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?

We live 20 minutes walk from Ibrox. Lots of parking issues on match days. Doesn’t help that we’re Celtic season ticket holders! I used to live in London near Leyton Orient’s Brisbane Road it was never an issue as I didn’t drive then. Good luck living near The Den.

Houses are like jobs and husbands, you wont get everything you want but it's fine to have red lines.

The compromise will be different for everyone... bedrooms, traffic, renovations, garden, parking, driveway... the list goes on.

This might be a red line for you but think back and compare it to the reasons you ruled out the others. Would you have chosen any over this?

6 months is nothing when you’re looking for your forever home..don’t rush..

I'd never live close to a ground, or a school. Just personal choice.

I’ve been in cities on match days and been deeply irritated by the inability of groups of drunk men to be unable to walk along a street without shouting ‘wor!’ continuously. I couldn’t live anywhere near where they herd.

I live near the Leyton Orient Brisbane Road stadium (League 1 and it only has half of the capacity of Millwall's), it's largely fine. I usually check at the weekend what time they're playing/finishing and do plan my travel accordingly, the tube station gets very busy, slow, and noisy with chanting. Also the local pubs are very busy before a match, and after if they've won. But the busy station is certainly not an all day thing.

It's always very quiet when they lose...like today 😂

On match days it’s horrendous for several hours, you just don’t bother going out, but the rest of the year it’s fine.

I have friends who live opposite a large London club's ground. Their road is closed to traffic on match days ( so they have to time getting their own car in and out, it's quite inconvenient).

I can see why you don’t want to live near a stadium, but if you’ve been looking for 6 months you are probably being too picky

Sunderland was (but not now! Woo!) A championship team and their average attendances are around 40,000.

The surrounding streets are permit parking but family who go say it can be bedlam.

At their recent playoff leg at the stadium, which went on late with extra time, a man recorded from his back garden, 2 miles away and the sound was intense.

They also use it for concerts which are amazing .

I'd also guessed it was Millwall. Their reputation used be horrendous but had improved, however at their recent game at Sundrrland my DFiL said the behaviour of their fans, and the sick chants,(not just at Sunderland) were absolutely disgusting.
It's not just the disruption atvthe matched but with people like this walking past your home every other week as well.

The only people in my life that actually go to Millwall are the colleagues that said there is rarely any trouble these days and the reputation is outdated. Does anyone on here have any actual experience of Millwall home games now? I don’t follow football at all really, but recall lots of coverage over the years of hooliganism / violence at Millwall. That’s my biggest concern, the next would be anti social behaviour, like pp’s have mentioned. I imagine the fans walking to the ground would be fine, the noise of the actual games wouldn’t bother me (I don’t think so anyway) but after the game is my concern. The fans having consumed a lot of alcohol…. Colleague said the millwall fans and their opposing team fans are kept apart and not able to mix. I have absolutely no idea how they manage that!! I guess a LOT of police!

Can you ask some of the neighbours? Personally I wouldn't. Traffic will be a pain, likely lots of noise, as someone else said fans wandering about etc

40,000?! Wow. I well well off the mark. I actually thought my 20,000 guess was probably too high 🤣

I live very near a Championship club football stadium. We’ve lived there for 20 odd years and you just get used to working around the busy match days. We were in the same situation as you, we’d been looking for ages and the house was perfect, so we just went for it. Does the house have a driveway? That helps a lot if the road is not double yellow lines, our road isn’t and can get full up a few hours before kick off time.

Benefits are that the stadium is often used for concerts and other events in the summer, and is a great community space too.

If you love the house, go for it.

I used to live literally around the corner from the old Arsenal stadium at Highbury and it was hell. Until you have seen and heard tens of thousands walking past your front door, and back again, every other weekend, have had to wade through the urine the incontinent have released into the gutter and against every wall, have had to keep to a strict timetable on a match day to be able to move in or out of your home, have smelt the onions from the burger vans, until you have seen the police presence if they are at home to an enemy team and worried about things kicking off, have listened to the roar of thousands of voices even with the windows shut, then you have no idea what effect it can have.

The little tube station at Highbury had a wire mesh fenced off corridor going down to the platform , even walking down inside the fenced off bit was frightening, fans banging on the wore,some spitting, shouting, rude remarks, that was a particular nightmare.

There will be other houses.

Yes it has a driveway, which is a huge bonus as many of the houses there don’t. A driveway is a definite must have for us!

Any matches coming up? Go and view on a match day

I support a Premiership team
I've never seen anyone wandering around drunk let alone throwing up.

Just checked Millwall average attendance is under 20,000!

Hmmm… hadn’t thought of that! Although I wouldn’t know where to park our own car 🙈

Oh phew! 40k nearly made my mind up as a definite no 🤣 although even though under 20k is still a LOT of people walking past my window 🤣

The compromise in location is why this house is in budget. Nearly everyone had to compromise on something. Buy this house if the location compromise is less painful for you than compromising on other things.

That said, location location location. Location is the one thing you are absolutely stuck with, and I'm a bit worried you'd be choosing this compromise because it's the least quantified and understood, rather than because it's the best one for you.

I know it's hard to hang back but I would be tempted to check it out on a match day first.

Oh, and on the subject of policing, I find that there is always a strong police presence and they guide fans to keep them separate. Our police force even have presence at the train station and have police horses to control flow. Also, traffic wardens are patrolling to ticket any stupid parking.

I checked and they’ve finished for the summer. Next game is in August!!

My cousin lives next to A field, it's amazing sitting in her back garden listening to the concerts for free!