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?

On the basis I live by two schools with approx 500 kids/families and we experience maybe 20-30mins twice a day disruption 39 weeks of the year…. Yet the moaning and complaints on the local FB sites are unrelenting, I’d personally be very wary of buying within walking distance of a football stadium.

I lived in Wimbledon and we dealt with people defecating on our doorstep as well as peeing and vomiting there. Never again.

Don't do it OP.

There's very little actual data on this thread to help you make a decision, so I looked up the annual stats on banning orders and arrests. Millwall have the 3rd highest number of banning orders in all 4 divisions. That's quite something when you consider their average gate is less than 20k, around a third of the teams around them in the banning order 'league table'. That suggests they're still worthy of their long held reputation.

I love football but wouldn't consider living near Millwall.

If it’s the New Den, I’d give it a swerve.
A good portion of their fans have no respect for people’s property and you’d experience a lot of low level vandalism and antisocial behaviour.

One of my friends’ dads is originally from up North and when his team played Millwall he was wearing colours and got kettled in with the away fans - he only got out of the pack when they got to King’s Cross. Only issue was they lived in South East London 😂

My first flat was next to Selhurst Park (I’m always amazed how many of us SE25ers post on these threads!) I’m a football fan but not Palace. I think the best bit was probably watching them film Ted Lasso’s first season!

Negatives were the parking and the fact Sainsbury’s would shut when I needed something!

We never had any issues with antisocial behaviour but that was probably because the police vans used to park up next to our garden gate 😆 I always used to say I’d rather live next to the stadium than the pub they all went to after, the stewards and police were always very quick at dispersing people.

With a drive I’d be tentatively ok with this house if it ticked all the other boxes but you need to clue up about football imo, it’s not really optional when they’re next door!

I live v. close to a premier league football club. Parking is a nightmare (I'm lucky I have off-road parking) on match days and traffic before and after is appalling for at least an hour so yes, you learn to live your life around fixtures.

People are saying it's a match every two weeks, but no, it's more than that.
There are the friendlies, the rising Women's football matches, the ad hoc events (boxing matches, pop concerts etc). So think carefully - do you want to be constricted at weekends by such things?

That said, I wouldn't move because I love my home, mortgage is paid off and I don't feel the urge to be anywhere else.

I lived in same street as West Ham old stadium did not affect me much apart from :

a couple of times men peed up against my house

you won’t be able to leave leave your house on home match days at kick out
but this only caught me out once in 5 years you need to know you match days

other than that it was nice hearing the cheers and seeing ( sometimes) happy crowds

I live near there. Unless you're in a desperate situation to move, don't buy the house. Most of the time it is ok (although South Bermondsey is still a grotty area), but match days are awful. There's an enormous amount of severe drunkeness and I've seen a few fights. Although public transport still seems to run on match day (unlike Tottenham), it's hideous to take and I feel unsafe travelling alone, let alone with my child.

I always knew when there was a game on at Millwall by the amount of police horses I saw.

Recently I came out of Fulham tube station and it was hard just to walk down the road, passing the horde of drunken fans who all walked out in the road without looking. The car drivers were very patient I have to say!

Lived a block away from Vicarage Rd when Watford were in their pomp.

Wouldn't recommenced it. Noise and fan movement around the place was liveable with.

Parking was a 'mare. Ended up leaving the car a mile away and having to go out on a bike to look for it in the morning!!

Leeds reputation is based on the hooliganism of 70s. I’d fear Millwall more,although Leeds v Millwall is always interesting but not violent.But now Leeds have been promoted..yay!

Well, if your husband insists of you getting that house, if he is at all inconvenienced - car parked across the drive when he wants to get out, heavy traffic, vandalism etc you can of course say I told you so but you would get pretty sick of saying it!!!

I’ve been to The New Den as an away fan. Travelled in on trains with Millwall fans and it was great.

Theres always a tosser element everywhere but Millwalls rep is an outdated one now in truth. The fans are separated close to the ground, and police are on the train station etc.

Has the house only gone on the market since the football season has ended? That might be an indication that the sellers don't want potential buyers to see what it's like on match days.

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

Yes, and even in the 70s and 80s the fans were claiming "it's only a tiny, TINY minority", which is a natural sort of thing for supporters to say

I was in the area last year when a match ended with Millwall losing and it's not an experience I wish to repeat, and in addition to the chaos of match days and parking issues there's the resale value of the house to consider too

Personally I'd run a mile

Poor Millwall. We all knew it was them.

A friend used to take his Ds and mine to Millwall games when they were kids. I was very nervous the first time because of the reputation, but it was fine.

I used to live in shepherds drive and never experienced any problems, however this was 20 years ago so my knowledge of the area is very out of date.
There used to be a very heavy police presence on match days and the pubs would close if it was against one of the teams they thought could cause problems.
What I will say is the reason we moved was because I never felt entirely safe using south Bermondsey station.

The colleague claiming the bad reputation is from the 70/80s is not telling the truth.
Before having children I used to attend a lot of away games. 2010 or thereabouts I went to a Millwall game at the Den. We left early as I was with my Dad and his friend, both in their 60s and didn’t want to be kettled. Big mistake. The walk to the train station is caged but we were still pelted with stones. Lucky none hit us but the noise of them against the cage was petrifying. I probably went to about 30 football grounds around the country, Millwall was the only one where I felt fear.

I was dragged along to Millwall home matches my entire childhood (only just turning 40 so not that old!). I did not know any different but I look back as an adult and I’m horrified by the amount of racism and general violence. We was even caught up in a huge riot one year where the fans were setting cars on fire. You couldn’t pay me to live there.

You can only afford your dream house because it's so close to the stadium otherwise it'd be out of your price range.

So do you want your dream house or are you willing to have not a dream house but a dream location.

I would say it’s fine as long as it’s not a stadium that also hosts concerts as then you wouldn’t get a break from the noise

Wouldn’t bother me at all. There are some nice pockets around there. I’ve lived near to Stamford Bridge - BIG crowds. Tubes are packed and there is more foot traffic on match days but no problems.
Millwall did have a reputation and still has the hardcore fans, but so do all teams.
I’d snap it up.

I'd look on Rightmove and see what the turnover for houses on that road is. If they're always up for sale, people moving every few years, it's an issue. If they're not sold on a rotating basis, I'd say it's sound enough. We found a lovely house and had put an offer in but when I did some research, the house had been sold SSTC several times over the previous year and there was a farm nearby trying to get planning for battery chicken sheds.... hence we withdrew our offer a bit sharpish like the others before us had obviously done!

All this talk of parking issues: it’s London. There will be no on street parking in the area anyway. And who drives to matches in the London grounds?

It’s London. The Arsenal ground is slap bang in the middle of a residential area, there is always something attracting huge crowds on the trains and public transport, Marathon, demos, half term crowds to the NHM etc

A house as close to the centre as the Den is never going to be a peaceful suburban cul de sac of detached houses beloved by the MN demography who don’t answer the door and. Insider a security guard in M&S a sign of your life in danger.

It won’t be without challenges. I used to live / work by one of our famous London cricket grounds. The behaviour of cricket fans was revolting. Let’s just say they have all day to sit and drink while watching the game, and the hours are much longer!

But you want to live in / close to Central London so 🤷🏻‍♀️

OP: see if there is a local Facebook group that gives a clue, maybe see if you can get into the local Next Door.

I live in a much derided part of London and it’s interesting how our team pull a community together. Everyone talks to each other on match days, The local Wetherspoons was full of strangers chatting to each other, letting strangers kids stand in front to see the TV etc. And not just when they are winning (a rarer event til recently)

Is the house in Luton Town?