It's not that often these days that Saints fans get to go to new stadiums, but Saturday's visit to Brentford is a change from the norm, as we make our first trip the Brentford Community Stadium.
Saints last travelled to Brentford 11 years ago when they won 3-0 as they went on their late charge for automatic promotion, now the Bee's have moved from Griffin Park a mile or so up the road to their new ground near Kew Bridge.
So all the details you need if you are making the short trip up to West London.
The Stadium
Brentford had played at Griffin Park since 1904,but they made the switch in 2020 to the Brentford Community Stadium, not the most aspiring name to be truthful, but it certainly leaves you in no doubt what it is.
They had been planning the move 2002, so it took them a long time to get planning permission & funding in place, it is compact in that it's capacity is only 1,750 and it is wedged in a corner between three railway tracks and the M4 motorway.
The ground has four distinct stands — South, North, West, and East.
The premium seats, dugouts, and media seats are available on the south stand. The family area is located in the North stand, while the hard-core supporters can be seen on the West stand. The south-east corner of the eastern stand will also host the Brentford supporters.
Visiting Supporters Section
1,750 Saints supporters will be located in a compact corner of the ground partly in the East & North Stand's, looking at reviews by other club supporters who have visited the ground, it is not a ground that you can wander all the way around and to get in the away section you have to follow a particular route which takes you around some commercial buildings, so don't assume you can just walk around the ground from any direction to get in.
The stadium has the usual choice of food & drink available at most stadiums these days.
By Car
In theory this should be the easiest trip by road, straight up the M3 then along the A316 to Richmond, then bearing left following signs to Kew, the ground itself is just the other side of Kew Bridge.
The issue is going to be parking, there is little around the ground, nor are there any big car parks nearby. So it is going to be a case of suck it and see.
One option might be to park at Richmond and then go the one stop on the Tube to Gunnersbury, this tube station is only a short walk to the ground.
By Train.
Normally this would be fairly easy, train to Clapham Junction and then train to Kew Bridge, but there are closures on this line and replacement bus services in operation so it will take over an hour to get from Clapham to Kew.
The other option is to go into Waterloo and then get the tube to Embankment followed by a district line tube to Gunnersbury.
Eating & Drinking, Pubs etc.
There are a few pubs around the stadium, but as you can imagine they are quite busy, from looking at what other fans have done, crossing Kew Bridge offers the Cricketers on Kew Green on your right hand site, or turning left the Greyhound, both of these pubs are slightly quieter than those near the stadium and around a 10 minute walk from the ground.