| West hams ground.... 19:11 - Jan 11 with 9126 views | connell10 |
Absolutely shite !!! |  |
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| West hams ground.... on 22:10 - Jan 11 with 2373 views | dannyblue |
Ground wasn’t as bad as I was expecting.
Left in the whistle and got home pretty quickly via Hackney Wick. |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 22:22 - Jan 11 with 2269 views | NW5Hoop |
The walk down the Lea from Hackney Wick is actually one of the nicer approaches to a big ground. But I appreciate not everyone can get the Overground. Inside, it’s amazing the concourses are so small for such a big ground. Nice to have a view with clear sight lines, but from halfway back in the upper tier the far end was even further away then at Wembley.. |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 22:34 - Jan 11 with 2175 views | eastside_r |
| West hams ground.... on 21:44 - Jan 11 by Big_Mac |
I got the DLR to Pudding Mill Lane on the way to the game and drops you right by the away end. Followed the crowd on the way out and ended walking straight to Stratford station and that was b@llache.
For those that went Pudding Mill Lane after the game, what was the crowds like? Was it easy enough getting on? |
No problem at all, I was going eastbound (back to Stratford) but the westbound was equally clear.
Walked straight back on to an eastbound Central Line at Stratford which wasn’t even full. I am guessing I had beaten the large body of WHammers there.
So for future reference I.e. next season, PML is definitely the best bet. [Post edited 11 Jan 22:35]
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| West hams ground.... on 00:16 - Jan 12 with 1916 views | Big_Mac |
| West hams ground.... on 22:34 - Jan 11 by eastside_r |
No problem at all, I was going eastbound (back to Stratford) but the westbound was equally clear.
Walked straight back on to an eastbound Central Line at Stratford which wasn’t even full. I am guessing I had beaten the large body of WHammers there.
So for future reference I.e. next season, PML is definitely the best bet. [Post edited 11 Jan 22:35]
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Perfect. Knew I’d make a mistake when I spent 30/40 minutes doing the shuffle step on the long walk to Stratford. I had thought the DLR would be rammed after the game. Will definitely be doing DLR next season then. |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 07:54 - Jan 12 with 1608 views | Lblock |
Away games should be a day out - a meet up, a gathering of the tribe.
This was more like an organised shopping trip in parts.
I’m glad an arrangement was made to head to a restaurant/bar in Westfield pre-match as it was good to catch up and meet a few heads. Without that it would’ve been shite as there is literally nowhere else to do that - those mystical things known as pubs just aren’t a thing round Stratford.
The climb up hundreds of steps to my seat was a challenge.
Viewpoint wise it wasn’t too bad with no posts in the way but far too far away from the pitch.
The only atmosphere to speak of was from the away end but even that got lost as the structure just doesn’t hold it in.
Facilities were kin awful. Nowhere near enough khazis, bars pretty crap and no space or concourse flow.
Trip home could’ve been a mare.
Jubilee line out and then Liz Line issues due to a fire didn’t help.
We avoided the queues by slipping into Sadlers Wells theatre bar for two pints of Guinness and a chat with some old school Hammers who detest their own ground with a passion.
I’d probably not attend this place again and certainly never for a midweek game.
Sad state of affairs |  |
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| West hams ground.... on 08:13 - Jan 12 with 1547 views | BexleyHoop |
| West hams ground.... on 21:44 - Jan 11 by Big_Mac |
I got the DLR to Pudding Mill Lane on the way to the game and drops you right by the away end. Followed the crowd on the way out and ended walking straight to Stratford station and that was b@llache.
For those that went Pudding Mill Lane after the game, what was the crowds like? Was it easy enough getting on? |
I went to Pudding Mill Lane after the game and it took me 5 mins to get to the station from the ground. I then got a DLR to Poplar, changed for the DLR to Woolwich and then a bus home. I was walking down my street when my mate phoned to say he had just got into Stratford station. Pudding Mill Station was not that busy despite ABBA voyage traffic.
Using Pudding Mill Station to go the one stop back to Stratford is the way to go for next years game as they are definitely going down.
Stewarding was laughable outside. Was asked if I was West Ham or QPR at the the stairs and I just said Millwall (as I was was a bit pissed) and they were like ok, in you go.
The three body searches was overkill and the last one at the turnstiles was bordering on sexual harassment.
