Selhurst Park - Nottingham Forest 10/11

[PatFromSouthCarolina]

Looking for advice here. My wife and I will be making the pilgrimage to Selhurst Park for the Forest match on 10/11. We want to have the full Palace experience as this is the bucket list trip and something we've been planning and saving for a few years now. With the game at 2pm, what time should we leave London (staying in the Tower Bridge/Bermondsey area)? Obviously we want to take in the whole pregame atmosphere. Clifton Arms is still the place to be? What are the chances of us getting in? What do we need to experience at or around the stadium before we go in, etc? Hopefully the construction isn't too bad yet that we miss out on anything.

And full disclosure here before I get accused of being a dumb American Johnny-Come-Lately Tourist...I became a Palace fan of May 5, 2014. I stumbled on a Premier League match between Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst on ESPN. Liverpool was at the top of the table or close to it and up 3-0. Pretty boring late, then all of a sudden Palace scored 3 goals in like 10 minutes. I never heard a stadium so loud on TV before. I decided right then that I was a Palace fan and Damien Delaney was my favorite player. Fast forward to 2021, I watched When Eagles Dare and it was the first time I really understood the club's history, and it became an obsession and I havent missed a match since. Hell, I bought season tickets two years in a row to MLS here in America and drove 100+ miles each way to Charlotte just to be able to see Wilfried Zaha play in person for Gods sake.

I don't know how many foreigners generally come to the matches, but if anyone runs into two people who look lost and have very southern American accents, please say hello.

Sorry in advance for taking up space on the board, but this is a huge deal for us, and any help is appreciated.

 

[ASCPFC]

I drink in Croydon, get a breakfast, walk to the ground and get a pint or two in the ground. There are a load of choices about what to do. Where are you staying? I always stay in Premier Inn East Croydon. So handy from Gatwick. I walk it slowly and drink on the way. Then at the ground, then after. That's the true experience - all day drinking. Eat some crap (or go somewhere like the Oval Tavern). Home for Match of the Day. Or not when we lose. I only watch it when we win.
I'm not sure there's only one way to watch the games these days. I'd say Wetherspoons but think it could still be closed for refurbishment. Cheap drink, cheap pretty rubbish food, awful place, cheap drink, cheap drink.

 

[MrRobbo]

Looking for advice here. My wife and I will be making the pilgrimage to Selhurst Park for the Forest match on 10/11. We want to have the full Palace experience as this is the bucket list trip and something we've been planning and saving for a few years now. With the game at 2pm, what time should we leave London (staying in the Tower Bridge/Bermondsey area)? Obviously we want to take in the whole pregame atmosphere. Clifton Arms is still the place to be? What are the chances of us getting in? What do we need to experience at or around the stadium before we go in, etc? Hopefully the construction isn't too bad yet that we miss out on anything.

And full disclosure here before I get accused of being a dumb American Johnny-Come-Lately Tourist...I became a Palace fan of May 5, 2014. I stumbled on a Premier League match between Palace and Liverpool at Selhurst on ESPN. Liverpool was at the top of the table or close to it and up 3-0. Pretty boring late, then all of a sudden Palace scored 3 goals in like 10 minutes. I never heard a stadium so loud on TV before. I decided right then that I was a Palace fan and Damien Delaney was my favorite player. Fast forward to 2021, I watched When Eagles Dare and it was the first time I really understood the club's history, and it became an obsession and I havent missed a match since. Hell, I bought season tickets two years in a row to MLS here in America and drove 100+ miles each way to Charlotte just to be able to see Wilfried Zaha play in person for Gods sake.

I don't know how many foreigners generally come to the matches, but if anyone runs into two people who look lost and have very southern American accents, please say hello.

Sorry in advance for taking up space on the board, but this is a huge deal for us, and any help is appreciated.

I wouldn't say there is anything around the stadium to experience. But I suspect you may want to go to the club shop etc, and might want to be in the ground earlier.

Personally I'd I'd skip breakfast and get to East Croydon for about 10.30. Go to Boxpark (next door) for some grub and a couple of pints, and then hop back on the train to Selhurst. Its 10 mins in the opposite direction from the ground, but my favorite pub is the Pawsons. Get there for 12ish, drink there until 13:30 and then wander up the ground.