Tickets
Will be available on the day from the ticket office in the main stand. The club were informed on Thursday afternoon that tickets will be subject to a price increase on the day of the match. They will be priced at £25 adults, £18 over 60s, £17 under 21s and students, £12 U16s and £5 U8s. *
Turnstiles
We've sold over 1,300 seats behind the goal in the North stand, you have to deviate slightly to get to the entrance, keeping going past the main stand to the road behind our end where the turnstiles can be found around 50 yards along.
Let's not beat about the bush, this stand has seen better days, its previous incarnation being a terrace and apart from the installation of seats, not a lot has changed. It is pretty cramped, there are quite a few poles in the way of the pitch, along with bizarre little staircases at the front. The goal at the opposite end is a bit distant, but I have been in a lot worse - and it certainly beats the open terrace of about six steps that used to be at the other end.
Food
The refreshment area at Roots Hall is certainly unique, basically a room with plastic tables and chairs which facilitates a good queuing system to be fair, although this does run parallel to the queue for the not quite state of the art toilets, so make sure you are in the right one.
There are a couple of mobile units in the car park, but the best bet is The Fish House just around the corner - it may sound a bit of a cliche being able to get nice fish and chips in a seaside town but it is well worth a visit.
Refreshments
The designated away pub seems to have swapped around a bit over the last few years, visiting fans predominantly using The Railway by Prittlewell station, however, this now seems to be home only.
Unless things have changed again, the hostelry that is for exclusive use by away fans is The Blue Boar, which is closer to the ground, pretty spacious with good service and pretty much ticks the box. The main town is not too far away where there is something for everyone.
Travel
The closest station to the ground is Prittlewell, served by Liverpool Street and Stratford, so of course there is engineering work which makes this a non starter. Therefore it is trains that start from Fenchurch Street into Southend Central, which are pretty frequent and take around an hour. If you want to dodge Central London, one idea may be to take the Jubilee Line to West Ham and change onto the main line train here. Southend Central is about 25 minutes from the ground, there are buses, or walk up the High Street from where you can cut through to Victoria Avenue which takes you to the ground.
If driving it really is pretty straightforward, the Post Code is SS2 6NQ. Simply join the A127 (Junction 29 off the M25) and stick with it and it literally takes you to the ground. There is plenty of street parking along with a car park at the ground, the former probably the better option for a quick escape.
Trivia
Bored one Friday night in 1990, someone decided to knock off a new ground, The Shrimpers then often playing on Fridays - dull 0-0 draw against Scunthorpe - still, ground done. So two seasons later, we found ourselves playing Southend in the League - typical. In a totally memorable game, we saw two sending offs, two missed penalties and a bullet header by Carl Leaburn giving us a share of the spoils. Carlo was on target at Roots Hall again in the following season as we ran out 2-0 winners with a goal that will remain in Charlton folklore forever - if you've never seen it, ask someone that has to describe it - legendary.