Page 3 | Living near a football stadium?

KatherineofGaunt · 2022-01-15T16:43:44+00:00

Does anyone live near a football stadium and could offer their views on what it's like, particularly if you're not a football fan? We have a choice of two houses and I like one better and the local school seems better too, but it's fairly near a football stadium (not a massive capacity, I think - about 24000). It's about a third of a mile, I'd say. Can I ask for your experiences of living near one, please? TIA.

jmh740 · 15/01/2022 18:38

I used to work near Ewood Park, it was a nightmare trying to get out of the car park on work days and I would just wait in the car park for half an hour. We know to take a different route to get to town on match days and residents have parking permits. You can't get I to the pubs near the ground on match days and I wouldn't get the train on a match day either. My friend lives near and she can hear the matches they also have other events there too which can be quite noisy.

Hillbillyhotel · 15/01/2022 18:40

I used to live near Brentford,probably about the same difference. You’d hear the cheers for goals if the windows were open but not the general chants.

LondonWolf · 15/01/2022 18:44

I used to live on a road leading up to the back gate of one of the major London stadiums - literally 200 m away. It was fine. Didn’t really affect us that much to be honest. I didn’t have small children then though so might have felt differently if they were being kept from naps by loud noise etc. There would be crowds of people walking up the road on match days but we’d usually be out ourselves as it was the weekend so never saw it that much. It wouldn’t put me off a house in the future.

Yubaba · 15/01/2022 18:58

My friend lives near the Etihad Stadium, it’s ok traffic wise as the area has permit parking, football season isn’t so bad, it’s the off season.
The stadium is used to host massive concerts and they go on till 11pm, then you get 60,000 noisy music fans trying to get home.

backtolifebacktoreality · 15/01/2022 19:00

Generally you'll probably already be parked up for the day when the game starts so hopefully won't have to look for a spot or get caught in traffic. To be honest you just work your way around every other Saturday afternoon in the winter. Usually no big deal!

Porridgeislife · 15/01/2022 19:04

@backtolifebacktoreality

Generally you'll probably already be parked up for the day when the game starts so hopefully won't have to look for a spot or get caught in traffic. To be honest you just work your way around every other Saturday afternoon in the winter. Usually no big deal!

Not necessarily. We found that a 1pm/2pm kickoff on a Sunday knocks out a substantial portion of your day without a car as realistically the traffic is dreadful for ninety minutes beforehand, an hour afterwards, and local parking (even residents only) is full whilst the game is going on.

Original poster

KatherineofGaunt · 15/01/2022 21:45

I'm doing much Googling as I have no idea where most of these stadiums are you're mentioning!

Thank you for all feedback, it is very useful to hear of your experiences.

OP posts:

Workyticket · 15/01/2022 21:49

I live near Sunderland's stadium. We have permit parking on match days - only hassle is if we have visitors. We have to buy a book of spare tickets every season for visitor cars

ithoughtisawapuddycat · 15/01/2022 21:52

I lived one street over from a premier League team stadium when I was a student and as all the roads had permit parking it was never an issue. Loved hearing the cheers from the house but could only hear if had windows open.

I now live near a championship stadium and I do have a season ticket but never have any issues. Our road is permit parking 24/7 and never experienced any issues with people. The stadium is next to an enormous car park so visitors park there but lots of people walk.

It would never put me off a house unless the road wasn't permit parking.

purpledagger · 15/01/2022 22:59

I grew up near a London premiership team stadium and I currently live near another London premiership stadium:

In both stadiums, the roads the stadiums are on get blocked off before, during and after the matches for pedestrians, so I wouldn't want to live there, but 1/3 mile is okay.

Parking on match day was a problem in my first home, so I just made sure I was home a minimum of 1 hour before kick off. Now the area is covered under parking permits, so it's not really a problem.

Traffic is also a problem, mainly after matches, but if I need to go out in the car, I leave before the match ends, or wait an hour afterwards. Traffic tends to be along the main roads, but you can get around using the back roads.

I don't keep an eye on fixtures, but I can tell when it's match day as you see lots of fans in Team colours starting to appear in the hours leading up to a match, so I plan around that.

Never had a problem with fans. I don't recall any violence or racism (I'm BAME and the local team had a reputation for racism). There is always lots of police and stewards about on match days, so I've never felt unsafe.

The noise isn't bad. If the wind is carrying the right way, I can hear the crowds, but very lightly and it's nice to hear cheering.

