Carrow Road: Norwich City FC
For plenty of people who have grown up in the Premier League era of top-level football, Norwich City will mostly be associated with their celebrity chef fan and joint-majority shareholder Delia Smith. More specifically, people will likely remember half-time in the game between the Canaries and Manchester City in 2005 when Smith got on the PA system and, definitely not drunk, shouted ‘where are you? Let’s be havin’ you!’ to the Norwich fans.
There is, of course, so much more to Norwich City than a celebrity chef and a half-time rant, not least of which is their famous stadium Carrow Road. The club moved to the stadium when the Football Association declared their old ground, The Nest, was unsafe to play in after subsidence caused one corner of the pitch to collapse.
Carrow Road, named after the street that surrounds three sides of the ground, was built within 82 days in 1935 and got the Royal seal of approval in 1938 when King George VI turned up and saw 20 minutes of the Canaries game with Milwall. It was the first time that a ruling monarch had ever watched any of a Second Division match.
Stats
| Carrow Road Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Opened | 1935 |
| Capacity | 27244 |
| Average Attendance | 25962 |
| Record Attendance | 43984 (Norwich City v Leicester (1963)) |
| Pitch Size | 104 x 68 (7072) |
| Clubs Hosted | Norwich City |
| First Fixture | Norwich City v West Ham (31/08/1935) |
| Norwich City Stats | |
|---|---|
| Year Founded | 1902 |
| Nickname | The Canaries, Yellows |
| Club Mascot | Captain Canary & Camilla Canary |
| Rivals | Ipswich Town |
| Previous Stadiums | Newmarket Road, The Nest |
| Kit | Yellow & Green Hoops (Home) / Dark Green (Away) / Peach (Third) |
| Training Ground | Colney Training Centre |
| Shirt Sponsor | Blakely Clothing |
| Team Owner | Delia Smith & Michael Wynn Jones |
| Record Goalscorer | Johnny Gavin (122) |
| Record Appearances | Kevin Keelan (673) |
Carrow Road Photos
By Mls11 at English Wikipedia [Public domain]
Martin Thirkettle [CC BY-SA 2.0]
Martin Thirkettle [CC BY-SA 2.0]
Martin Thirkettle [CC BY-SA 2.0]
By Taken by me
Carrow Road Seating Plan and Where to Sit
Carrow Road is a standard, four-sided stadium, though three of the sides are actually linked together in a bowl style. The other corner is taken up by a Holiday Inn, but we’ll tell you a bit more about that in our ‘Hotels’ section.
- Regency Security Stand – Originally called ‘The River End’ and still known as that by the fans, this two-tiered stand was re-built in 1979. It houses the Delia Smith Bar and Restauraunt as well as the VIP Lounge.
- The Barclay – Despite its name sounding like the stand should be sponsored by a bank, it’s actually named in honour of Captain Evelyn Barclay who was a former vice-president and who gave the cost of the roofing of the stand. It was re-built in 1992 as a two-tiered structure.
- The Geoffrey Watling City Stand – With the lowest capacity of all of the stands, this houses the director’s box, hospitality suites and the press area. It was re-built in 1987 following a fire and was named after former club President Geoffrey Watling. The area between the Barclay and The City Stand is known to supporters as The Snakepit.
- The South Stand – Sponsored by a local department store called Jarrolds for over a decade, this single-tiered stand is once again known simply as the South Stand, despite new sponsorship. There is a section between this and The Regency Security stand called The Community Stand. That contains great facilities for disabled fans. The South Stand is where the away supporters are located.
Norwich City Ticket Prices
In a bit of a re-shuffle that was unpopular with some fans, Norwich City now offer reasonably priced tickets for their ground, but you have to be a member to get the best opportunities. The majority of their seats are sold to season ticket holders so casual fans aren’t guaranteed a seat. Membership costs £25 for adults and £15 for concessions, after which the ticket prices are capped as follows:
League Games are categorised as either A+/A/B/C depending on the quality of the other side
- Adults – £40/£36/£31/£26
- Over 65’s/Under 21’s – £30/£26/£21/£16
- Under 18’s – £25/£21/£16/£11
- Under 12’s – £15/£13/£11/£6
How To Get Norwich City Tickets
The easiest way to find tickets for Norwich matches is via the website. There you’ll be able to select the stand you’d like to sit in as well as the best area of the stand that’s available. Would you rather go in the Upper or Lower section of the Aviva Community Stand, for example? You can also phone the club’s box office directly or buy tickets in person from 9.30am until kick off on match days. One thing to bear in mind is that there may be some people offering tickets near to the ground on match day, but there’s no guarantee that they’ll be real so we advise you to proceed with caution on that front.
Where to Buy
Getting To Carrow Road
As mentioned in the ‘Private Hire’ section, access to Carrow Road is reasonably easy thanks to the links between the city and London, Cambridge and Ipswich. That said, it is Norwich that you’re heading to so don’t expect to be able to get there as easily as you might to some more centrally located grounds.
Train – Norwich City Train Station is just 10 minutes walk to the ground, so it’s an easy way to get there.
Bus – First Group operates both city and county-wide bus services to Norwich, so as long as you can get reasonably close to the city then you’ll be able to get a bus to within a mile of the ground.
