A Rough Guide To West Ham United
Tuesday, 28th Mar 2023 08:19

It still seems like a new ground , but this is our 7th visit to the London Stadium and it is fair to say that most Southampton supporters and indeed many other clubs consider this the worst stadium in the Premier League to watch football.

The London Stadium as the former Olympic Stadium is now called has had its fair share of teething problems since West Ham United moved in as tenants, most of these have been caused by the fact that it was not built as a football stadium and therefore is not geared up towards segregating rival fans both in and outside the ground and secondly because security had been the responsibility of the owners of the stadium and not the club itself, so again their experience is of Athletics meetings not football matches.

Like the also very originally named (Not) Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, it is a great stadium, but a poor ground for watching football, mainly due to the distance from the pitch from the stands.

The Stadium

It is a quality stadium, however it was built for athletics so therefore it has an bowl design and is able to convert back to being used for athletics events, this means that supporters are some way from the pitch and the view is far from brilliant in this respect, so perhaps taking a pair of binoculars is needed.

Getting There

Driving
The London Stadium has been designated a 'public transport destination,', this means that driving is discouraged, there is no parking at the stadium itself except for those in corporate hospitality etc and the streets around are no parking zones, meaning that just about the only place to park is the Westfield Shopping centre at £10.00 for the day.

One option would be to park at Richmond at the end of the M3 and get an overground train to Hackney Wick, but the London Overground line from Richmond to Stratford appears to have engineering works and although you can go by overground there are some changes needed. Check the Transport For London website for more details using the link below.

https://tfl.gov.uk/

An alternative would be to get the District Line tube from Richmond to Mile End a 53 minute journey and then a Central line tube from there to Stratford 3 minutes.

If you want to drive, the easiest way, is to take the M25 round to junction 25 and head towards London on the A10, I would suggest perhaps looking to park around Hackney Wick and walk to the ground, although I do not know what parking is available in this area.

By Train

Several options from Waterloo, perhaps the most direct is the Jubilee line east to Stratford, the route takes about 20 mins and this is the designated rail hub for the stadium, it is likely to be very busy and is around 1 mile to the stadium itself, so leave yourself plenty of time.

After the match all fans that are wanting to go to Stratford Station, are sent on a long set route (this avoiding going into the shopping centre) and it is stop/started in places to regulate the flow of fans, before being finally met with huge queues for the trains themselves.

Another option would be to take the Northern Line to Camden, there are plenty of pubs there and you can then make the short walk to Camden Road station and take the London Overground to Hackney Wick,trains are every 10 minutes and take 15 minutes, again it is about a mile walk but should be less congested.

Coming back this route may be a little more difficult as although the station may be less congested, the previous stop is Stratford and the trains could be packed, however most West Ham fans will be going East rather than West, so it might be Ok.

The Away Section

Visiting supporters are housed in the lower and upper sections of the South West part of the stadium, the facilities are excellent with the toilets even being likened to those in a hotel as well as plenty of food and drink outlets, but we are talking Wembley prices here and it won't be cheap.

At the start of this season there was outrage when the London Stadium charged £7.60 for a pint, this has however been reduced after protests, but you still won't get much change from £6.

The main footballing issues have been segregation with only a waist high barrier separating home and away fans, a combination of readily available and cheap tickets has meant that a lot of old school West Ham fans have returned to the fold so to speak and there have been some unsavoury incidents both in and out of the ground, last season this was exasperated by West Ham's poor season and it's heading that way this..

This season has not seen reports of unrest on the scale of the first few seasons at the ground, however it is probably advisable to wear colours with caution if going to pubs etc.

Drinking Eating Etc

All reviews so far suggest you are far better eating and drinking away from the stadium, most of the nearby pubs etc are by Stratford Station, however they are mainly home fans only and you could find it hard to get into any of them.

The Westfield shopping centre does of course have plenty of eating and drinking outlets, however it is unclear whether there are any restrictions on football fans.

It is far better to stop off a tube stop or two from the ground and have a pint there before coming in, but be prepared that even when you arrive at Stratford it is a 20 minute walk to the ground.

Capacity: 60,000* (all seated)
Address: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, E20 2ST
Telephone: 020 8548 2748
Pitch Size: To be advised
Club Nickname: The Hammers or Irons
Year Ground Opened: 2012
Undersoil Heating: Yes

Photo: Action Images

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