The layout of the ground is awful and that huge space between the lower & top tier is bizarre.
Texting my West Ham mates through the game stating on numerous texts that their ground was awful, and they came back with, yeah but it holds 60K and less cramped than ours. All very well I said, but no good having 60k if you dont make any ffiing noise. Melts
Great drink from 9am in The Ledger Building at West India Quay. Great to bump into a few old faces and catch up over quite a few beers. Good session and our support yesterday was brilliant. [Post edited 12 Jan 9:50]
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| West hams ground.... on 08:21 - Jan 12 with 1513 views | Watford_Ranger |
Also worth noting there was very little to stop people jibbing in other than the sheer rigmarole of getting that far. My not QR code code thing didn’t work and the bloke just pressed a button on his side and buzzed me in. Was busy in the middle of the lower tier. | | | |
| West hams ground.... on 08:23 - Jan 12 with 1506 views | BAWHoops |
We did Westfield first and the walk to the ground was OK.
It was the trudge after the game that was awful. Just nothing there. You'd think put some pubs near the ground to give people the option of stopping for a drink before they go home, instead it's a cattle march to the station. I couldn't do that every week, was soul destroying.
We were in the middle of the upper tier and struggled to see what the hell was going on down the other end! Great view for Kone's goal though |  |
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| West hams ground.... on 08:31 - Jan 12 with 1462 views | PlanetHonneywood |
Only been there for a baseball game in 2024. Even then I was wandering how they'd configure the place into a football ground.
Someone mentioned the concourse area and that also struck me as small. We left and stopped for a drink in some hole and even when we set off an hour after the game, Stratford station was still busy.
It makes you appreciate what Manchrster City and Council did with the Etihad in comparison. The London Stadium is a lesson for anyone advocating for a soulless industrial park stadium, miles from anything.
Loftus Road is many things, soulless is not one of them. Neither is poor access to and from or, libation options. Like someone above said, and I've said it for years myself, if we ever leave Loftus Road for an edifice to dullness, that's me done! QPR is my only remaining interest in football, having ignored the Prem and anything with UEFA and FIFA's names on it, a dustbowl in an unsuitable setting will be the death of us. Choose wisely Rangers. |  |
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| West hams ground.... on 09:04 - Jan 12 with 1367 views | MrSheen |
Thom Gibbs has an article in today’s Telegraph following some disgruntled West Ham fans from Upton Park to yesterday’s game. Among the complaints, no safe standing. Must be in the away end only! |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 09:21 - Jan 12 with 1292 views | Wegerles_Stairs |
The human traffic lights were particularly memorable. | | | |
| West hams ground.... on 09:25 - Jan 12 with 1298 views | sdm1508 |
| West hams ground.... on 20:26 - Jan 11 by dutch |
The stadium was terrible, but the real pain was the journey to and from; the barren environment, the one station, the schlep. For that read Park Royal or Royal Oak or Scrubs Lane or Hanwell or any other God forsaken, outer London site. Loftus Road is in the perfect spot for transport, pubs ,restaurants, life. |
Sadly, just not in the right place for potential redevelop | | | |
| West hams ground.... on 09:26 - Jan 12 with 1290 views | robith |
I had a lovely day before and after first in Crate brewery, then after until closing in Howling Hops over at Hackney Wick. Feeling it today. Was surprised by how not that busy both were though.
The ground is trash though. It was great for the Olympics and Paralympics cos that's what it's there for. You're watching different things at different times around the stadium. And it wasn't designed for the massive pinch points you have in a shorter event like kick off, half time and full time.
Absolutely soul less though. Never seen so many make so little noise
I was on row 69 (nice) and in the second half I thought "I'll just piss myself if I need the loo again cos my hammies haven't got that in them" |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 10:02 - Jan 12 with 1187 views | terryb |
Due to the A12 being closed at Gallows Corner (Romford), I ended up parking at Upminster & went on direct trains to & from Stratford. We left Stratford on the 17.52 train (leaving the ground on the final whistle), so I can't complain about being able to get into the station.
We did make a bad mistake though! Before 13.00 we had the choice of a second pint in the pub or leaving for the stadium. We chose to stay & arrived at Stratford just after 13.50. a time that was good enough to only miss the first 10 minutes of the game!
