Went along for the Champions Cup rugby yesterday. First time at their new stadium, and a few thoughts/observations: The stadium itself is absolutely awesome. Seating, atmosphere, food and drink outlets, merchandising outlets, facilities all top class and imho probably better than Wembley. Sold out stadium and none of the concourse felt in any way cramped or uncomfortable. Draught beer options a little limited, Heineken or Neck Oil, obviously no Guinness was probably a bit of a glaring miss, but vodka bars, gin bars, whacking long bars to get your beer. Food was a bit meh I thought, pies, sausage rolls, hot dogs, none of them much better than average really. Interestingly, the staff behind the counters probably not very much more inspiring than what we get at LR. I guess getting decent quality staff for one day every other week is as much a problem for them as us. But obviously a lot more of them yesterday, so maybe the quality of service depended a bit on who you got. We are probably better placed for transport options to and away from the ground. WHL or Bruce Grove, otherwise it's a long walk to Tottenham Hale of Seven Sisters. i don't know how long it took to get planning approval for the redevelopment of the stadium, but bang in the middle of a busy town centre, getting it done strikes me as quite an achievement. Bottom line I suppose is that it's an excellent facility for making money; reputedly the club reckoned to clear a profit of £1m on each match day from hospitality when the stadium opened, and that figure must have increased by now. The stadium will have paid for itself within 10 years I'd imagine. | |