Norwich City

[Glenn]

The Ground

Note this is based on Rovers visit to New Years Day on 2002 and as the South Stand was due for either rebuilding or major improvements in the near future it may now be completly out of date.

Carrow Rd is an all seater stadium and away fans are allocated part of the covered South Stand which runs alongside the pitch. The stand is quite old and lacking many facilities found in more modern stadium.

Food is available (under the stand) which includes the excellent Hollands Pies. Smoking is allowed, but beer is not available. The seats whilst being plastic are remarkedly uncomfortable, and a large number of seats have views obscured by some large supporting pillars.

The ground is about 15 mins walk from the city centre and about 5 from the station.

Pubs

The entire city seems to welcome away fans and with over 200 pubs it

offers a huge choice. An excellent pub guide for all of Norwich can be found at http://www.norwichpubs.co.uk

There are quite a few pubs within a few minutes walking distance of the ground and everywhere we went was dead friendly.

One pub that is popular with away fans that we have been unable to comment on is The Compleat Angler which was closed during our last visit.

Of the ones we did try.

The Dragon's Cave

The Dragons Cave can be found on the corner of Carrow Road and Kings Street just after the small lift bridge over the river that you will pass just before the ground (if arriving by car).

This was a medium size pub with very friendly staff, large screen Sky Sports and a pool table around the back.

Lager was around £2 a pint, but unfortunately it was served in plastic glasses and whilst there was a selection of bitters (including Boddingtons) no Real Ale was available.

Be warned if you are attempting to meet people here as no mention of the pubs name can be found on the exterior. The pub has a small car park out front and a slightly larger one around the back, but both are reserved on match days.

The Ferry Boat

Located a few hundred yards along the Kings Street from The Dragons Cave it is possibly one of the most deceptive pubs we've seen. On entering the front door it appears to be a VERY small 'local' however a small door leads onto a corridor with a couple more larger rooms, one with a large screen TV and another with a large stone floor aimed at a families and dinners.

It also has a beer garden overlooking the river.

A selection of bitters (Greene King) and lagers was available and was thankfully served in real glasses. The food looked excellent and wasn't too expensive.

The Coach & Horses

The Coach and Horses can be found on Thorpe Street which runs parallel to the railway (on the opposite side to the ground). The pub is very close to both the station and the coach parks so often gets very busy with both home and away fans. Whilst much of the memorobilia adorning the walls is rugby related, on match days this is definately a football pub. A range of Real

Ale was available (in real glasses) and some good looking food (they also have a special 'Football Menu'which is mainly burgers, sandwiches and chips and was quite expensive .

The toliets also had big chalk boards encouraging you to abuse your opponents in a non-destructive way.

There is a small (full) car park out front and a few tables.

The Clarence Harbour

Located just a hundred yards or so from the ground it is located on Carrow Road nearest the Away end of the South Stand it can get VERY busy in the run up to kick off. There are 4 real ales on offer and a hand pump Mild. The Clarence Harbour also sells their own home brew "On The Ball" brewed by the "Canary Brewing Company". Unfortunately plastic glasses are used but

it is nice to have a pub close to the ground were home and away fans can happily mix. Inside is large, but its normally packed solid and normally people spill out onto the veranda and car park.

Sky sports is available inside and the bar service was very quick and this is another pub with an abuse your opponents style chalk board in the gents.

The pub has a car park which is on a first come first served basis however if you do park at the pub they do like you to buy a pint in the bar.

Food

Burger vans can be found outside the ground (as is to be expected). These can be found by the ticket office, outside The Dragons Cave and outside The Clarence Harbour. For those wishing to eat something more substantial there is a Frankie & Bennys around the back of Morrisions. There is a Kentucky Fried Chicken two minutes away from The Compleat Angler (head down Prince of Wales St away from the station).

Travel

Unless you happen to be coming from Cromer you are likely to encounter the A47 which acts as a bypass around the southern edge of the city. Exit the A47 onto the A146 and head towards the centre. After traveling along the A146 for nearly 1 mile turn right onto the A1054. At the roundabout go straight on still following the A1054 and then take the first right onto the A147. When the A147 bears right Carrow Road should be straight ahead, just across the river.

