstand at Summers Lane, Finchley.
[39] Inglis has also been a co-author of books about sporting heritage, including Great Lengths: the Historic Indoor Swimming Pools of Britain[40] and - with Steve Beauchampé - Played in Birmingham, in 2006.
[41] The latter book led both authors to become active in the campaign to save Moseley Road Baths from closure as a swimming facility.
[53][54] Inglis describes himself on Twitter as an Aston Villa fan,[55] ‘albeit at a distance in recent years’.
London: English Heritage (2004) ISBN 1-873592-78-7 • Engineering Archie: Archibald Leitch - Football Ground Designer (Played in Britain series).