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Burnley: Awayday guide

2nd November 2015

Image of the facade outside of Craven Cottage

Visiting Burnley FC

Turf Moor

Home of Burnley FC since 1883, one of the longest continual occupations of ground by any club in the League, Turf Moor is located to the east of the town centre, Away fans are housed in the covered David Fishwick Stand at the western end of the ground. Normally the whole of this stand is allocated to visiting supporters and the seats are still the old wooden type reminiscent of those in the Johnny Haynes Stand at Craven Cottage.

Getting to the ground – Train

The nearest railway station to Turf Moor is Burnley Manchester Road, which is a short walk away from the ground. The station is served by trains from (i) Blackpool North to Leeds and York and (ii) Manchester Victoria to Blackburn. The stadium is also accessible from Burnley Central station on the East Lancashire Line, served by trains from Blackpool South to Colne via Preston, although it is a further walk.

Getting to the ground – Bus

Mindful that many fans will have chosen the ‘Plus Bus’ option when purchasing their rail tickets for Burnley, it should be noted that no bus services will run along Harry Potts Way on match days from two hours before kick off until one and a half hours after kick off

Burnley bus station is located to the west of Centenary Way, with Turf Moor in walking distance. Fans arriving at Burnley Manchester Road can take buses 1C, X43, 65 or 95 to the central bus station and those arriving at Burnley Central can take the bus 95.

Getting to the ground – Car

The stadium has two car parks of its own, and there are also a number of parking facilities in the surrounding area.

Where to drink

East Lancashire CAMRA lists a myriad of pubs in Burnley and the surrounding area and maps a pub crawl in.

The ‘Bridge Bier Huis’ in Bank Parade, Burnley has been named the top pub in the West Pennines, covering Lancashire, Cumbria and the Isle of Man by the Campaign for Real Ale

‘The Rifle Volunteer’ (1, Smalley Street) has been named East Lancashire Camra’s ‘Burnley Pub of the Year’, and is a rare outlet for the iconic Draught Bass. Quoting from ‘What Pub’ site: “The pub also has a very rare example of the Burnley-manufactured Ducketts urinals”.

The ‘Coal Clough Pub’ (41, Coal Clough Lane) is near Burnley Manchester Road station and The Massey’s Bitter is brewed to a recipe from their sadly defunct local brewery. Also near the same station are (i) the ‘Ministry of Ale’ (9, Trafalgar Street), Burnley’s only home brew-pub and (ii) ‘Inn on the Wharf’ (Manchester Road), a conversion of an old canal-side warehouse.

In the town centre is ‘New Brew-m’ (St James Row), which serves as the Reedley Hallows brewery tap. The ‘Brun Lea’ (31-39, Manchester Road) is the central Wetherspoon’s and nearby is the ‘Beer Shack’ (22, Manchester Road).

The Talbot Hotel is situated on Church Street in Burnley, less than 5 minutes walk from the town centre. The licensee is a keen real ale enthusiast and supporter of local breweries. Copper Dragon Golden Pippin, Holt’s Bitter and Moorhouse’s Premier Bitter are on tap.

Nearer Turf Moor, it would be a good idea to avoid any pubs on Yorkshire Street if you’re an away fan as they are restricted to home fans only. However, round the back of the away stand there is an away friendly venue in the form of a cricket club where you can get your standard match day pint and pie without any bother.

Culinary Burnley

Lancashire is rated as one of the best areas in the country for the production of quality pies and Burnley has branches of two highly rated companies.

Oddie’s, with more than a century of baking experience, has branches at 62, The Mall (in the town centre) and 38, Saint James’s Lane (and nearby Turf Moor) and its potato pie is recommended.

Haffner’s, another local company and dating from 1889, has premises at 14, Keirby Walk, Unit 15, Marlborough Street and Unit 4, Market Hall. Their meat and potato pie scored heavily with the experts and the pork and black pudding pie looks very tempting.

Other than a surfeit of restaurants from the south Asian continent, there appears to be nowhere even vaguely exotic to visit for its cuisine. However, at the junction of Todmorden Road is a reputedly decent kebab joint, ‘Turkish Best Kebab’.

Cultural Burnley

The town’s rich heritage may be traced by visiting the Weavers’ Triangle which consists mostly of 19th-century industrial buildings at the western side of town centre and clustered around the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

The imposing Towneley Hall houses an art gallery which includes a large collection of paintings, focusing on romantic Victorian and pre-Raphaelite art. It is found in the sprawling, 180-hectare Towneley Park.

Breaking the journey at Todmorden

Those who have availed themselves of the split-ticketing option from Kings Cross, via Leeds, need to take a connecting train at the east Lancashire mill town of Todmorden, where the narrow valley of the Calder hems in the town, the Rochdale Canal and the railway line between Manchester and Leeds.

It’s a good place for some refreshment and the town has several pubs serving real ales:

http://www.thepolishedknob.co.uk (31, Burnley Road, Todmorden)

http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/home/pubs/the-white-hart-todmorden (Station Approach, Todmorden)

http://staffoflifeinn.org.uk (550, Burnley Road, Knotts Road, Todmorden)

http://whatpub.com/pubs/HAL/1223/queen-hotel-todmorden (Rise Lane, Todmorden)

http://whatpub.com/pubs/HAL/1256/royal-george-todmorden (Rochdale Road, Todmorden)

Regrettably, the award-winning Masons’ Arms (1, Bacup Road, Todmorden) appears to have bitten the dust.

Oddie’s bakery has a branch at 5 Bond St, Todmorden.

Little of Todmorden’s industrial architecture remains, but worth seeing are (i) the Skew Bridge, with its ornate castellated turrets, where the Manchester to Leeds railway crosses the Rochdale Canal at an acute angle and (ii) ‘The Great Wall of Tod’, a monumental retaining wall, reportedly needing four million bricks to construct, which supports the railway as it enters the town from Lancashire.

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