Lincoln City are on the road for the second time this week, facing another trip down south to face Queens Park Rangers in West London.
Ahead of Saturday’s clash, we have the latest matchday guide to provide you with all the information our fans need for their travels.
Tickets
Despite the extravagant cost of tickets for this trip to QPR, with some adults paying as much as £41, City sold out their allocation of 1760 tickets within a couple of days of going on general sale. Gold members snapped up 1350 tickets from that allocation, with only 150 remaining after going on general sale just before our clash in the capital with Millwall.
On Monday 19th October, the Imps announced that all tickets for this fixture had sold out. To get to the Hoops away end, which is located on the back of Loftus Road, Imps fans are likely to walk down South Africa Road before jumping onto Batman Close to reach the away turnstiles.
Travel
By Train (2h40 to 3h40- 1-3 changes)
Unlike Tuesday evening’s meeting with Watford, a weekend trip to the capital makes a train journey a much more appealing and realistic option. It also isn’t an early kick-off like Millwall was, so there is more scope for the journey to reach the west part of the capital. Services to reach London King’s Cross include three direct trains before kick-off, which are approximately every two hours from Lincoln.
Alternatively, changes are required in Newark (typically with a walk between the two stations of Castle and Northgate) or Peterborough. Once reaching King’s Cross, there are a couple of tube routes to take to reach QPR’s Loftus Road. The Victoria and Piccadilly lines from King’s Cross St. Pancras open up options on the Central Line to reach White City, which is an 11-minute walk (0.5mi) to reach the ground.
A more direct and quicker option exists on the Circle or Hammersmith & City lines, taking around 20 minutes to reach Shepherd’s Bush Market. From there, the walk is just two minutes longer to Loftus Road. The first journey after the match is the 17:47 from King’s Cross, though that would require a massive effort to make it back into central London after the conclusion of the game.
Therefore, the first realistic service is likely to be at 18:39. There is one direct service that departs the capital at 19:43, before the final trip of the evening leaves at 21:03 to return to Lincoln at 22:56.
By Road (3h- 143 to 156mi)
Similar to Tuesday night, there are a couple of routes down to the capital, one of which takes you directly past Watford. Once more, the A46 is your friend to reach Leicester, then follow the M1 into London. Once you reach the end of that motorway, it’s onto North Circular Road (A406) and Westway (A40) to reach Wood Lane and South Africa Road to get to the ground.
Alternatively, you can follow a more local route out of Lincoln through Brant Broughton to reach the A1. It’s a similarly direct route following that main road, which does become the A1(M), then onto Watford & Hendon Way to follow the same route into West London as the one above.
Parking
Unsurprisingly for a capital location, parking in and around the ground is extremely limited due to matchday restrictions and no parking at Loftus Road itself. The main recommendation is Westfield London Shopping Centre at Shepherd’s Bush, with over 4000 spaces across its three car parks. Prices vary depending on which one you use, with B slightly cheaper, presumably due to its slightly shorter opening hours. However, it should still be more than long enough for City fans, and you should expect to pay around £10 for a 15-20 minute walk to the ground.
Some of the surrounding streets off Askew Road, including Curwen Road, have restrictions from Monday to Friday, meaning that the weekend appears to be unrestricted. As always, please properly read all signs before leaving your cars, and be mindful of residents if you are parking on these streets.
Food & Drink
Away Pubs
Once again, being in the capital means that there is an abundance of pubs that are more than welcoming of Imps fans. However, in terms of those close to Loftus Road, it seems our options are more limited. There are conflicting reports as to whether Belushis, an away only bar in Shepherd’s Bush, still accepts visiting supporters. Burnley, who were the last visitors to QPR this midweek, listed this as an option, so I’m inclined to think it’s still worth checking out.
One point I would like to make about food and drink options in the ground is that it is the tightest concourse I remember being in, even worse than Sheffield Wednesday’s ground, Hillsborough. So I would recommend getting refreshments outside the ground.
Fan Zone
For the first time in what feels like a while, we do have a fan zone that accepts away supporters! Called the Academia FanZone, it is located on the Powerleague pitches on South Africa Road and is accepting of both home and away fans.
Specific details for the match are likely to be announced in the build-up to this game later this week. If their match against Middlesbrough is anything to go by, it should be open from midday, with several pre-match activities and challenges for supporters to take part in.
Matchday Programme
QPR partnered with Ignition Sports Media to make their matchday programmes available online. At £4 an edition, plus postage and packaging, these can also be bought at the ground on Saturday afternoon.
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