According to some stewards, it was the clubs fault for having so many going there & that it's never a problem for league games! Even worse was trying to talk to a manager or team leader about the situation. They ignored you , apart from looking & smiling at you, and walking away to ignore the next person trying to talk to them!
Lessons I've learnt from yesterday? Upminster is a better place to leave the car (rail replacement days) than Gants Hill & that I really should consider using DLR at times! | | | |
| West hams ground.... on 10:15 - Jan 12 with 1131 views | E17hoop |
We hate it; they hate it. The only ones who do like it are the owners who get it for pennies and made a bomb on the Upton Park site.
I go to the park regularly, and it's great to visit and walk and cycle round, but it's not a football stadium – it is, like someone here said, going to an out-of-town shopping experience.
Did anyone take out a loan to get a burger, hot dog or beer?
It's the 3rd closest ground to me after Spurs and Orient, so walked to Stratford via Pudding Mill Lane, got the bus, home by 6.15 |  |
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| West hams ground.... on 10:23 - Jan 12 with 1098 views | daveB |
It was a lot worse than I expected. Our view in the lower tier wasn't great, the other end of the pitch seemed miles away and hard to get an atmosphere going, noise just doesn't carry
Getting in and out as others have said was a nightmare. We left Farringdon at 1 and it took over an hour to get into the stadium. Was 90 mins to get back to STratford after the game and then the delight of no Lizzy Line past Paddington do had to go to Uxbridge and get a cab home.
I'd hate to have to do that every other week, can see why their fans hate it |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 10:24 - Jan 12 with 1089 views | Juzzie |
I was near the front of block 224 and the view wasn't that bad though not as good as, for example, any of the highest seats at LR.
The toilets were easy to use and no problems getting there and back at HT or the short gap before ET started.
However, that's where any positives end.
I avoided Stratford and with all the various closures went District Line to Bow Road, short walk to Bow Church to jump on the DLR one stop to Pudding Mill Lane. Same reverse journey. Took longer than my intended journey but hey ho, just left home half an hour earlier than originally planned.
Can't blame West Ham for tube line closures but the fact there are so few options makes it harder to get to & from. We really are blessed with amazing Underground links to get to Loftus Road.
Security wasn't that bad but again, my son & I got there at 1.30pm to simply avoid any issues. Had we got there at 2-2.15pm, might have been different but that's why I choose to avoid all that.
The stadium was designed for the upper tier to be temporary for the Olympics then removed to leave a single tier 25k stadium for athletics. When the Olympic legacy people botched that up, they panicked as they didn't want a white elephant that has hampered so many other countries in the past. I know Spurs were mooted but it was never really going to happen (way too close to West Ham), Orient were a non-starter so that just left West Ham and West Ham absolutely pulled their and the tax payers pants down.
The expensive tax payer funded refit left an awful place to watch football and with the stadium being mainly made from steel girders with huge gaps all over the place there is absolutely no protect from the elements. I think it would have been better on the pitch.
Then there's the atmosphere, utter shite. Not the home fans fault, you just can't hear them. Give me Upton Park any day. They (the fans) were desperate to leave Upton Park but their owners have handed them a disaster.
If/when West Ham come down the ticket allocation will be 2,800 (not sure if they'll increase that as all the tourists will have left) meaning I probably won't have enough points to get a ticket but if that's the case, can't say I'll be overly disappointed. |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 10:36 - Jan 12 with 1047 views | TK1 |
When they come down and have midweeks in winter against, say, Blackburn, Preston, Oxford, Stoke or pretty much anyone they'll be lucky to get 25k spaced around that massive echoey bowl. It will turn very very nasty with the hardcore quickly.
Be a lot easier to get to and from the ground, though! And tickets won't be an issue. | | | |
| West hams ground.... on 10:52 - Jan 12 with 960 views | Juzzie |
| West hams ground.... on 10:36 - Jan 12 by TK1 |
When they come down and have midweeks in winter against, say, Blackburn, Preston, Oxford, Stoke or pretty much anyone they'll be lucky to get 25k spaced around that massive echoey bowl. It will turn very very nasty with the hardcore quickly.
Be a lot easier to get to and from the ground, though! And tickets won't be an issue. |
When they play the likes of Blackburn, Preston, Stoke midweek in winter, it'll feel like home for the away fans 'cos it's so fkin cold being totally exposed to the elements. | | | |
| West hams ground.... on 10:57 - Jan 12 with 934 views | slmrstid |
We were in the lower tier, block 125 row 19. I thought the view was great, in the context of the stadium.
