To not want to live next to a football stadium?

[Nataliaa]

We’ve found a house that in all ways is perfect for us. In terms of price, close to work, size, minimal work needed - we could happily live with the interior, as it is- so no rush to put our stamp on it. No renovations needed. However, it is very close to a football stadium. My DH is saying if I let that one negative sway my decision, we would be turning down our dream family home and as we have been house hunting for 6 months and have not come close to finding any house that ticks so many of our wants, we would regret not going for this one.
My DH says that whilst there may be some disruption on match days, it’s not going to be every single weekend, and therefore minimal.
Am I really being picky, or would this be an issue for others?? Would you happily live near a football stadium?

Realistically, you’re looking at 10s of 1000s people walking past on alternate weekends from late August to late May, plus evening fixtures midweek. Millwall are a Championship side and yes, they have a reputation for having a violent/racist fanbase - that probably isn’t really justified any more, though. It’s not the 1980s any more and most/all clubs have done huge amounts to combat that sort of thing.

You might not see violence or vandalism but you will obviously get crowds, litter and a lot of noise, possibly parking issues, at least every other week and possibly more like weekly, sometimes on Saturday/Sunday and sometimes on week nights.

I used to live on the main walking route from a train station to White Hart Lane myself. But at the time I was single and had no car to park, no kids to be woken up by noise etc. And I’m also a Spurs fan and very used to going to football matches and being around football crowds, so I personally didn’t find the noise, shouting etc intimidating or annoying. On some big match days I used to lean out my window and join in the fan chants! But clearly some people would hate it.

The Police are very well versed in wrangling Millwall fans so the 'You'll never make it to the station' was just words - and tbh, they were always worse at away matches. Each time I'm going through LBG on match days (bearing in mind this also takes in other teams due to the connections), it's always been fine with the visiting fans happy and relaxed, rather than expecting warfare.

Same with Palace - although with them, it's partly that there are infinitely tougher guys living around Whitehorse Road than anything emerging from Sainsbury's car park and the huge number of train stations in the area means that there's no need for any sides to ever meet.

As long as you've got a driveway/garage, it'll largely be fine, if busy every so often.

It won't be as bad as this. Matches won't be every week. They don't train at the ground and the lionesses don't train or play there at all. Not sure about the youth teams but it's doubtful they'd use the stadium much.

There'll definitely be disruption... but it's fairly sporadic I should think.

When we were first married (many, many, many years ago) our first home was very close to the Chelsea Ground.. We would see the fans walking to and from the match but never any problems and this was in the era when Chelsea supporters had a fearsome and horrible reputation.

More recently our daughter boufght her first house in hearing distance of the Watford ground.. No pfropblems at all. It was a permit parking area so no worse problems on match days. Coincidentally the first match after she moved in was with Millwall and no problems with their or any other away fans either.

There are lots of kids and families go, women, older men and so on. It’s not just young/middle age men although that will be a sizable portion of it.

If the away fans arrive by train to South Bermondsey station then there is a a walkway from there that goes directly to the away end, so they won’t go past your prospective house or mix really with the home fans if they arrive that way. Some come by coach of course.

Among the other fans, I think you will probably see some groups of men who are a bit loud passing and on the way out they may be a bit more raucous but I don’t think they will be looking for trouble with residents.

If I had to guess I would say it will be unpalatable in parts and not pleasant, but mostly more a nuisance than a threat. If you pm me where it is DP will be able to tell me a bit more. I have never been with him to a match but

Why not just knock on some neighbours houses and ask them?

I’ve gone to various football matches over the last 20 years and don’t recognise this ‘drunk men peeing and defecating in the street’ narrative. You’re not legally allowed to drink whilst watching the match in the stands…

I wouldn’t either until I went to Germany Denmark in the Euros where they had in the middle of a path in the park outside urinals - just blue plastic blue ones they were certainly in Dortmund

it was quite disturbing!

www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/fan-of-turkey-uses-a-public-urinal-ahead-of-the-uefa-euro-news-photo/2158144970

You are lucky then. It’s not the drinking at the match it’s the pre and post match drinking! I always saw blokes having a pee on the way there/back.

