TICKETS
PRICES WILL RISE BY £2 ON MATCH DAY except for Juniors.
COACH
For the latest news and prices and pick-up points for the supporters club coaches click on: www.thelittlegazette.com/news/loadsngl.asp?cid=EDZ2&id=416189
CHELTENHAM THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS £19.00
Cheltenham on a Tuesday night is a difficult trip but how about this for an ideal solution thanks to help from SoL.
Get the train to Cheltenham Tuesday afternoon prices from £9 or £12.50 single, plenty of time for eating drinking or whatever, no trains back, but a luxury coach whisking you back to beautiful South East Essex for only £10.00 single.
Return fare for train out Coach back only £19 or £22.50 and you get back the same night (well early hours anyway)
A good deal for anyone working in London only having to take a half day off work, or for anyone Southend based that fancies the luxury of mixed transport.
Train Tickets must be bought in advance at www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk and can be bought on line at by phone.
For Coach tickets contact: www.theshrimpers-online.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6&Itemid=8.
Thanks, DoDtS, for the info on that great offer
If you want a cheaper option out and can afford the time go to www.nationalexpress.com they have a £3 fare out of Victoria at 15.00, in at 17.45.
www.megabus.co.uk still has a £1 fare left but as it leaves Victoria at 11am and arrives at 14.20 you'll end up spending any savings you make in the pub! That's the one I'm on. (To meet my daughter, you cynical lot!)
TRAIN
OUTWARD
London Paddington 14.45 arrive Swindon 15.40
Swindon 15.54 Cheltenham 17.03
Or
London Paddington 15.48 Cheltenham 18.03
Cost £12.50 single from London
There is a 13.48 option at £9 in at 16.03, but with nearly four houes to kick-off you'll spend any savings, like the megabus offer above, you actually make!
If you want to stay overnight have a look at the Short Breaks section below.
Return fares on the Wednesday are £12.50 on selected trains, but not the 5.56am into London, I know I'm on that one, you could get a week in the sun cheaper!
From Cheltenham on the night the 22.00 from Cheltenham gets into Paddington at 00.34, but you're not going to make the 22.00, you've probably missed the last tube and would miss the last train back to Southend Vic.
So it's really the mixed transport offer above or scrounge a lift!
To avoid hidden charges, for all train bookings to Cheltenham go to: www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk
Cheltenham Station is over two miles from the ground, so best to jump in a taxi or a bus right outside will get you to the high street. (See 2nd paragraph below.)
If you are going to embark on the 35-40 minute walk then turn right out of station car park and follow Queens Road for around half a mile. At end of Queens Road and turn left into Lansdown Road. At the next (Montpellier) roundabout, turn left into Montpellier Walk, (which later becomes the Promenade). At the end of the Promenade, turn right into the High Street.
Go along High Street for around 100 yards and then turn left into Winchcombe Street, (by a branch of the Cheltenham & Gloucester Building Society, if it hasn't gone bust). Continue straight along Winchcombe Street and into Prestbury Road. Straight across the next roundabout and then first right into Whaddon Road. The entrance to the away end is down on the left.
(All prices and times given are correct as of Tuesday November 18 2008)
ROAD
Fill in the details from your home postcode to Cheltenham Town FC here for a full route plan www.theaa.com/travelwatch/planner_main.jsp but for an edited version;
Approx. 145 miles; 2 hours 50 minutes.
Leave the M5 at Junction 11 turning right towards
Keep on up this road, and you will come to a big roundabout, where you will see a McDonalds on the corner. Go straight across this roundabout and continue up this road going over a double mini roundabout. Keep going for about 300 yards and then turn right into
Turn right into Albert Road (signposted Gloucestershire University) and at the bottom at the roundabout turn left into Prestbury Road, (the ground is signposted from here), and then further down Prestbury Road, turn right into Whaddon Road.
The ground is down on the left.
There is no usable car park at the ground and nearby street parking is limited. The Parklands Social Club does allow some parking at £4 per car.
Otherwise there is a free 'Park & Ride' service to the ground operating from Cheltenham Racecourse, which is well signposted around the town. Journey time on the 'Park & Ride' service is obviously dependant on traffic, but is around ten minutes on average.
FOOD AND DRINK
There is a club bar at the ground called the Robins Nest which allows in small numbers of away fans for a small admittance fee, however if you do get to town early The Moon Under Water off the High Street in Bath Road is one of the better Weatherspoons. There is the usual choice of pub grub there and as it's Tuesday it will be cheap meat from 3pm then walk it off, 20 minutes from the ground.
The Cotswold pub in Portland St., again off the High St, and on the way to the ground, had Bishops Tipple and a guy singing the Blues the last time I was there, but that was a Friday!
For many more choices, with full maps and directions, the Pub Crawl in Cheltenham here: www.southendunited-mad.co.uk/news/loadsngl.asp?cid=EDW8&id=415408
SHORT BREAKS
If you require hotel accommodation in the area then first try a hotel booking service provided by Football Hotels who are powered by Activehotels, who specialise in locating accommodation near or within a short travelling distance of the football ground. They also have the added advantage over some other hotel booking services that you pay on departure. Yes, this site will earn a small commission if you book through them, but it will go to help with the running costs of keeping the Guide going. To access their Cheltenham page click here.
As ever, whatever time you get there and however you go, be safe and enjoy the game.
(Thanks to the Internet Ground Guide, http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/town/park/yfh45/chelten.htm, and DoDtS's excellent Shrimperzone Away Travel section, www.shrimperzone.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=24, for their help in preparing this article.)