The businesses that get busy in match days are the local pub and take aways (chicken shops, kebab, sweet shop), so the chemists etc are fine.

I think living next to a stadium is fine, unless you live literally next to/opposite the stadium. It's not impossible to get around on match days, but you make life easier for yourself if you plan around it!!

FrownedUpon · 15/01/2022 23:47

@lastqueenofscotland

I’ve lived one street away from a league 2 ground and about .5 of a mile away from Old Trafford. OT was horrendous, pissing men in the front garden, road closures and when the football season is over… you have cricket/gigs.

The cricket ground is a separate place to the football ground though, so irrelevant really.

Peanutssuck · 16/01/2022 00:05

I disagree with a poster who said the lower league teams stadiums are quieter. I work at one whi are sponsored by a premiership team. We host that team and the female counterparts quite regularly. I would hate hate hate to live next to it. You should probably take into consideration possible proposed planning applications by the club. I think the home owners near my club are probably regretting living there right now

ChiefWiggumsBoy · 16/01/2022 00:12

We live a couple of miles away from the Liverpool stadium and a couple more from the Everton one. It’s not an issue for us, we’re not on the way to anything so we don’t see the crowds but we can hear them outside! I wasn’t expecting that when we move, it’s not loud enough to be an issue.

The worst thing is the traffic. I always seem to have some pressing appointment on match day that it makes me late for

premiumfeet · 16/01/2022 00:23

My rear window on my car got smashed by a beer bottle on a match day one night which was a pain to replace. Other than that, match days were a absolute nightmare to park and generally loud as my street was the main way to walk to the stadium so with the heavy footfall going in and out with drunken behaviour was annoying . Matches were twice a week every fortnight (one champions league weekday and then the usual on the weekend) and then I eventually moved not because of the stadium though but for other reasons.

Original poster

KatherineofGaunt · 16/01/2022 08:02

@Peanutssuck

I disagree with a poster who said the lower league teams stadiums are quieter. I work at one whi are sponsored by a premiership team. We host that team and the female counterparts quite regularly. I would hate hate hate to live next to it. You should probably take into consideration possible proposed planning applications by the club. I think the home owners near my club are probably regretting living there right now

What kind of planning applications would they put in, if there's already a big stadium and car park and restaurant and stuff?

OP posts:

maudmadrigal · 16/01/2022 08:24

We used to live very near the old Arsenal stadium, and slightly further away from the new one.

Parking/traffic was busy on matchdays, but dealt with to an extent by parking permits.

Busy/noisy before and after games, but in a good-natured, buzzy way.

We used to get woken up by the hum of the burger van on a Saturday morning (around 11 or so, not early!).

This won't matter to you as a non-fan, but if you were watching a game on the TV you would know they had scored from the noise at the stadium a good 15-20 seconds before you saw it on the TV.

One early morning, after a grudge match, we were woken up by a Spurs fan with a tannoy shouting 'wake up Arsenal scum'. It only happened once, and therefore seemed quite funny.

We had a big panic the night my first child was born, when (another) Spurs game went to extra time and we couldn't get a taxi to come and get us to take us to hospital. Ended up walking quite a way in active labour to find a black cab.

Overall, as football fans, living by the stadium definitely enhanced our life there and my kids love the idea that they spent the start of their lives so close to the stadium (and have chosen to support them). If we hadn't been fans, I think it would have been a minor inconvenience, but not a deal-breaker. And I think if it's a smaller club and you're not on a through route, you'll have a very different experience. But seeing what you think on a matchday is great advice - I hope it goes well for you.

Rowgtfc72 · 16/01/2022 08:25

Used to live near a now conference side. Anything up to 7000 crowd on a weekend. No off road parking so if you weren't on your street by one, you were parking elsewhere. We got 45 mins of footfall past the house. Home pub across the road but no bother.
I was a season ticket holder so wasn't an issue, and people who had lived down there a while were used to it.
You need to visit on a couple of Saturday match days and Tuesday night games. Do you know who their local Derby side are? How local are they? Is there usually trouble?

BarbaraofSeville · 16/01/2022 08:25

All the issues have been well covered but it's only a couple of days a month on average, with a 3 month gap in the summer, so most of the time a non issue and a minor annoyance that you can usually plan around on match days.

Original poster

KatherineofGaunt · 16/01/2022 08:57

@maudmadrigal