West Ham (a)
Sunday 8th October 2.00pm
Here are a selection of the trains,
with
fares as at 28/09:
Leeds |
0805 |
0840 |
0905 |
0940 |
|
Kings Cross |
1635
|
1705
|
1735
|
1803
|
1835
|
Wakefield W |
0818 |
0855 |
0918 |
0953 |
|
Wakefield W |
1837 |
1904 |
1932 |
2006 |
2038 |
Kings Cross |
1037 |
1057 |
1134 |
1158 |
|
Leeds |
1855
|
1923
|
1949
|
2023
|
2053
|
Single fare |
£51.20 |
£49 |
£49 |
£49 |
|
Single fare |
£62.20 |
£49 |
£49 |
£49 |
£49 |
Fares
from Leeds (from Wakefield can be a bit less or more); italics
means can be bought on the day:
From £88.10 |
Split tickets |
From £98 |
Advance Singles |
£134 |
Super Off-Peak Singles |
Notes:
1. Use
trainsplit.com to find the cheapest deals available by splitting your
journey; don't buy tickets from them though, use www.tpexpress.co.uk
or
www.lner.co.uk.
2. Railcard holders get one third off the above prices.
3. Groups of three or more can get approx 20% off East Coast Advance Singles fares if booked at
www.lner.co.uk.
There are no services from Sheffield to St Pancras. You'd have to go via
Doncaster to Kings Cross and shell out over 100 quid. You could do it for around
25 quid with National Express if you don't mind the 0645 start and spending
eight hours sat on a coach.
Getting to the ground
There are basically two ways to get to the ground from Kings Cross. Firstly, you
can jump on a tube to Liverpool Street, and change there for the Central Line to
Stratford, from where it's getting on for a 20 minute walk to the away
turnstiles. There's a tube every 3-4 minutes, and the journey should take
you around 20 minutes. It'll cost you £2.80 each way with an Oyster Card
or contactless debit/credit card. The
alternative travel option is to catch a fast train from St Pancras to Stratford
International. It only takes 6 minutes, but at the same time there are only
three
trains an hour. The last one that you can catch if you want to be fairly sure of seeing
the kick-off is the 1320. The fare is £9.40 return, although you get a third
off this with a railcard or with a group of three or more. Stratford International is around 15 minutes from
the ground. The first train back is a very tight 1611, but then the next one's not
scheduled to be until until 1647. If you choose the
first option, and if you're heading straight to the ground rather than to a pub
and if you time it right, you can jump on a DLR service to Pudding Mill Lane.
It's only a two minute journey, and it's half the distance from there to the
ground than it is from Stratford. Trains are only every 10 minutes though, so
you may be better off just walking.
If for some reason you choose to drive there then you should be aware that the
only parking anywhere near the ground is at the Westfield shopping centre, and
it'll cost you a tenner.
After the game the police will probably "encourage" any fans who aren't on coaches to march on a
circuitous route to Stratford tube station, regardless of where they actually
want to go. It may therefore be a good idea to cover up and get your head down,
and to try to sneak away from the escort if you're not on the tube.
Pubs
Virtually all the pubs anywhere near the ground are home fans only. The one
possible exception is the
Sportsman, which is pretty close to
Stratford tube station. It's a Wetherspoons clone, so the beer and food are good
value, exceptionally so for the area. They certainly welcomed away fans pre-Covid,
but it's possible that they've since changed their policy. You may be able to sneak
into some of the others if you've got no colours showing. You could try the
Crate,
Howling Hops, or the
Lord Napier Star, which are in Hackney Wick. These all have a good selection of cask and/or craft ales, but
all are probably pretty expensive. Alternatively, jump on a tube to either
Liverpool Street, where there's a massive Wetherspoons in the station plus
numerous other pubs, including the Magpie and Lord Aberconway, close by. You'd
have to set off by around 10 past 1 to see the kick-off.
If you're down on the train you best bet is to either head for Liverpool Street
and the aforementioned pubs around there or just to drink around Kings Cross and
travel to the ground late on.
Note that, with the exception of the Sportsman, most/all the pubs anywhere
near the ground don't normally open until 12 on Sundays.
Pub map
Kings Cross pub map
Football Ground Guide
Stadium area map
London Transport