 Monday, 12th Dec 2011 22:43 by Clive Whittingham QPR make their first ever visit to the Emirates Stadium for an eagerly anticipated London derby against Arsenal on New Year’s Eve. If you’re one of the lucky 3,000 with tickets, here’s some travel info for you.
Ground Name: Emirates Stadium Capacity: 60,432 (all seated) Address: Highbury House, 75 Drayton Park, London, N5 1BU Main Telephone No: 020 7619 5003 Ticket Office: 020 7619 5000 By Car: Not difficult, but a bit of a ball ache. Essentially you just follow the A1 towards the middle of London until you see Holloway Tube Station, then take the next left into Hornsey Road and you’re there. That’s about six miles from the point where the M1 and the A1 meet out near Staples Corner but this isn’t six miles of motorway by any stretch of the imagination. New Year’s Eve should be ok for traffic, but at any other time of the day and night this drive is a grind. Map:
Click map to visit Google and zoom in/out or tour round. Parking: Almost non-existent. Certainly no room for car parks when they built this thing and extensive residents permit schemes in operation in the surrounding streets as part of its planning permission. If you’re arriving by car then chances are you’re coming in from our of town – if so then park up on the outskirts and utilise the excellent public transport links to the Emirates. New Barnet and Oakleigh Park stations are a short drive off the A1 and offer a half hourly service into Finsbury Park with a journey time of about ten minutes. Cockfosters at the end of the Piccadilly Line is a short hop down the A111 from Junction 24 of the M25, Potters Bar on the Finsbury Park overground line is a short drive the other way from the same turning, as is Hadley Wood. By Train: Ordinarily I’d be producing a list of planned Tube closures but TFL has vowed to have every line open and running on New Year’s Eve which is great news for QPR fans heading to this game. More than that, after 23.45 many tubes and trains will start admitting people free of charge as part of a sponsorship deal with drinks manufacturer Diageo and services will run much later than normal – until 04.30 in many parts of the capital. If that all sounds a little bit too good to be true allow me to bring you back down to earth with news of an arrangement that would only happen in London. The nearest tube station to the Arsenal ground is Holloway Road on the Piccadilly Line, but they close it on matchdays because they worry about it getting too crowded. Genius. The stops either side of it (Caledonian Road and Arsenal) are both within walking distance. Arsenal is closer - from the station turn right, follow Drayton Park Road around to the left and then use one of the large metal footbridges to cross the overground line below to the stadium – that line incidentally is the First Capital Connect service into Moorgate but does not run or stop at Drayton Park station next to the stadium on evenings, weekends or public holidays. The Piccadilly Line, along with the Victoria Line, also runs to Finsbury Park Station which is no more than a ten minute walk away from the ground which is well signposted. You can also reach Finsbury Park via First Capital Connect services from Kings Cross, or further north on the Welwyn Garden City-Stevenage-Hatfield-Hertford-Cuffley-Barnet-Alexandra Palace services. Visiting fans repeatedly recommend the overground from Finsbury Park back into town afterwards with Holloway Road, Arsenal and Finsbury Park tube stations all likely to be closed due to overcrowding after the game. Pubs: The Drayton Arms between Drayton Park overground and Arsenal underground stations is the traditional haunt for away fans from further afield, but as ever with London games QPR fans will probably have their own plans all over the city and head in late. Pubs on and around the Euston Road look particularly attractive for this game with tube services to the ground from Kings Cross and Euston. The Twelve Pins near Finsbury Park is recommended by the guide as a decent mixed boozer with Sky Sports. Coach: As usual for a London fixture, no coach travel being run by either the club or the LSA for this match. Tickets: QPR were given just over 3,000 tickets for this game and they all sold out in double quick time. This includes the disabled allocation. A word to the wise, Liverpool away also sold out reasonably quickly but the Box Office was selling returns when I called in there on other business last week. So it might be worth a call near the date of the game to see if that is the case again. Links >>> Detailed fans' guide to the Emirates Stadium >>> Arsenal Official Website Tweet @loftforwords Photo: Action Images Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.
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