Top FIVE Things About Upton Park

[Cockneyboy311]

Some of you will give up supporting West Ham if or when we leave UP? That's the silliest thing I've heard on this forum. Yes I love our ground with all it's history etc but time moves on. If we went bust and ended up ground sharing with Dagenham I'd still be going.
Some of you lot are right sentimental old fools

[The Boleyn Hound]

Basic question, but who would have lived down Green Street in the 50s/60s/70s?
I am guessing a mixture of Ford Workers and dock workers, most of them white and from the area since birth? Or is this naive... were there also City workers, unemployed, failing west end stars, etc.?
And who were the first immigrants to move in, were there West Indians before South Asians?

Also, does anyone know what type of person now lives in the area? I know the obvious answer is South Asian, but does anyone know what sort of jobs they tend to have if they live in that area in 2012?

I'm not trying to make a point I am just interested.

Thanks.

But now to make a point: The areas I would call a ****hole are those where the whole town gets pissed every saturday and start fights on you to prove they're the big man in a small pond. London can be a violent city but I am always more worried about going out in these little provincial towns where points need to be proven every weekend. You will all know the type. I rarely see mass brawls in London unless it's teens.

I have seen towns up North where it seems the whole town is sat outside on a Tuesday afternoon drinking and throwing bricks cos there's nothing else to do. These are adults. That to me is a ****hole.

The people of UP I think live and work in the area, wheres the ****hole? A bit grimy yes, a ****hole, how exactly? Are they honest and hard-working, but poor? Has anybody bothered to find out?

[mushy]

Boleyn Hound.
yes there were West Indian immigrants that moved into the area in the sixties (largely gone now).
These days its Asian and the latest influx are from Eastern Europe, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.
The pubs are the hardest hit, not many Asian drinkers and the Eastern Europeans have yet to make pubs their own (apart from maybe the Central and the Duke -they cant afford pubs).

[Sweeney Bod]

Some of you will give up supporting West Ham if or when we leave UP? That's the silliest thing I've heard on this forum. Yes I love our ground with all it's history etc but time moves on. If we went bust and ended up ground sharing with Dagenham I'd still be going.
Some of you lot are right sentimental old fools

I do not think it is as black and white as that. Some, like me, will give it a go. However if the match day experience is something I no longer enjoy, I will stop going. I will always be a supporter

[The Boleyn Hound]

Boleyn Hound.
The pubs are the hardest hit, not many Asian drinkers and the Eastern Europeans have yet to make pubs their own (apart from maybe the Central and the Duke -they cant afford pubs).

And the M&M bar, which hosts a Lithuanian night every Saturday!!
But yeah I have seen the number of pubs closing down the Canning Town/Barking Rd areas. Massive shame, but if you're not offering what the locals want....

What sort of workers are these? Eastern Europeans i.e. they may be from one kind of country or another, but what sort of person are they?

[Cockneyboy311]

I do not think it is as black and white as that. Some, like me, will give it a go. However if the match day experience is something I no longer enjoy, I will stop going. I will always be a supporter

Fair enough Sweeney. Define "match day experience" for me though? Pubs near the ground? Atmosphere inside it? Travelling to and from the stadium?

[mushy]

And the M&M bar, which hosts a Lithuanian night every Saturday!!
But yeah I have seen the number of pubs closing down the Canning Town/Barking Rd areas. Massive shame, but if you're not offering what the locals want....

What sort of workers are these? Eastern Europeans i.e. they may be from one kind of country or another, but what sort of person are they?

I like them, my neighbours are Latvian and they could not be nicer,cant do enough for me and always stop for a chat.
Give me them over the chav British whites any day of the week.
Other Eastern European neighbours seem just as nice.All bar none are hard working and prepared to put the hours in.
Is the Lithuanian night any good?
May try it instead of the East Ham working mens club which is getting very tired and dated of late.
Its almost as if it does not fit the area anymore, which is a real shame.

[Major]

Fair enough Sweeney. Define "match day experience" for me though? Pubs near the ground? Atmosphere inside it? Travelling to and from the stadium?

C311

I think that we are all pretty sure that for those that want to stay, the match day experience is about your first two, we have been travelling to Upton Park for decades, all of a sudden its an issue. Christ my Grandad used to walk from Tate & Lyle where he worked, for a night match.

I think the more relevant answer to your question is for the people that want to leave, then you could see how much of the "match day experience" is likley to remain?

[flaresnslippers]

Last year was my 1st ST so only been to Upton Park on the one of games every couple of seasons, so don't have the same connection as a lot of you, and only ever been on match days..

So here is mine..

