QPR travel to Sheffield this weekend for their first away league game of the season. For those making the trip to Bramall Lane here's a few pointers.

Ground Name: Bramall Lane
Capacity: 32 609
Address: Bramall Lane Stadium, Sheffield, S2 4SU
Main Telephone No: 0870 787 1960
Ticket Office No: 0870 787 1799

By Car
Bit of a trek for Rangers fans this but relatively easy all the same. From London it’s north up the M1 and you might want to allow half an hour more than you normally would because there are two epic sets of roadworks on route firstly for eight miles past Luton and then for a similar distance past Nottingham - both boast ridiculous 50mph speed limits and Nazi style average speed check cameras so watch out for those. Bramall Lane is a much easier ground to find than Hillsborough and you should be parked up in the vicinity within ten or 15 minutes of leaving the motorway. Get off the M1 at junction 33 and take the first exit left at the top of the slip road onto the Sheffield parkway. That road essentially takes you all the way there, winding it’s way down the hill into town past Morrisons, ASDA and Matalan. The speed limit drops to 50mph about halfway down and then down to 40mph just before the city centre and there is a speed camera immediately after the drop down to 40mph so watch yourselves on that one. Once in the 40 limit stay in the two left hand lanes and go down to the Park Square roundabout next to the Ponds Forge swimming pool. Go straight on there (third exit, signposted ring road and Chesterfield) then follow the road up past the train station. Bear round to the right following signs for the ring road now rather than Chesterfield and Bramall Lane appears on your left a short time later but basically you should be looking for side streets to park in as soon as you’re passed the railway station. The ground is well sign posted.



Map:


Parking No parking at the ground for supporters so it’s street and public car parks only I’m afraid. There is plenty of that available right around the ground for early (before 1.30pm) arrivals but the police start to close the roads from 2pm so you may find it hard to drive around looking after that. Several local businesses offer their car parks up for a small fee and the city centre and all its car parks, pubs and shops is but a five minute walk away. To be honest though there is plenty of street parking and it’s a relatively safe place so that’s what I’d go for.

Trains East Midlands Trains from St Pancras for this one, journey time of about two and a half hours. There is currently a £42 return ticket available if booked in advance based on leaving London at 8.25am (arrives 10.46am) and going back at 5.27pm - there is a £46 return based on going an hour later in the morning.

If you’re walking straight to the ground from the station then come out of the main entrance and walk up to the main road on the ramp between the fountain and the giant steel blade water feature thingy. Cross the road and then turn left and follow the road that runs directly in front of The Howard past the Sheffield Hallam Student Union (formerly Pop Music centre) and the BBC Radio Sheffield building. cross the ring road when you reach it and the ground is visible directly in front of you over the tops of the houses. To get to the away end walk along the ring road up to the roundabout next to the church and turn left, go past the BP garage and we’re in that end.

Pubs
Most of the pubs in the immediate vicinity of the ground are home fans only although this isn’t an inhospitable place by any stretch of the imagination. Most QPR fans looking for a drink will try the town centre five or ten minutes walk away. There’s the usual Wetherspoons, RSVP and Lloyds Bar next to the City Hall concert venue if you like that kind of place (I don’t) while a little further afield fans of real ale and a wider variety of beers and spirits might like to try the Frog and Parrot on Division Street or the Devonshire Cat on Devonshire Green - both pubs have an excellent reputation and deservedly so. The Parrot will serve you a former Guinness world record holding beer that is so strong they only do it in third of a pint portions. Again you can probably walk to Bramall Lane in little over ten minutes from here.

Rangers fans arriving by train usually migrate to one of four pubs - The Howard is the most obvious, dead opposite the station, although it can get crowded on match days, the police like to pay very close attention to it and there have been problems in there in the past after the match. Slightly further up the hill is the Globe which isn’t a bad place and then further up still, across the road up the ramp and between the Library and the art gallery, there is the Graduate and then next to the Crucible the Old Monk.

The police attention on games in the city seems to vary massively - three years ago we went in the Monk before a game at Rotherham when Sheff Wed were at home and were welcomed warmly with our colours on with kids in our group. Two weeks later for Sheff Utd away the exact same police officers and doormen we’d spoken to a fortnight before refused us admission with colours and said no children were allowed inside. It really does seem to depend how they’re feeling. We’ve had problems trying to get kids (and I’m talking 14/15 year olds here not toddlers) into pubs even just to eat a meal on matchdays before so bear that in mind if the whole family is heading north.

Tickets
Rangers were allocated 2000 tickets in the lower Bramall Lane end of the ground and it’s unclear how many of these are left or if any will be returned for sale on the day - there’s no hint of it being sold out or all ticket for visiting fans yet so I presume you should be ok to buy on the day. Don’t quote me on that though. The tickets in this part of the world are very reasonably priced, so much so that it’s become a great place for a neutral like myself to go and watch a decent standard of football midweek, and Rangers fans will be charged £20 for adults and £12 for seniors, juniors and students. You get seven loyalty points for this trip but only if you buy in advance and add our club’s mean spirited £3.50 booking fee. The club coach is sold out.

Links
Detailed Ground Guide
Official Website

Photo: Action Images

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