Centres of excitement and culture, but also sources of disruption and noise, locals share mixed reviews about stadium life.
With seven premier league football teams and twenty-one stadiums, London is a hub for thousands of sports fans every week.
These venues bring extra cash, business and buzz to areas across London. Cafes, merchandise stalls and corner shops all have queues out of the door on match days, and the noise of chants and singing can be heard for miles.
Ideal for some, but with affordable housing in short supply, it’s not just football fans who choose to live around stadiums. Residents often find themselves severely impacted by the accompanying disruption.
Redditors shared their experiences of living around the sporting hotspots. One person who lived on Hornsey Road (the same street as Arsenal’s Emirates stadium) for fifteen years said: “Occasionally it was a massive pain but the rest of the time it was a great place to live so I sucked it up”.
Another who lived near the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium shared: “We didn’t really bother going out around kick off/full time as roads would be either closed, gridlocked and public transport was full to the brim”.
Another local found that matchdays brought “overcrowded tubes or stations closed, traffic jams, stuck buses, no fun on [the] way home from work in [the] evening, local spots all rammed”.
So, what’s the solution? Where’s the balance between peace and quiet for local people and the importance of these spaces?
Maybe innovation is the answer for Londoners.
Arsenal fans walk down Hornsey Road towards the Emirates Stadium.
Next Home Game is an app which displays a countdown to kick-off at stadiums across London and the UK, along with notifications for the start and end of games.
Its founder and developer, Richard McKechnie, told City News the app had received “really amazing feedback” from residents around North London, who have started using it to manage their plans around match days.
Of course, there are many ways of finding out when games are on. City News visited the Emirates on the day of the North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and one fan told us: “I personally wouldn’t use it […] I just use Google”.
Mr McKechnie acknowledged that football fans found the app less useful, with more positive feedback from local residents instead.
Beyond football, this app is an example of how innovation and new methods of coping with London life can prevent ‘NIMBYism’ – or ‘Not In My Back Yard’.
Venues across London are facing concerns and complaints from locals about their plans to open later or expand their businesses.
It might be useful, however, to look at how those around stadiums, some of the loudest and busiest areas in the capital, are learning to use technology like Next Home Game to co-exist better with their busy surroundings.
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Standfirst
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HeadlineAppy to Help: New Tool Takes the Sting Out of Matchdays
Short HeadlineNew Tool Takes the Sting Out of Matchdays
StandfirstNew tech might be a blueprint for residents in busy areas of the capital
Centres of excitement and culture, but also sources of disruption and noise, locals share mixed reviews about stadium life.
With seven premier league football teams and twenty-one stadiums, London is a hub for thousands of sports fans every week.
These venues bring extra cash, business and buzz to areas across London. Cafes, merchandise stalls and corner shops all have queues out of the door on match days, and the noise of chants and singing can be heard for miles.
Ideal for some, but with affordable housing in short supply, it’s not just football fans who choose to live around stadiums. Residents often find themselves severely impacted by the accompanying disruption.
Redditors shared their experiences of living around the sporting hotspots. One person who lived on Hornsey Road (the same street as Arsenal’s Emirates stadium) for fifteen years said: “Occasionally it was a massive pain but the rest of the time it was a great place to live so I sucked it up”.
Another who lived near the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium shared: “We didn’t really bother going out around kick off/full time as roads would be either closed, gridlocked and public transport was full to the brim”.
Another local found that matchdays brought “overcrowded tubes or stations closed, traffic jams, stuck buses, no fun on [the] way home from work in [the] evening, local spots all rammed”.
So, what’s the solution? Where’s the balance between peace and quiet for local people and the importance of these spaces?
Maybe innovation is the answer for Londoners.
Arsenal fans walk down Hornsey Road towards the Emirates Stadium.
Next Home Game is an app which displays a countdown to kick-off at stadiums across London and the UK, along with notifications for the start and end of games.
Its founder and developer, Richard McKechnie, told City News the app had received “really amazing feedback” from residents around North London, who have started using it to manage their plans around match days.
Of course, there are many ways of finding out when games are on. City News visited the Emirates on the day of the North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, and one fan told us: “I personally wouldn’t use it […] I just use Google”.
Mr McKechnie acknowledged that football fans found the app less useful, with more positive feedback from local residents instead.
Beyond football, this app is an example of how innovation and new methods of coping with London life can prevent ‘NIMBYism’ – or ‘Not In My Back Yard’.
Venues across London are facing concerns and complaints from locals about their plans to open later or expand their businesses.
It might be useful, however, to look at how those around stadiums, some of the loudest and busiest areas in the capital, are learning to use technology like Next Home Game to co-exist better with their busy surroundings.
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