Hey everyone. My father and I are coming over from the U.S. for a Chelsea match and decided to catch a rugby match as well. We purchased tickets for the Wigan match March 9th. I was wondering if there are certain pubs to hangout at prior to the match? So far I have The Phoenix, The Wandle, and Corner Pin on my list of possible places to grab beers before the match. Any advice/suggestions would be much appreciated.

Hi mate Smithers will be you man for this as he is local whilst most of us come from miles away. I come to the ground via Tooting Broadway which is knee deep in pubs. From the other direction, Wimbledon I suspect the same is true but of a better standard. A plus to the Plough Lane ground is it has its own pub called by the horns within the ground selling a range of craft beers etc check their website out by the horns.co.uk to get an idea.
All the best.

Oh, I see I got a mention to help.

By The Horns inside the ground on match days has a good atmosphere and has some nice craft beers.

At the North End of the stadium (100m walk) is the Corner Pin and popular with AFC Wimbledon fans.

Leather Bottle on walk from Earlsfield Station is a nice pub, lovely outside garden. About half a mile from the North End. However, closed for refurbishment until 21st March.

Further afield in Wimbledon town centre I'd recommend the The Alexandra. Mick the landlord is great and does a lot for the local community. A very popular pub. Mile and a half from the stadium.

I'm not great on the Tooting area. In the other direction and further out, the pubs in Wimbledon Village or on Wimbledon Common are good, but only if you have the time.

From Tooting end, The Castle in Tooting High Street is ok. Used to be a great sports pub with sticky floors & spongy carpets but has been tarted up over the last few years. Food is ok & a few different beers. Bit pricy perhaps. If walking the other way along Tooting High Street towards Blackshaw Rd & the ground then both the Trafalgar Arms & The Manor are sports pubs. You also have any number of places in Tooting Market selling food & drink if you don't mind shoppers wandering by. Graveney & Meadow in Mitcham Rd more of a café bar but food can be good.

Pub to avoid is Wetherspoons JJ Moons, left out of Tooting Broadway station & opposite Sainsburys. Full of dodgy characters & pub most likely to have a fight in or outside it. There was a time when a lot of Tooting pubs were quite edgy, how times change.

Too many good Indian eateries to list, but they are everywhere.

Thanks for the information guys. Looking forward to the match!

What are the options like coming from Haydon's Road? Or are we better off getting the Northern down to Tooting Broadway instead, coming from St Pancras so both are easy options.

Again Smithers will be your best bet as an officionado of local boozers but as I understand it going to Tooting Broadway you’re dropped into basically Tooting’s high street with various standard options including a pretty snide Wetherspoons. It’s about a 20 minute walk from the ground. Hayden’s road on the other hand, on the one time I went that way to see what was going and to see if I could work outwhere wimbledon town centre was ( I couldn’t) was basically in the middle of nowhere but is only about 5 minutes from the ground. Frankly drinking in central London then to Tooting Broadway, a quick ‘half’ at the spoons and then hit the By the horns bar in the ground may be the way to go.

Be warned CM Punk. I believe that there are no trains to Haydons Road on Saturday.

Just for the record BT, and I know you want to know, when you leave Haydons Road station you turn left & cross Haydons Road taking first right onto Queens Road. It's about a 15 min walk to the other end where you hit Wimbledon Broadway just next to Wimbledon Quarter. I'm waiting for Merton Council & their partners in crime, to reveal what they have done with the other three quarters because that might make a whole lot of difference.

Cheers for the heads up, didn't think to check for Engineering. Looks like it'll be the Northern for us. Thanks for the advice folks, hope for a good game on Saturday.

Just to say, I have checked and there are no trains at Haydons Rd on Saturday.

That’s as predictable as Broncos not recruiting sufficiently for the start of the season! I wonder whether Saturday’s round of Gaza marching may impact on people’s travel.

I suppose Gaza is a long way to march from for a RL match. Once you're on the tube system though there shouldn't be a problem. There might be difficulties entering or exiting stations in central London on the route but doesn't seem to have impeded football fans.

Saturday's march will be from Hyde Park Corner to the US Embassy ( between Nine Elms and Battersea tube).
Supposed to start at 12 noon.

Unless you're planning on being in the Hyde Park Corner area late morning or using Battersea or Nine Elms tube on the new branch of the Northern line late afternoon I wouldn't think it will affect anyone's matchday travel plans. And only then that one or two tube stations might be a bit busier than usual.