Saturday sees the Shots travel to East Anglia. Just forty-five miles away from where Norwich will be playing Wolves in the Premier League.

I’d heard conflicting things about ground admission prices but you can see here it’s £18 adults.

£21 for a seat, absolute joke from a village club. There’s segregation too following a bit of unrest when they hosted Southend. 🤔

This will be my first visit to Kings Lynn FC.

We hope that the catering will have improved but two years ago the club was visited by food hygiene inspectors and a report said:

“Major improvements are needed in three areas – hygienic food handling, cleanliness and condition of the building, and the management of food safety.

Areas which need improvement include ‘hygienic handling of food including preparation, cooking, re-heating, cooling and storage”.

THE WALKS STADIUM

The Walks Stadium is a classic looking football ground, which is of a good size for this level. Dating back to 1879 it is one of the oldest grounds in the country. On one side is the Grandstand. Although it only runs for around 2/3rds of the length of the pitch, straddling the halfway line, it is of a good size and looks quite imposing. This covered stand has a single tier of 1,200 seats, which are raised above pitch level, meaning that you have to climb a small set of stairs to enter it.

For most matches, fans are not segregated at the Walks Stadium. In the event that they are then away fans are housed on the Mick Wright Terrace at one end, as well as part of the North Terrace. In addition, a limited number of seats are normally made available to visiting supporters in the Grandstand for those who need to sit. 

HOW TO GET THERE

Well for me it’s a 437-mile round trip but whether by car or train, this is where we are heading, look, past Cambridge and up to a bay near the North Sea.

Judging by these maps, I’m assuming that from Kings Lynn railway station, the ground will be reached by footpaths walking through a park, not dissimilar to Eastleigh.

Kings Lynn Railway Station is a 5-10 minute walk away from the ground.

It is served by trains from London Kings Cross. On exiting the station turn left and where you see a church in front of you (and where the roads bends around to the right), take the pathway around to the left and walk through the park. You will soon see the ground over on your right.

There is no car parking available at the ground for visiting supporters, however, there is plenty of street parking available in the local area.

And you will see that behind the railway station us a Morrisons, ideal fir stocking up with cases of drink for the train journey back to London Kings Cross and beyond.

AWAY DAY PUBS

These hostelries are all in the town centre and not far from the football ground. And as I said, the Morrisons behind the train station looks ideal for refreshments for the train journey back.

Crown & Mitre
(Review by John English)

Lovely old 1600s pub, nice food and beer, originally built as a house, well worth a visit. The current landlord has made a model of Lord Nelson’s HMS Victory which is on display behind the bar (the landlord got feed up of cleaning the ship and so made a display cabinet to house it).

There is an electric industrial lever switch on a board (in photo) that was used to turn on and off the power supply to the LINPAC factory across the river from the Crown and Mitre.

There is also a wood lathe that the landlord used before the factory closed. The ferry is still in use today from across the river and calls at the Pub next door. There is much to see in the Crown & Mitre. Good ales also.

THE EAGLE

(Review by Johnny Burke)

A chain pub with an absolutely huge, partly covered garden, if you’re into sports this is the place to be as there are TV screens on pretty much every wall it’s almost like wallpaper. The drinks selection wasn’t the best but it was a Monday which meant there were a few things off the menu due to stock running out over the weekend.

I’m not usually a massive fan of Stella but with the lack of selection I went for it and it was a surprisingly good, crisp serve. The bartender lady was super friendly and was still delivering drinks out to the (covered) garden even during a monster flash flood rain storm, true commitment to the cause, the woman deserves a pay rise!

THE GATEHOUSE (Hungry Horse chain)
(Review by Angie Haveron)

Friendly staff, nice food, not everything available sign of the times. Average servings but on par for pricing is good. Well spaced out for eating. Parking in front and Travel lodge to the side.

Good selection of vegetarian food and it was fantastic value really decent food and love that half is adult and half is family so not had to be near screaming kids! Halloumi and chips very crisp, not greasy. Staff are friendy and place is clean.