EDGELEY PARK

August 2024. Stockport.

3 ticks in the Manchester Beer Book, time for some “grass roots” football in Stockport.

It took me all my willpower to resist a 4th pre-match pint in the Armoury,

and instead head into “Edgy” Edgeley” for the ritual pre-match kebab.

Cooking Lager did a post about Edgeley’s artisanal public houses a while back, so you’ll recognise these places,

but I can only tell you about the Leve kebab shop,

which has the best salad selection I’ve ever seen, and temporarily fooled me into a belief that the lamb shawarma was healthy.

Sadly, this meant I didn’t need to visit the craft food stalls in the fan zone,

and (after a security search of Stansted Airport proportions) instead headed inside the County ground 45 minutes before kick off for a coffee.

Cruzcampo, Dark Fruits and Heineken your craft choices, and woe betide you if you drink within sight of the pitch.

Not that being within sight of the pitch was that sensible, and inept Cambridge succumbing to an improving Stockport who have finally escaped the clutches of the lower league where they’re forced to play teams called “Tranmere”. Whoever they are.

Great £3 programme, mind.

And at least it didn’t rain on my £24 uncovered seat.

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Published by retiredmartin

Retired NHS, doing long walks around UK and the world to record the great bits. Focused on Good Beer Guide pubs and live music.

15 thoughts on “EDGELEY PARK”

  1. “a 4th pre-match pint in the Armoury” – not the pub it was, as I’m sure t’other Mudgie will confirm.
    “(after a security search of Stansted Airport proportions)” – just checking that you weren’t going to burn the car park down !

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  3. An unhappy consequence of the upturn in Stockport County’s fortunes on the pitch and the subsequent redevelopment of the ground and its facilities is that Edgeley Park is now beyond the price range of Stockport beer festival, and likely to become even more so in the future. They were of course only too glad to host it when they were still playing in National League North and it brought in much needed revenue, but their eyes are now on the Championship and beyond (as of course they should be from a football and commercial viewpoint given the size of Stockport as a town).

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      1. I stood in the seated but unreserved Railway End at Edgeley Park when FC United played Stockport County there a few years ago in National League North. I think it was about a tenner, pay on the gate. Turning standing areas into seating was always going to lead to a hike in the cost of a match ticket, but it’s a bit much when clubs charge those kind of prices for cheap plastic seats bolted onto the concrete steps of uncovered terraces.

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      2. Agree. It’s the same sort of prices at Cambridge, and standing behind the goal doesn’t save you much.

        One thing I will say, the £3 programme is one of the best I’ve ever read at any level, and I read every page.

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      1. I always liked it. Plenty of outdoor seating in the Cheadle End, the atmosphere of being inside a football ground, watching the planes on their final approach to Manchester Airport, although it could get a bit crowded in the concourse under the stand where most of the bars were.

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      2. Matthew,
        With Ringway Airport not having suffered many serious crashes I know it’s illogical but as I walk between Stockport pubs I’m always rather uneasy about the planes a few yards above my head on their final approach every three minutes.

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  4. At the risk of upsetting someone’s father, grandfather, uncle, husband, best friend? who is that sinister looking figure dominating the top right hand corner of the first photo, as he bends down rubbing his hands together.

    I don’t want to offend anyone, and apologies if I have, but it’s the stuff of nightmares!

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      1. Seeing as I’m originally from London, that doesn’t really explain it., but let’s just leave it at that.

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