The usual travel, ticket and drinking tips for the QPR fans heading to Stoke next Saturday for our Premiership match.
Ground Name: Britannia Stadium
Capacity: 28,383
Address: Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke On Trent, ST4 4EG
Telephone: 0871 663 2008
Ticket Office: 0871 663 2007
It's 160 miles and three hours (give or take) up the M1 and M6 from Loftus Road for this one and the ground is one of the easier ones to find when you do arrive. Leave the M6 at junction 15 and then join the A500 towards Stoke. Follow that past the junction with the A34 then leave at the next slip road to join the A50 towards Derby . Move into the left hand lane immediately and use the slip road with the ground visible on the right.
Worth bearing in mind, and we've been caught like this before, that if you're in the south car park then it's all rather different, and you're likely to be stuck in a big queue of cars through the village of Trentham. For that you'll need to turn right onto the A34 from the A500 instead of passing over it. Follow the A34 to the first roundabout and turn left onto the A5035 Longton Road which then goes over a small humpback bridge. You will eventually find a traffic light junction leading onto Sir Stanley Matthews Way which leads through an industrial estate to the ground and the south car park. Last time we did this on a Saturday the queues were horrendous.
There are plenty of little side roads waiting to be developed into industrial estates that we have parked on before, although apparently the parking wardens have become a little fussier since our last visit. The Screfix Direct base offers 300 spaces at £4 each located at the A50 end of the Stan Matthews Way , postcode ST4 8GR. There are large car parks at the stadium charging £5 – usual associated traffic problems before and after the match.
London Euston on either Virgin Trains or London Midland for this one, and as you'd expect for a long distance trip that's only ten days away a lot of the cheap tickets have gone. The value of booking early shown by the LFW crew £20 return tickets bought two months ago.
There is still a £31.50 return available, but you're leaving Euston at 0624 (arriving 0913) and coming back at 2013 (arriving 2244). £57.50 is the flat return rate otherwise.
From the station it's a two mile walk, mostly uphill towards the end. Shuttle buses run every 15 minutes from Glebe St (right out of the station, down Station Rod, right at the lights along Leek Road , over the A500 and into Glebe Street ) and taxis are readily available. To walk to the ground you can again go right out of the station and right at the lights along Leek Road but then go left on to the tow path by the canal and follow that until you see the ground and serving footbridges over the water and railway line. The guide says it's half an hour.
The official club coach, leaving Loftus Road at 9.30am and the Target Roundabout at 10am, has sold out.
The LSA coach leaving the Springbok at 8.30am has also sold out.
QPR have sold their entire allocation of tickets for this game, no tickets will be available to purchase on the day in the away end.
As ever with out of town grounds pubs in the immediate vicinity are few and far between. There’s a Harvester right next door. If you’re arriving by train the Beer in the Evening lists more than 20 pubs within half a mile of the station, click here for the full list.
Tweet @loftforwords