Please log in or register. Registered visitors get fewer ads.
Watford Awaydaze
Watford Awaydaze
Thursday, 21st Aug 2014 17:10 by Tim Whelan

Our visit to Watford is on Saturday, with a 3pm kick off. You’ll find Vicarage road just to the west of Watford town centre.

If you’re coming by car you need to leave the M1 at junction 5 and take third exit off the roundabout, A4008 (Stephenson Way), signposted Watford Town Centre. At the next roundabout follow signs to Town Centre, and immediately in front of you is the Harlequin Centre. Stay in the middle lane of the three lane carriageway on ring road, and after the second set of traffic lights (Watford Springs on your left), move into the left lane and take the turning signposted Hospital and West Watford.

Then follow signs to Rickmansworth / West Watford A4145, take left hand lane and bear left at traffic lights and you’ll get to the ground. The floodlights are visible from some way off, but if you get lost you can look for signs to Watford General hospital.

There is virtually no street parking around Vicarage Road, as local streets are blocked by the police, and side streets fill up very quickly with home traffic. There are also some private match day car parks available at some industrial units near the ground, as well as the Vicarage Road Girls School, which is close to the stadium and charges a whopping £7 per car. As the ground is close to the centre of town, then there are a number of car parks in walking distance, The Church multi storey car park on the inner ring road costs £2.70 for 4 hours

The main railway station is Watford Junction, on the main line from Euston, but no main line trains will be calling there this weekend due to major engineering works. So the best bet is to get the local ‘Overground’ service from Euston to Watford High Street, which is a ten minute walk away from the ground.

There used to be a separate ‘Watford Stadium Halt’ on the Croxley Green branch, but I think this line is now disused. Watford underground station (on the Metropolitan line) is about a mile away, but take note that it is outside the one-day travelcard zones and you'll get a £10 fine if you don't buy an extension before you get to the station.

There are a couple of decent pubs in the town centre, including the ‘Moon Under Water’ (see above) and the ‘Hogs Head’ in the High Street. Also recommended are three real ale pubs near Watford Junction station, the ‘Estcourt Arms’, which you can find by turning left outside the station and taking the first left into St. John’s Road, the ‘Southern Cross’ in Langley Road and the ‘Nascot Arms’ in Stamford Road.

The best option near the ground is 'Oddfellows' in Fearnley Street, which is small but welcoming. One to avoid is the Red Lion, which is strictly for home fans only. If you need to get some scoff, there is a food court in the Harlequin centre, but I’m told the best option in the town centre is Dominic's Snack Bar in Merton Road, which offers decent food at moderate prices. Next to the ground you can find the excellent Fry-days Fish and Chips on Vicarage Road.

To comply with the Taylor Report, Watford had to re-build both ends of the ground during the 1990's. Away supporters used to have a long walk to the away end as you had to walk around some allotments, but this is no longer the case, as we now have the Vicarage Road Stand at the opposite end of the ground.

This stand is shared with home supporters, and the usual allocation is 2,200 seats, out of a total capacity of 17,400, though occasionally the larger clubs get the whole of this end. Being a new stand, the view from here is pretty good, but unlike home fans, we don’t have the privilege of being able to buy alcohol in our section, and the narrow concourse makes it hard to get to the serving hatches to buy any food.

Current ticket prices for away fans are £26 for adults and £15 or £10 for concessions. I presume the Leeds allocation has now sold out, as the tickets are no longer being sold on the official site. Home tickets are only being sold to fans with an existing ‘fan ID’, and they aren’t selling any new ‘ID’s for this game.

Watford have now began the process of re-developing the stadium, and have demolished the old East Stand, which had already been closed for safety reasons. They are in the process of building a new stand with a less than massive 3,100 seats, and which might be in use before the end of the season. They also hope to be able to fill all four corners at some stage, one of which would become the visitors’ section. So maybe we will get a decent ticket allocation in future visits to Watford.

Some of this rubbish came from www.footballgroundguide.com

Photo: Action Images



Please report offensive, libellous or inappropriate posts by using the links provided.


You need to login in order to post your comments

Derby County Polls

About Us Contact Us Terms & Conditions Privacy Cookies Advertising
© FansNetwork 2024