We've ended up opting for seats at the front of the upper tier of the East Stand, which are roughly level with the edge of the penalty area and look like they are close to the action, but also offer an aerial view of the overall play. The East Stand is one continuous bank, apparently. The East Stand will get the sun in the summer, but the new roof is so large it should hopefully stop any glare.
Because it's a bowl the seats towards the corners are actually a bit closer to the pitch than the halfway-line seats (which were £900), which are set further back. We passed on the option of 1966 Club tickets at £1100 though the views looked very good. The top tier of the West Stand is completely corporate, with only the lower tier on offer to us, though this looked fine too.
After the reservation session we took on the really important business of assessing Stratford's boozers. First we tried Tap East in Westfield, which saved a nice pint of Rad Atom real ale and a bottle of Belgian Duval for Nigel. Does food too, but it's very small, and doesn't look like it could cope with 54,000 Irons fans singing songs and spraying beer.
We moved on to the Builders Arms, which was a bit run down but spacious, and had bottles of Doombar, but no real ale on draught. Our next stop was the Princess of Wales in West Ham Lane. There was only one old bloke having a half in the pub and the barmaid looked very surprised to see three customers enter. But it had Doombar on draught (could have been kept better though) and the wooden interior wasn't bad and it had lots of space for football fans.
In that vicinity there is also the Black Bull on the Broadway, the Queen's Head in West Ham Lane that has live music and the King Edward VII. There are also two more pubs in The Grove. So plenty of scope for research before the big kick-off at the OS.
2 comments:
I did fall for the sales pitch and bought a 1966 seat just off the half way line but only one seat from the aisle at £1100. Where my current seat at UP is 186 steps (yep, I've counted 'em) from ground level (Upper West Row BB), the new one is just two steps. Yep, two steps, since the external ground level is half way up the stand inside.
The Sales Place is pretty good, but there's a real lack of detail - for example, the retractable seats will have a flat or void area (suitable for a moat!) at the back before the upper tier starts, but the model you're shown has each side as a continuous bank of seats.
Let's wait until day 1 at OS to see what it really looks like, but it could be a series of disjointed seating sections with gaps between them. Although the final retractable seats don't go in until after the Rugby World Cup, that tournament should give us an idea of what we will be taking over.
Good points Shane - no voids mentioned to us. And expect a few of Ginge's clearances might end up in the voids too. They described the East Stand as a giant Kop, so it will be interesting how this looks. Pleased to get my younger 15-yr-old in 2016 daughter a ticket for £99 though a 21-year-old in our group has to pay the full £800. Onwards and upwards…
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