Luton v Portsmouth – Blues fans’ away-day guide

‘The Kenny’ is an old, all-seated stadium and has been the Hatters’ home since 1905.

It has a capacity of just over 10,000.

Blues fans will be housed in the Oak Road Stand at one end of the ground.

If this is your first visit then don’t be surprised when you find the away entrance on Oak Road is through a rather small alleyway, giving the impression that you are queuing to enter someone’s back garden!

Once inside, you will find that leg room in the stand is very tight, and supporting pillars can obstruct your view.

Pompey’s ticket allocation has sold out, so there will be no tickets on sale on the night.

Getting there – by road

If you are travelling by road you will almost certainly arrive via the M25 and M1.

The easiest route is to exit the M1 at Junction 11 and take the A505 dual carriageway (Dunstable Road) towards Luton.

Go through one set of traffic lights and at the first roundabout turn right into Chaul End Lane.

At the next roundabout turn left into Hatters Way.

While continuing down Hatters Way, the ground will be seen on your left, although it is not accessible from this road.

At the end of Hatters Way turn left and start looking for street parking from here on.

Take care to look out for residents only parking schemes.

For up to date, on-the-day traffic information, link to @PompeyfcCop on twitter.

Parking

Parking is a problem as there is none at the stadium and the surrounding streets offer little space and are usually filled early.

Oak Road is closed to traffic on match days and some of the streets near the ground operate a residents only parking scheme, so you will need to travel further away to find street parking.

There is parking in town near the station.

On past visits, Dallow Road Primary School (LU1 1LZ) and Beech Hill Primary School (LU4 8AR) have offered parking.

There are several car parks in town, but past experience has shown that some of them have to be booked in advance.

Try luton.gov.uk/parking for further information.

By train

The journey from Portsmouth to Luton will take about three hours.

Trains run regularly from London St Pancras to Luton.

However, due to scheduled evening engineering works it is unlikely that you will be able to get back to Portsmouth after the match.

Train details can be checked at nationalrail.co.uk.

If you do decide to travel up by train, it is just under a mile to walk from the station to the ground.

Turn right out of the station and along Station Road.

Go straight across at the traffic lights into Mill Street.

At the junction, where the road bends right, turn left into New Bedford Road.

Then turn right into Collingdon Street.

At the end of Collingdon Street you will reach a dual carriageway.

Turn left alongside the road and follow the pedestrian walkway and then bear right to go along the footbridge over the busy road.

As the footbridge passes over the roundabout it splits in two, bear right and this will lead you down into Dunstable Road.

Continue along Dunstable Road and the fifth left-hand turn will be Oak Road, where the away turnstiles are situated.

Where to eat and drink

On past visits no alcohol has been served in the away end.

The nearest place to the ground for a pint is the Beech Hill Conservative Club (18a Leagrave Road, LU4 8HZ).

A small admission fee is made for non members.

It has a small car park, for which there is a charge.

In town, The Brewery Tap (22 Park Street, Luton LU1 3FL) – a Green King pub – welcomes away fans.

Also in the town centre near the station is the CAMRA Good Beer Guide listed pub, The English Rose (46 Old Bedford Road, LU2 7PA).

Nearby is another real ale pub, The Bricklayers Arms, (16 High Town Road, LU2 0DD), which has a selection of real ales, ciders and lagers.

There’s also a Wetherspoons pub, The White House, on Bridge Street (LU1 1SA).