Both me and my Dad thought it was really nice to see QPR play in a big arena like that again, its been a while.
But...I enjoyed it because it was really a one-off. I would not like that being my everyday homegame experience at all. The security getting in was a pain, I suspected it would be so we got there early, there isn't any "home" feel to it at all where you might meet up with people you know outside for a chat like standing on South Africa Road at QPR.
Getting out was a pain. It took us 35 minutes to walk to Stratford International. With extra time as well we ended up on a much later train from St Pancras back to the Midlands than we would for a normal 3pm kick off. At least the Javelin train only takes 6 minutes!
Definitely spoiled at QPR with how easy it is to get to public transport, but also if you're driving back to where you can park for free and onto the A40 / A406. |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 11:17 - Jan 12 with 851 views | dutch |
| West hams ground.... on 09:25 - Jan 12 by sdm1508 |
Sadly, just not in the right place for potential redevelop |
Then don't dramatically redevelop it. Utliise what we have, make good, freshen up, we don't need a bigger stadium just a slightly better one. Brentford and Bournemouth have proved you don't need 50000 to prosper. | | | |
| West hams ground.... on 11:19 - Jan 12 with 844 views | Northernr |
If I had to go there every other week I'd stop going. |  | | |
| West hams ground.... on 11:31 - Jan 12 with 767 views | Juzzie |
Did a quick google and;
"The refit of the London Olympic Stadium (now London Stadium) cost around £323 million, adding to the original build, with the total project exceeding £700 million".
For that kind of money I wonder if it would almost have been better to have demolished the Olympic stadium completely in the first place and start again. They have the site & footprint so maybe that would be better than the awful refit.
Still would have the same issues getting to & from the ground but I think if the stadium was built properly with good catering etc, that would be acceptable. Let's face it, most grounds in London (apart from the lovely LR of course) have limited Underground links and are always a 'mare. Cannot think of any that match ours.
There's probably no scope now for that if they go down but even if they stay up they have been perennial strugglers for a while now it's probably not worth the risk unless they can get back to a mid/upper mid stable footing.
West Ham contributed a mahoosive £15m (half what hey just paid for Taty, inc add-ons) and have a 99 year lease on a £4m annual rent which doesn't cover the costs so the taxpayer picks up the rest, again, so even if there is any consideration to do it, the costs have to be 100% with West Ham, the tax payers have funded enough already.
So that's not going to happen considering the owners are tighter than a ducks arris so they, the fans and the tax payer are stuck with this monstrosity.
[Post edited 12 Jan 12:15]
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| West hams ground.... on 11:35 - Jan 12 with 746 views | Juzzie |
| West hams ground.... on 11:17 - Jan 12 by dutch |
Then don't dramatically redevelop it. Utliise what we have, make good, freshen up, we don't need a bigger stadium just a slightly better one. Brentford and Bournemouth have proved you don't need 50000 to prosper. |
. [Post edited 12 Jan 11:39]
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| West hams ground.... on 11:36 - Jan 12 with 743 views | mikeyhg |
Similar experiences to other people:
Went to the food court in Hackney Wick, there 3 hours before kick off so easy to get a table and the bar was never busy. Food and drink was expensive but that's what you get at these gentrified parts of town. Thought we'd leave early in case there was issues so went at half 1, for the 10 minute walk to the ground. With all the shenanigans of 3 levels of security, we got to our seats 10 mins before kick off. Any hope for a pre match pint in the concourse was quickly stamped on, although given the prices that's probably a blessing in disguise.
Inside the ground, wind tunnels made parts of the concourse very cold but the view, whilst miles away from the pitch, was good, could see up and down the pitch (including a west ham ball that went miles out of play and the lino who was right there decided that was too much work for him to put his flag up). Atmosphere was great from QPR side, my West Ham supporting mates who were near the away end said we were very loud!
Getting home, same experience as everyone else, cattle march for an hour to Stratford. Also only one person I noticed directing people to different stations, which wasn't easy to tell in the dark which way was which.
Fun day all around, even if I think we could have won with less injuries and being a bit braver on the ball. Everyone of them worked themselves to the ground though and that's all we ask for. | | | |
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