LFW Travel Guide - Fulham, Craven Cottage, with tube closures

All the ticketing and tube info you need for the trip to Craven Cottage next Sunday when QPR face Fulham in their first London derby of the season.

border="0" alt="Photobucket" width="600" /> Ground Name: Craven Cottage

Capacity: 25,678

Address: Stevenage Road , London , SW6 6HH

Main Telephone: 0870 442 1222

Box Office: 0870 442 1234

By Car

Always difficult to write this bit for a London fixture because people are coming from here there and everywhere. In summary, if you're coming from the north or north London then follow the North Circular round towards Park Royal from wherever you joined it, then head left along the A40 Westway as if you were coming to Loftus Road . Avoid the queues at Westfield by going down another junction and turning right onto the A3220 which then goes down to the water tower roundabout. Go right there onto Shepherds Bush Green, past the BP garage on your left and then left again down Shepherd's Bush Road past the Richmond pub on your left. Take the third exit from Hammersmith Broadway onto the Fulham Palace Road and follow that down past Charing Cross Hospital and turn right into Finlay Street for the ground.

If you're coming from West London or out of town to the west then come in on the M4 and follow it until it becomes the A4 and then two miles later turn off onto Hammersmith Broadway and then as above.

From the south leave the M25 at Junction 10 and take the A3 towards Central London . After around eight miles, leave the A3 at the turn off for the A219. Take the A219 towards Putney. Continue straight on this road, down Putney High Street and across Putney Bridge .

Map

Click the map to move to Google maps, tour around, use Street View and zoom.

Parking

The parking restrictions in this part of the world are strictly enforced, wide ranging and extreme – and they only get worse on match days. My advice if you have to come by car is to park further afield, maybe around Ravenscourt Park, and walk, or park even further away and get the tube in. It's not a car friendly fixture at all this one.

Train

The ground is in between Putney Bridge and Hammersmith Underground stations and easily walkable from both. The former is on the Wimbledon branch of the District Line which runs down from Edgware Road through Earls Court . Hammersmith is on the main District and Piccadilly Lines with trains from north, east, west and central London every couple of minutes. From Hammersmith come out of either station exit into the shopping centre and turn left, exiting via the south subway of the Broadway past the Tesco store. Walk straight on through the subway which brings you out next to a row of takeaways on the Fulham Palace Road which you can then follow all the way down just shy of a mile before turning right down Finlay Street which does down to the away end of the ground. Putney Bridge is on the opposite side of the ground and is a lightly shorter walk. Come out of the station, turn left, and follow the crowd through Bishop's Park by the river to the ground which is clearly visible.

Now on the Sunday we are at Fulham there is the usual raft of engineering works taking place on the tube. The District Line is suspended between Edgware Road and High Street Kensington, and Putney Bridge and Wimbledon – but a service will run down the main District Line and to Putney Bridge . If you're going into Hammersmith then be aware the Piccadilly Line is suspended at the Uxbridge to South Harrow end, The Hammersmith and City Line is suspended between Royal Oak and Paddington, and there is no service at all on the Circle Line.

Coach

Given that Craven Cottage is only about three miles away from Loftus Road it's no surprise to find no coaches being operated by the club or supporter's associations for this one.

Drink

As with all derby games expect a higher police presence than usual and the dreaded plastic glasses to be out in force. It is of course possible to just use your regular Shepherds Bush pubs for this fixture with Craven Cottage within walking distance and Hammersmith and City line trains running down to Hammersmith from the Green. If you want to drink a little bit closer by then the pubs around Hammersmith Broadway are likely to be more QPR orientated and that is where many fans went for our last visit there a decade ago (time flies). As you come out of Hammersmith Broadway onto Fulham Palace Road via the south exit there are three boozers on your right immediately. The Duke of Cornwall does live football and Thai food, The Distillers looks like the Adams' Family's holiday home and has no live sport but does do an especially good Sunday dinner, and the Suffolk Punch has passable food and Sky Sports.

Tickets

This has all been a bit of a farce really. QPR initially took a very low allocation of 1,600 tickets fearing that supporters wouldn't be keen to pay Fulham's astronomical prices. This prompted a bit of an outcry from fans who didn't get tickets when they went on sale and then had to go and buy in the home areas or Fulham's nonsense 'neutral zone'. Having allowed supporters to go ahead and do that Rangers have now secured an extra 1,100 tickets from Fulham. These are priced at (deep breath) £49 for adults, £38 for seniors and young adults and £22 for juniors. Disabled tickets are half price with a free carer. Tickets are on sale to supporters with 100 loyalty points or more from tomorrow, and to those with 30 points (all members basically) from Thursday. They go on general sale from Sunday at the Villa game.

Links >>> Official Website >>> Detailed Guide to Craven Cottage

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