Car – From the West you’ll exit the A47 onto the A146 and follow signs for Norwich and Lowestoft before seeing signs for the ground itself. From the South head to Norwich on the A11 and exit at Thickthorn roundabout onto the A47 before following signs to the ground. From Ipswich you’ll take the A140 until you meet the !47 then head towards Great Yarmouth. Finally from the East take the A47 to the A146 and follow the signs to Norwich and Lowestoft before you see signs to the stadium.
By Air – Norwich does have its own airport that is serviced by any number of popular resorts. You can then get a bus to the ground or a taxi.
Taxi – A taxi from the airport to the centre of Norwich will cost around £20, whilst from the train station to the ground it will cost you more like £8.
Parking Near Carrow Road
Match day parking at Carrow Road itself is restricted to pass holders, with pay on the day parking at County Hall car park, which is nearby. You’ll also be able to find some street parking not far from the ground, but you need to be careful owing to the city’s parking restrictions.
Useful Resources
- Parking - Just Park
Carrow Road Hotels
Most of the hotels will be in the centre of Norwich rather than really close to the ground, but don’t be afraid to look a little further afield if you’re after a real bargain. Here are some of our choices on the hotel front:
The Riverside Hotel Bed & Breakfast - £55+
Holiday Inn Norwich City - £75+
The Maids Head Hotel - £92+
Pubs and Bars Near Carrow Road
Norwich isn’t exactly shy of a few decent places to quench your thirst before the match, just make sure you’re picking the right pub for the sort of pre-game experience you’re hoping to enjoy.
St. Andrew’s Brewhouse
The Murderers
The Plasterers Arms
Facilities
Given the fact that Carrow Road has been steadily re-built from the 90s onwards, the facilities you’ll find in the stadium are of a good quality, if slightly aged in places. The concourses feature places to get a bite to eat and a drink, somewhere to place a bet and all of the toilet facilities you’d expect.
Prices
- Programme: £3.5
- Pie: £3
- Cup of tea: £2
- Beer: £4.5
Hospitality
Norwich City offer a number of different hospitality packages at Carrow Road depending on your budget and what you’re hoping to get out of your experience. You can sponsor the match itself, for example, which will see you receive hospitality for up to 13 guests. That will include being hosted by a club legend, champagne on arrival, a behind-the-scenes tour and a three course pre-match meal with complimentary drinks. You’ll also get half-time and full-time drinks and three car park passes.
Alternatives include sponsoring the match ball, enjoying the ‘Carrow Road Experience’ and enjoying time in ‘The Legends Lounge’ hosted by a club legend. All of the options will be a variation on the above and it goes without saying that, given Delia Smith’s association with the club, the food will be top-notch.
If you’re looking for something a little bit more down-to-earth than hanging out in a swanky box with former players then maybe the Top of the Terrace Suite is for you. You’ll get access to the glass fronted suite with a private table on which to eat your ‘Delia influenced’ carvery.
Hospitality is available match by match or seasonally.
Private Hire
With 17 function rooms, 41 executive boxes that are ideal for breakout sessions or smaller meetings, and a location that is a 5 minute walk from Norwich City Train Station, Carrow Road is an ideal location for any of your conference and corporate events. Located in the heart of Norwich with easy access to London, Ipswich and Cambridge, you’ll enjoy the perfect business environment at Norwich’s ground.
Stadium Tours & Museum
Norwich City offer a 90 minute tour that takes in the dressing rooms, the director’s box, the club’s trophy cabinet (doesn’t take long), the press room as well as a trip down the players’ tunnel to the team dugouts. You’ll end the tour in the club’s official shop where you’ll have the chance to buy some official memorabilia.
They seem to run fairly sporadically and with no real pattern, but dates are announced on the website with plenty of advance warning and tickets cost £10-£20 per person. The reason I list two prices, is because they have two different tours, one with food and one without.
About Norwich City
Norwich City Football Club was founded in 1902 and first reached the top-flight for in 1972. They’ve never won the country’s top division but they have twice enjoyed League Cup success – in 1962 and 1985 – and finished third in the Premier League in 1993. It was the first season of the newly invented league and Norwich were surprise title contenders before slipping away in the final weeks.
As well as enjoying strong support from within the city, Norwich also have numerous supporters clubs around the country. They have a surprising number of celebrity fans to boast of, with Delia Smith having already been mentioned. Stephen Fry has also spent time running the club in the past, whilst Myleene Klass, Sophie Ellis Bexter and even Hollywood star Hugh Jackman are amongst those that profess to have a love of the Canaries.
Carrow Road History
It is a point of sadness for some Norwich fans that the club no longer plays at a ground with as cool a name as ‘The Nest’. Alas they had to leave that ground, which was located in a disused chalk pit, when the Football Association declared that it wasn’t a safe location considering the club’s expanding fanbase. The fact that part of the pitch collapsed didn’t help matters much…
’The Nest’ might have had to close down, but Carrow Road would go on to create an exciting history all of its own. It was built in just 82 days and some of the club’s officials called it ‘The eighth wonder of the world’. During the 1980s and 1990s the original stands were gradually demolished and replaced with newer versions of themselves.
Future Developments
The club believes that there is room to expand the ground, but the likely cost will be around £30 million and that means that they have to wait until they’ve got a satisfactory amount of income before they can take the plunge. Despite early stage drawings being made my architects in 2022, it’s unlikely to happen any time soon.
Minor improvements were made to the stadium on a rolling basis from 2020-2023, including updating tech, audio digital etc., and some safe standing was introduced before the 2024/25 season.