Weston Homes London Road: Peterborough United
From Peterborough United
Peterborough fans were less than pleased when the club announced in 2014 that they had reached an agreement with the Norwegian company ABAX to rename London Road Stadium to The ABAX Stadium. It put an end to a 101 year tradition for the ground, with it never having had a different name since it originally opened in 1913. Back then the stadium, such as it was, consisted of little more than a football pitch and a wooden shack that could house a mere 250 supporters. Some way from the 15,000+ it can house today and even further from the record capacity of 30,096 set in 1965.
Things could have been significantly different for the club had the council terminated their lease of the land during the Second World War. A different sports club were close to taking a 10-year lease of the land on which the London Road Stadium was built before two local businessmen paid the £50 rent owed to the council. In the 1950s the club bought the land the stadium was built on from the council and this allowed them to start major developments of the area.
The new trend for stadium naming rights clearly caught on with the club, despite the fan’s disapproval, as in 2020 they signed a ten year deal worth £2 million which will see the stadium referred to as Weston Homes Stadium.
Stats
| Weston Homes London Road Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Opened | 1913 |
| Capacity | 15314 |
| Average Attendance | 8844 |
| Record Attendance | 30096 (Peterborough v Swansea (1965)) |
| Pitch Size | 102 x 69 (7038) |
| Nickname | London Road |
| Former Name | London Road Stadium, ABAX Stadium |
| Owner | Peterborough United |
| Sponsor | Weston Homes |
| Clubs Hosted | Peterborough & Fletton United, Peterborough United, Peterborough City |
| Peterborough United Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1934 |
| Nickname | The Posh |
| Club Mascot | Peter Burrow |
| Rivals | Cambridge United, Northampton Town, Leicester City, MK Dons |
| Kit | Blue (Home) / White & Black (Away) / Blue & Red (Third) |
| Training Ground | Mick George Training Academy |
| Shirt Sponsor | Mick George Limited |
| Team Owner | Darragh MacAnthony, Kelgary Sports & Entertainment |
| Record Goalscorer | Jim Hall (122) |
| Record Appearances | Tommy Robson (482) |
Weston Homes London Road Photos
Football Club Stadium, Peterborough, Cambs. by David Hallam-Jones, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Credit: Ali Mahmoodi
Weston Homes London Road Seating Plan and Where to Sit
There are four individual stands at London Road. The Family Stand features two tiers that are separated by a row of executive boxes and, as the name suggests, is where families are encouraged to sit. The Main North Stand is a two-tiered section of the ground that is also the largest. Again, the tiers are separated by a row of executive boxes. The London Road Terrace is a non-seated section of the ground that welcomes some of Peterborough’s most vocal supporters. The East Stand is the newest section of the stadium and opened in 2014.
Peterborough United Ticket Prices
Prices for Peterborough United matches are a little convoluted because they give a £2 discount per ticket if you book in advance and a further discount for members. Your age will also be a deciding factor in how much you pay as will where you want to watch the game from.
Here are the cheapest and most expensive ticket prices for adults and concessions for Posh matches based on where you sit if bought in advance:
- Adults: £24 – £28
- Concession: £19 – £23
How To Get Peterborough United Tickets
Buying tickets for Posh matches is easy. You can get them online, over the phone, or by dropping into the box office in person. They will even post them to you if you cover the postage, and tickets booked over the phone will cost you £2.00 more per ticket. So do it online.
Where to Buy
Getting To Weston Homes London Road
Peterborough is in Cambridgeshire and is something of a commuter town to London, so getting to it isn’t too tricky. Here are the usual methods you’ll want to consider:
Train – The ground is about ten minutes walk from Peterborough Railway Station and that in itself takes between 45 minutes to an hour and a half to reach from London King’s Cross.
Bus – There aren’t really any buses from Peterborough town centre to the ground, but the bus station itself is located on Bourges Boulevard.
Car – From the South leave the A1 at Junction 17 and follow the A1139 to Peterborough. Leave that at Junction 3 then get onto the A1260 before heading to the A605 and following the signs. From the North exit the A1 and follow signposts for Leicester, Peterborough North A47. Get onto the A47 itself then leave at Junction 15 before getting onto the A1260 then the A605. From the East it’s a bit easier, exiting A47 at Junction 18 and then follow the A15 to the ground.
By Air – The closest airport to Peterborough is technically Nottingham Airport at around sixty miles away, though London Luton is about seventy miles away too so it’s really about which one you think is best for you.
Taxi – A taxi from Peterborough Railway Station to the ground will cost around £7.50 and take just over five minutes.