1. West Ham
2. Food choice (Silly one, but after having a few drinks, no matter what you fancy, you can get it)
3. Pubs (or offys on skint days!)
4. The "Don't kill your wife, let us do it" clock always makes me giggle

Can't think of a fifth...

Looking at that it is pretty much my matchday, walk past clock, pub/offy, food, West Ham

[morrisey is a hammer]

Its not just that we are moving, its we are or maybe moving to a athletics stadium. Its just not going to be the same. If we was moving to our own ground, built for football, i personally would be more liking the idea. So many clubs now think getting a big stadium grants them a place in the top 4, and that is just silly. Give me The Boleyn with the chicken run done up any day over that 2 bit half built looking Olympic stadium.

[Denbighammer]

Its not just that we are moving, its we are or maybe moving to a athletics stadium. Its just not going to be the same. If we was moving to our own ground, built for football, i personally would be more liking the idea. So many clubs now think getting a big stadium grants them a place in the top 4, and that is just silly. Give me The Boleyn with the chicken run done up any day over that 2 bit half built looking Olympic stadium.

[westham,eggyandchips]

Also if its ****hole that worries you, has anyone actually been to Stratford lately? it might have a shiny new shopping centre but its still rough as arseholes oh and someone got murdered in it a couple of weeks back, lovely area.

The ground has got nice toilets though (apparently).


Oh; and you are being a snob as you put it, as well as a disrespectful ****

Dont get your knickers in a twist mate. Its my view that the area around Upton Park IS a dive but I understand thats where people come from and are proud of that fact. Im proud my roots are from such a place steeped in history, but it certanly isnt the place I know from many years ago.

I stand by my comments, Im sad you cant understand that.

[The Boleyn Hound]

Its my view that the area around Upton Park IS a dive but I understand thats where people come from and are proud of that fact. Im proud my roots are from such a place steeped in history, but it certanly isnt the place I know from many years ago.

I stand by my comments, Im sad you cant understand that.

Can you please give me your definition of ****hole, and say how UP now fits into that category but didn't before?

[Major]

Dont get your knickers in a twist mate. Its my view that the area around Upton Park IS a dive but I understand thats where people come from and are proud of that fact. Im proud my roots are from such a place steeped in history, but it certanly isnt the place I know from many years ago.

I stand by my comments, Im sad you cant understand that.

Awwwww did the nasty man make you sad???

BH asks a very good question, as i would say in the 60's / 70's / 80's it was far more of a "dive" than it is now. So you are "proud" of your roots but you are now better than the area is that right?

[mushy]

And to add to Majors questions...
As an area is Stratford not a complete ****-hole?
whats the difference, the shopping centre?
you can keep it.

[Cockneyboy311]

C311

I think that we are all pretty sure that for those that want to stay, the match day experience is about your first two, we have been travelling to Upton Park for decades, all of a sudden its an issue. Christ my Grandad used to walk from Tate & Lyle where he worked, for a night match.

I think the more relevant answer to your question is for the people that want to leave, then you could see how much of the "match day experience" is likley to remain?

I see your point Major but will anybody be moaning about the matchday experience if we are playing good stuff and in the top half of the prem? (wishful thinking i know!)
I think alot of us will still drink in the pubs around UP if we move anyway as it isnt that far away. The only thing i'd possibly worry about would be the atmosphere due to the size of the stadium.
Times change, for better or worse. All i know is wherever we play in whatever division i'll still be going when i can afford it

[mushy]

I think alot of us will still drink in the pubs around UP if we move anyway as it isnt that far away. The only thing i'd possibly worry about would be the atmosphere due to the size of the stadium.
:

I am wondering how many of these pubs will survive if we move.
Most of them ony survive now because of the 20 or so home matches we have a year.
Some of the ones still open are scraping a living, hence the reason so many pubs have closed in the area.

[North wales Hammer]

Surely some of the pubs around the upton park area would put travel onto the game,i usually drink in the wakefield arms before the game and often wonder how the place stays open myself if not for the game

[Francoisvander or else]

5 Queens Market, where else can you buy 2 cucumbers for a quid and a great big bunch of tarragon for 80p, my local sainsburys charge a quid for a shity pre packed bag of herbs a 5th of the weight
4 The West Indian fast food stand outside the Queens, great pre match food
3 The Fillipino grocers in Walton Street again where else can I buy a tin of crispy shrimps
2 Driving past the street my old man grew up in during the war
1 Finally walking past the church where my parents met all those years ago, forever being thankfull that's the reason I'm here in the first place

I could go on and on and on

[westham,eggyandchips]

Awwwww did the nasty man make you sad???

BH asks a very good question, as i would say in the 60's / 70's / 80's it was far more of a "dive" than it is now. So you are "proud" of your roots but you are now better than the area is that right?

Exactly.