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| The away end at Fleetwood, pictured in 2013. "Fleetwood Town 1 Oxford United 1" by quisnovus is licensed under CC BY 2.0 |
BN's Northern Correspondent has been on a reccy to Fleetwood:
Since moving to Lancashire nine years ago I've only been to Fleetwood 3 or 4 times, and I've never seen the football ground on any of those visits, so I thought I'd better go and check things out before next week's FA Cup match. I intended to go yesterday when the 'Cod Army' were at home in the big local derby against Blackpool, but the weather was awful, and the thought of walking round Fleetwood in a hailstorm didn't appeal, so I went today.
Like a lot of northern towns, Fleetwood has struggled a bit following the demise of its traditional industry, in this case fishing. The town's biggest employer now is Lofthouse's, maker of the famous Fisherman's Friend lozenges. Notable people from the town are Syd Little of Little and Large (did I say notable?) and operatic warbler Alfie Boe. Two of the more curious sights are an exact replica of the famous statue of Eros which sits in the centre of a roundabout on the A585 on the outskirts of the town, and a 93 feet tall sandstone lighthouse built amongst shops and houses.
The football ground, known as Highbury Stadium (good for a trivia question) is buried in the middle of a network of residential streets and adjacent to a park. You'd hardly know it was there unless it's a match day. The visiting supporters entrance is at the end of Park Avenue. Car parking is all on street, and according to the club's head of operations, there are no restrictions. He also told me that there were no disabled parking facilities due to the presence of the TV cameras - there will be extended highlights of the game on BBC and Football Focus will be presented from there on Saturday.
There's not much around the ground in the way of food or liquid refreshment, except the Highbury Chippy at the end of Highbury Avenue near one corner of the ground. The town centre is about 10-15 min walk from the ground and has the usual assortment of fast food outlets. The local Wetherspoons is The Thomas Drummond (a former Sunday School - funny old world isn't it?) in London Street, and the only chippy I've personally used is the Granada Fish Bar which was good. There's a MacDonald's at the Freeport Outlet village, where there is also a lot of parking. It's not far from the ground as the seagull flies but about 12 minutes walk.
Now, travelling there. The nearest and recommended rail station would normally be Blackpool North, which is at the end of the line from Preston. However that line is currently closed for improvements, and there's a rail replacement bus service in place. Leaving Hereford at 8:53 will get you to Blackpool North for 12:50. From Blackpool there's a bus to get you the final 7.5 miles to Fleetwood, or the option of a smart new tram service which is pretty good. However it all adds up to a bit of a pain, and it would be a pretty late return to Hereford. Or you could make a weekend of it and have a night out in Blackpool!
Traveling by road is relatively easy. Take the M55 off the M6 towards Blackpool , leave the M55 at junction 3 and follow the signs to Fleetwood. Google maps reckons about 194 miles. Postcode for the stadium is FY7 6TX.
As far as I know this information is accurate but please make your own checks.
So there we are. Fingers crossed that the weather is better next week as it can be pretty bleak on a bad day. On the other hand, when the sun shines the views across Morecambe Bay to the Lake District fells can be fantastic. If you're making the trip, have a great day out and a safe journey.
Come on you whites!