You're allowed to drink within sight of the pitch at Euros and World Cups. Not the case in league football in England. The JOY I recall at this at the 2010 World Cup

That may be were some confusion is coming from

I was about to say “go for it, it might be fun”. Then I saw it was Millwall. And that’s a resounding no. Their reputation is still well deserved. The most frightening stadium I have ever been to as an away fan, especially evening games.

Milwall's training ground is closer to my house than it is to South Bermondsey. Palace training ground is even closer to me.

Occasional back room staff on the high street buying coffee. Training grounds aren't an issue

I’d quite like it but then I quite like to live with a bit of life around me. My worst nightmare would be living out in the sticks.

Not ideal timing as end of season but why not go and stake out the house when there's a match on, see how it changes from few hours before to few hours after.

Depends on the stadium. I live near one and my one unshakeable condition to DH as we house hunt atm is no stadiums ever again! On match days my commute to and from work is disrupted, roads are crazy, frequent police sirens, just this month alone I've had to walk past a man who waved at me cheerily while peeing on the street (people keep telling me this doesn't happen but it absolutely does), had glass accidentally smashed by my feet at the bus stop, and been sworn at very aggressively by racist drunk men multiple times. I'm at the point where I actively don't make plans and swap shifts at work so I'm not leaving the house on match days. But I often work late shifts and I can't drive, if I didn't have to walk through it maybe I'd find it more manageable. Wouldn't want to stay here with kids though.

On the flip side my SIL lives near a different stadium with no issues at all other than more traffic occasionally. Have a visit next march day to get a better idea I guess and see how you find it maybe?

I've lived near both Craven Cottage and Twickenham within the last 10 years and I can't recall having a single issue resulting from the football fans. It would obviously be fairly busy for an hour pre and post matches but no problems regarding behaviour etc.

Twickenham on the other hand was absolutely horrendous. Levels of drunken, loutish behaviour that would have resulted in mass arrests had it occurred at a football match.

I live next door to a first class sports ground now (not football), I lived three streets away from a top tier football ground (early 90s before the premier league but when fans were not the most civilised), and both were and are great. Love it.

but Millwall? No.

You sign up to a parking app and people book your space to park at a specific time. They ring your door and you show them where to park
At the beginning of the day move your car so it is blocking your drive (so no one parks there)
Move your car to let them into the drive. They will need to ring your doorbell when they want to leave
Sounds a lot of hassle but could be worth it. I know this is an extreme example but houses near Liverpool stadium were renting out a space on their drive for £300 during the Taylor swift concert. One house fit 3 cars in their driveway and was fully booked for 3 separate nights
unsurprisingly they didn’t mind coming out at 1am just to move their car!!

My ex dh and older adult son Go to Millwall. I’ve been up there to ‘see’ the ground

no fights now generally. One drives. Other trains. Yes busy on the streets /to station

but if it’s your dream home ……

nice cafe on the shops near the ground

I would prob buy it as I don’t like football

you could also rent drive out. Parking is a nightmare there

Are you planning to work there forever?

Personally I’d never choose a house in proximity to work (albeit in commuting distance) as I typically change employer every 5 years. Just something to think about as moving house is very expensive in fees.

Are you a relaxed person who could accept people blocking your drive? If so, go for it. If it would annoy you then no, don’t move on the same road as a stadium/school/hospital etc

I have lived opposite both Chelsea and Brentford grounds and a couple of streets away from Twickenham rugby stadium. Can be a bit noisy on occasion but the worst thing is parking. People will park on your garden if they can't find somewhere else.

Would be my worst nightmare!!

Depends on the size of the stadium, what kind of fans the team has, what parking facilities it has, and whether your street is on the route to and from public transport links. I once lived a couple of streets away from the QPR ground and had no problems. You could hear the crowd shouting on match days when a goal was scored, but other than that you would never have known the stadium was even there.

We've got a non league at the bottom of the road, not a problem for use in fact the boys think it's great they go on their own. You do get mid week games too.

Unless you're getting it at a significantly better price that a similar house further from the stadium I'd say no. Millwall may not be as bad as they were but they're still a pretty rowdy crowd. You'll probably have trouble selling it.