There is no parking available at the ground but there is parking available in front of the County Hall on Martineau Lane which is quite close to the ground (a mile or so) and cheap at only £1 and is well signposted on the route into the ground. Other options include independant 'Match Day' car parks on the Riverside Park, but these can take a long time to get off as the Police close the road for a while after the game. Note Morrisions (which is right opposite the ground) DO NOT allow football parking when they are open.

Free street parking is available around the station area, but watch out for permit only schemes on the roads around the ground.

The closest station is Norwich (known as Norwich Thorpe many years ago),

which is about 10 minutes walk away. Leave the station via the main exit

and turn left through the industrial wasteland and past the Riverside development. Follow the River to Carrow Bridge and the ground is easily visible from here.

Fans/Stewards/Police

Fans were very welcoming in the pubs before hand, police were numerous but low key.

Pics

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Websites

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[Glenn]

Important Update

I've just had it confirmed that the South Stand has indeed been rebuilt and no longer has obstructed views or uncomfortable seats.

Also, the Clarence Harbour is no longer there (shame, becuase it was a bloody good boozer).

[Scotty]

A useful link for anyone wanting to stay overnight in Norwich:

Hotels near Carrow Road

This hotel in particular does special rates for away supporters:

Norwich Sport Village Hotel

[Ben-2000]

Tickets will be £29 !!!

[Ben-2000]

Sorry it's £26

The girl on the Ticket line at Norwich gave me the wrong info.

[BRFC4EVA]

Our allocation is only 820 also!! Boy even our away support is going down and down. I hope we sell this out quick and get a 2nd allocation.

[Scotty]

A quick update after our weekend in Norwich.

The hotel we stayed at, the Sport Village, was an odd cross between the hotel in the first series of Crossroads and the one featured in the Alan Partridge series. The sporting facilities looked good, the staff were very friendly, but the rooms were poor and dirty. I don't think I'd stay there again.

We found a couple of good pubs on our travels. The Bell in the centre of Norwich is a big Wetherspoons but it seemed to have a good atmosphere and wide mix of people in it. Just round the corner was the Gardeners (I think) which was more commonly known as the Murderers! Don't be put off by the name though, it was a good little pub.

The "official" away fans pub was The Compleat (sic) Angler which was fine apart from the plastic glasses. The walk from there to the ground took you through "The Riverside" which is a new Docklands development with lots of new bars and restaurants. We stopped off here at another huge Wetherspoons pub, Lloyds, that was packed and all that you'd expect.

The concourse at the ground itself was far too small and it took me the whole of half-time to get from my seat to the toilet and back. No chance at all to get a beer in. I did have a pre-match pie though and it was far better than the usual fayre you get at grounds.

[CAPT KAYOS]

And further

Adding to those already from Scotty - for you real ale drinkers there is a pub called the 'Coach and Horses' which has its own brewery on site with its own good ales (can't remember the names) and well worth a visit they errect an outside bar for when Norwich play at home - also the Mustard Pot (Norwich fans pub but ok to go in) which are both close to the Cumberland (sausage) Hotel where we stayed, which is only a short walk (10mins) from the centre and the Riverside Complex and the Ground.

As for the Cumberland Hotel, can recommend it for the Football special (2 nights with breakfast) and fairly quiet in terms of not hearing other guests etc in their rooms - adequate breakfast (kippers and smoked haddock on offer) and has a restaurant (Cape Dutch) attached which we didn't try so can't comment but the breakfst was abit steep if you where non-resident. As for the bar though - there wasn't much choice for the draft selections and it was an expensive £3.00 a pint -but not too bad due to the two being fairly close above. There is also a Chinese/Cantonese Restaurant across the road which is recommended by the locals(again we didn't try) but we did find a good indian 'The Prince of India' in the centre which we do recommend.

Norwich is a bit strange really as it doesn't have the 'City' feeling and its not a very big centre - however we where told that it does get a bit rowdy and there is normally alot of trouble in the Riverside complex after the games due to the younger generation (scroats) going looking for trouble and not neccesarily being football fans - although we didn't see any and the locals seem to be mostly quite amicable there was quite a large presence off Police on Friday night and an unusual amount of the younger generation wandering about the pubs (alot looking under age).

For the shoppers amongst you , there is a faily big Shopping Arcade under the Castle but not really many shops on count bu its not a shopping mecca.

All in all an enjoyable weekend was spent and hope we have the chance of a revisit fairly soon.