If you’re heading to Charlton Athletic tomorrow, then you might just want to have a look at our guide to the delights of South-East London.
If you’re driving it would be best to go round the M25 to Junction 2, rather than trying to get through central London. From there you need to follow the A2 towards London, and after around 12 miles the road splits with the A2 going off to the left and the right hand lanes becoming the A102. Follow the A102 towards the Blackwall Tunnel, but leave the A102 at the next slip road (sign posted Woolwich & Ferry A206). At the bottom of the slip road turn right at the traffic lights towards Woolwich/Charlton.
If you’re thinking of street parking you need to make a right turn as soon as you see the ‘Rose of Denmark’ pub. Parking at the ground is for permit holders only, and a local residents parking scheme in the streets immediately around the ground. Alternatively, you could try and park in the Industrial Estates to the north of the ground, which you’ll find by staying on the A206 and turning left once you’ve got past the Stone Lake Retail Park.
By train it’s pretty straightforward, as there are six trains an hour from London Bridge to Charlton station, which is only a few minutes walk from the ground. Four of these hourly trains start from Cannon Street, the other two from Charing Cross.
A good pub for away fans is the aforementioned ‘Rose of Denmark’, though bizarrely this becomes a home fans only venue after the game. Another option is 'The Antigallican’, a large pub which is also on Woolwich Road, but closer to the ground and the railway station, and between the two is the ‘Pickwick’, which usually admits away fans. If you’re looking for grub, there is a decent fish and chip shop at the top of Floyd Road, which you pass on the way to the away fans entrance.
At one time the Valley had the largest ground capacity in the country at over 60,000, thanks to the huge terrace which was built onto a natural hillside down the east side. But by the 1985 the terrace had been closed for safety reasons, and the club’s desperate financial situation led to a controversial move to Selhurst Park, as Charlton’s then owners wanted to sell the ground for housing. It was only after a determined campaign by the supporters that they finally moved back to the Valley in December 1992, and one of the first games back home was an FA Cup replay against good old us.
Once they were safely back the redevelopment of the Valley could begin, to bring it up to the standards demanded by the Taylor Report. The old terrace on the East side was replaced by a new stand and an extra tier was added to the north stand, including the two corners to either side. The current capacity is 27,111.
Inevitably, the away end is the oldest part of the ground, but the view isn’t too bad if you don’t get stuck behind the pillar which is directly behind the goal. On the plus side, the stewarding is relaxed, and they tolerate the fact that we stand throughout the game. There are two food kiosks selling the usual sort of football ground scoff, and if you’re very lucky, you might even be able to get alcohol inside the ground. The away allocation is 3,000 tickets for the bigger clubs who get the whole of this end.
Like most clubs, Charlon have a category system , and inevitably this has been categorised as a ‘Prime’ match. So it will cost us £30 for adults, with various categories of concessions at £22, £10 or £5. They are only selling home tickets to their own members and say that “The decision was taken after Leeds placed their allocation on sale to season-ticket holders and members rather than on general sale.” Er, isn’t that what we always do? There will be no tickets on sale for the away end on the day.
Charlton have all sorts of exciting plans as to how they could increase the capacity in the future. A second tier on the East Stand and a new South-East corner would take it to 30,900, and if they replaced the current away end with a double decker stand it would go as high as 40,600. So we may have an unobstructed view one day, but at the moment they don’t have planning permission for any of this, nor any idea of when it might actually happen.
Some of this stuff came from www.footballgroundguide.com.