With this being our first visit to the Brentford Community Stadium and indeed our first visit to Brentford since the League One days 11 years ago, the change of location has changed the drinking pattern of both home supporters as well as away fans. Here we bring you a comprehensive guide.
Saints fans travelling to Brentford on Saturday who fancy a drink will be pleased to hear that there are plenty of options, however there are now two distinct drinking areas, which can be vaguely categorises as around the area of their old stadium at Griffin Park and around the new stadium at Kew Bridge.
Griffin park is around 15 minutes walk to the Brentford Community stadium and it still has three of the four famous pub on each corner boozers.
These are still popular with Brentford fans, and there are also plenty of pubs nearby, the general vibe is still a lively one, but it is far far easier to get a pint.
So for those who want to avoid queueing six deep at the bar, but still want a friendly lively football matchday experience, this is probably the area that you will want to be heading to.
Aside from the three pubs at the old ground a walk towards Brentford High Street will open up quite a few decent pubs, the Black Dog Beer House is recommended for those who like real ales.
Basically you will be spoilt for choice in and around the High Street, as a rule of thumb the nearer you get towards Kew Bridge the busier it will get.
The second distinct area is Kew Bridge which is virtually adjacent to the new stadium, the most obvious choice is the One Over The Ait, which is tucked away on the river next to Kew Bridge.
This is a Fullers Pub and has a good selection of beers, but with its location expect to pay Premium prices, it has a beer garden at the side, but doesn't seem to be a riverside pub, being set back a little from the river, as you would expect it gets extremely busy on a matchday being almost the closest pub to the ground.
If you want a riverside pub then staying on the North side of the river, head east to the hoity-toity Strand on the Green, here you will find The Steam Packet, , and The Bell. A bit further down are The City Barge and the Bulls Head — two pubs side-by-side in which apparently were the drinking haunts of Ant & Dec.
As you would expect the prices here may need you to take out a second mortgage.
The closest pub to the stadium is the Express Tavern and that is just about the busiest pub being close to Kew Bridge station.
For those that want to drink near the stadium in the Kew Bridge area, they are probably better crossing Kew Bridge, on Kew Green there are two pubs, the Cricketers to the right of the main road and the greyhound to the left.
Just a quick reminder that there are no trains between Clapham Junction & Kew Bridge this Saturday so you will need to either find an alternative route by train, to approach from the West, or take a tube, Gunnersbury is the nearest, but is closed after the match for an hour.
We have to thank the Brentford fans webzine Beesotted for the information, use the link below to visit the site which will give a much more in depth overview as well as their thoughts on the game.
https://beesotted.com/southampton-preview-and-pub-guide-may-2022/