Parking Near Weston Homes London Road
There is no car parking at the ground itself on a match day but there are council car parks at Pleasure Fair Meadow and Railworld opposite the stadium.
Useful Resources
- Parking - Just Park
Weston Homes London Road Hotels
Peterborough is not without some decent hotels. Here are some of our choices:
Queensgate Hotel - £50+
Park Inn by Radisson Peterborough - £60+
Bull Hotel - £70+
Pubs and Bars Near Weston Homes London Road
Peterborough is a city with a massive 12th century cathedral. It also has a few decent drinking establishments dotted around the place. Don’t get the two mixed up. Here are some of the more football-supporter-friendly ones that you might want to look at:
Charters Bar
The Coalheavers Arms
The Peacock Pub
Facilities
The facilities at London Road are quite basic and ‘standard’, but that’s not to say they’re poor. The concourses are reasonably welcoming and you’ll still find somewhere to buy a drink or a bite to eat should you desire it.
Prices
- Programme: £3
- Pie: £3.3
- Cup of tea: £2.2
- Beer: £3.5
Hospitality
There is one main hospitality suite to speak of at The Weston Homes Stadium and that’s The Caroline Hand Executive Suite. You can choose from a one, two or three-course meal and will also have access to a pay bar facility. You can buy coffee, tea and cakes at half-time and you’ll enjoy a padded executive seat from where you can watch the match in comfort. Very posh.
Private Hire
The Weston Homes Stadium considers itself to be an important part of the local community, with the stadium open to being used for meetings and events however big or small. They have seven function rooms that can be used for lunches, meetings, private celebrations or even weddings, should you so fancy it. They seem to have you covered whatever the occasion.
Stadium Tours & Museum
At the time of writing there are no regular tours of The Weston Homes Stadium available for fans, nor is there a museum to speak of. They do run tours now and again, but only sporadically and usually to coincide with other events which are advertised at the time. We’ll update this section if anything changes on that front.
About Peterborough United
Although Peterborough United wasn’t formed as a football club until 1934, there were teams in the town that played at London Road Stadium including Fletton United. In 1921 the manager of Fletton, Pat Tirrel, told the press that he was looking for ‘Posh players for a posh team’, earning the club the nickname The Posh. Fletton reformed as Peterborough & Fletton United in 1923 before folding completely in 1932. Two years later Peterborough United was formed and during the club’s first match against Gainsborough Trinity the crowd could be heard singing ‘Up The Posh’, ensuring the nickname would stick with the club even to this day.
The Posh are one of the youngest clubs about, only joining the Football League in 1960. The club doesn’t have a huge degree of success worth speaking of. They reached the quarter-final of the FA Cup in 1965 and the semi-final of the League Cup in 1966. They won the Football League Trophy in 2014 and, before joining the Football League, won the Midland League six times between 1940 and 1960. Alex Ferguson’s son, Darren Ferguson, has twice been in the managerial hot-seat at London Road Stadium, whilst former Liverpool great and Match Of The Day pundit Mark Lawrenson managed the club for a year between 1989 and 1990.
Weston Homes London Road History
London Road Stadium was a somewhat basic venue for most of its existence, not even getting floodlights installed until 1960 – the same year the club joined the Football League. There weren’t any major redevelopment made to the ground until the club was promoted to the First Division in 1992. At that time they had to comply with the Taylor Report’s decision on changing all top-flight grounds into all-seater stadiums in the aftermath of the Hillsborough Disaster and the capacity required to meet the new standards expected of First Division stadiums. Interestingly the capacity was reached by buying second-hand seats from Leicester City and Millwall.
The lack of development of the ground during its early years was down to the fact that the club relied on financial investment from Peterborough Council before they could really do anything. It wasn’t until the club owned the ground in the 1950s that things changed on that front. The most recent development of the ground came in 2013 when The Moy’s End Terrace was knocked down, re-opening in 2014 as The Motorpoint Stand.
Future Developments
In 2009 the club’s chairman, Darragh MacAnthony, declared that a new stadium would be built for the club if they were able to maintain their Championship status for a number of seasons. They failed to do that, with the redevelopment of what was The Moy’s End Terrace in 2013 satiating fans’ desires for change.
Fast forward over a decade and the club were buying back their stadium and the land it is on from the council for a discounted price, while at the same time looking for somewhere to build a brand new 25,000 seater stadium fit for the Championship and, hopefully, the Premier League.
Embankment Stadium will be the name of Peterborough’s new home, located just on the other side of the river to London Road. The initial plan seems to have been agreed, but they are a ways off actually doing anything due to complaints from residents about green space being built on. They were supposed to have the stadium ready for 2023, but since that deadline has been and gone with not ground being broken, who knows…