This is our first ever league visit to Hereford United, and the re-arranged game kicks off on Tuesday night at 7.45.

Edgar Street is only about half a mile to the north of Hereford city centre. If you’re driving down from Leeds you need to leave the M5 at junction 8 and take the M50 towards South Wales. At junction 2, take the A417 towards Ledbury and then the A438 towards Hereford. Keep on the A438 into Hereford and after passing the Victory pub on the left, bear right onto the inner ring road that goes around the town centre. At the large roundabout, turn right onto the A49 Edgar Street and then right again into Blackfriars Street. The ground and car park entrance are down on the left. There is a large pay and display car park at the ground, which costs 80p for four hours.

You’ll have no chance of getting back to Leeds by train after the game, but I’ve included these directions from the railway station for those of who live a bit closer to Hereford. It’s less than ten minutes walk from the ground, and to start with you need to turn left and go down the road towards the Safeway supermarket. Cut through the Safeway car park (heading left) and follow the pedestrian walkway out of the store out onto Commercial Road. Go left down Commercial Road, where you will pass the Merton Hotel on your right and a Wetherspoons pub on your left.

At the top of the road at the traffic lights, turn right into Blueschool Street. Keep walking along here until you come to a set of lights and a multi storey car park opposite and to the right (this is Widemarsh Street). Cross over and bear slightly right and cut up a walkway between the car park and Garrick House (council offices) where you come into a car park (if you head left you will find the Newmarket Pub) head right and walk out the car park. Turn left and you can’t miss the ground, it's on your right.

I don’t know how many local publicans will be allowed to open their premises for our visit, but with the ground being close to the city centre there are a number of pubs within staggering distance. A few worth mentioning are the ‘Oxford Arms’ on the edge of the main car park, and the ‘Newmarket Tavern’ nearby on the ring road, while the real ale ‘Victory Tavern’ is further along the ring road (see road directions above). There is also club bar at the ground, called ‘Legends’. 

Hereford United have played at Edgar Street since they were formed in 1924, but the ground is older than that, being formerly owned by the "Hereford Athletic Ground Co." and home to a club called Hereford City. The facilities are a bit basic and it’s starting to show it’s age, but thankfully there is plenty of good old-fashioned terracing, so fans aren’t forced to pay extra for seats when they’re happy to stand. 

Away fans get part of something called the ‘Floors 2 Go Edgar Street Stand’ down one side of the pitch, which was built in 1974. This stand has an upper tier of seating that overhangs a lower tier of terracing, and the view downstairs isn’t great, thanks to a number of supporting pillars. The usual visitors’ allocation is about 1,700 out of a total capacity of 8,843.

Ticket prices in the seats are adults £16, concessions £13, while standing costs £14 for adults, and £10 for concessions, while for under 10s it costs a mere £3, whether you’re standing or sitting.

According to their official website, Hereford have ‘nearly’ sold out of home tickets, and none will be available on the night.  A couple of bits of trivia worth mentioning…The pitch is the largest in the top five professional divisions and only the former Wembley had a larger playing area. And according to the band ‘The George Cowley Experience’, the city of Hereford is ‘the land of a thousand charity shops’. 

The club has started negotiations with the local council and developers about redeveloping Edgar Street as part of a regeneration of this area of the city. But there is no definite timescale for this so far.

 Some of this information came from www.footballgroundguide.co.uk. 

Photo: Action Images

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