National Football League in London
The Bears are in London!
Well…not really.
They don’t get here until Friday, so you won’t really get a chance to see or meet them.
Loads of London venues have started to ‘Bear Down’ despite having no idea about the game.
It’s nice to see people get into the spirit of the games, and support either Raider Nation or the Bears.
We were sent these from a venue near London Bridge.
Good to see people getting into the spirit of it all!
How are you watching the Bears vs Raiders game in London?
Looking for a place that’s cool, close to the stadium and open late?
Great!
Come on down to the Princess Alex in Crouch End, London for our after party.
The Alex is a traditional English pub in the village of Crouch End, less than 10 minutes away from Finsbury Park station.
It has a great selection of Sunday roasts, cask ales, and loads of chicken wings.
Here is some more info to help you for Sunday.
Getting There
The Princess Alexandra is in Crouch End, north London.
The quickest route is via the Piccadilly or Victoria Line to Finsbury Park.
From there grab the W7 bus to the pub. It is the first stop after the Crouch End Broadway.
Once you exit the bus, the pub is on your right side.
You can also grab the W3 bus to Park Road.
The W3 bus is the one that will take you to the stadium.
It is also accessible via Alexandra Palace train station, and Hornsey train station.
To and from the stadium
It takes about 25 minutes to get to the stadium from the pub. We will have signs up on how to get there. But it’s very easy.
Walk out the pub down Park road (400m) and on the left hand side is Park Road bus stop to the stadium. Just hop on, and you’re at the stadium.
Upon leaving the stadium-same thing.
Grab the W3 bus from outside the stadium to Crouch End. Get off at Park Road and walk up the road to the pub. Buses stop running around midnight.
Going late
The Alex has a late license until 4am-so you can party until the wee hours.
It will help to have Uber or an app on your phone, as ALL of London transport shuts down at night.
There is a 91 late night bus that goes to central London every 15 minutes.
Tickets
If you are coming to the after party, you will need tickets.
They are £5 and includes a welcome beer (1 each) upon arrival.
You MUST have a ticket after 9pm to get in.
www.eventbrite.com/o/nfl-in-london-17838428996
So you’re coming to London and you want to watch sports like you do in the US?
Is there anything like it here?
No.
Sadly, you are out of luck.
But we do have advice to help you out.
The UK and London particularly are woefully underserved when it comes to sports bars.
While some of the UK chains have made some efforts to modernise, they are still a few dreadful decades away.
Bad food, violent fans, drugged out patrons, and horrible service are just some of the things you can look forward to.
(which is why most people watch at home!)
So if you do want to catch a night of sports-where should you head?
We have a few tips to help you out in your excursions.
NCAA Football
Looking to watch NCAA football when you are over from the states?
Good luck!
Very few places will actually show the games, and due to time zones-most of the big games don’t air in the UK til the wee hours.
One of the problems with NCAA football is that it takes place on a Saturday-a traditional ‘football’ day for Brits, that continues on til at least 7pm.
After that the bar becomes a ‘bar’, with the music pumping up to 11, and punters drunkenly enjoying their weekend.
Trying to get them to switch on a college game with sound would be like asking a Brit ‘where in France are you from?’
The other problem with college football is that it’s only played on 1 TV network over here-BT Sport ESPN.
That means you can only watch 1 game at a time. Sometimes this game was played a few hours ago.
There was an ESPN Player app-but it crashed more times than Robert Downey Jr. in the 90s’.
Belushi’s Londonbridge is perhaps the only London location that shows college sports.
But again, it will be packed, will only show one game, and it will close before the game ends.
Wings & Food
First thing you will notice when you try chicken wings in the UK is how tiny they are.
Like seriously tiny.
You’ll then notice that British people like to mess around with a whole whack of flavours that are downright gross.
Peri-Peri? Mango Cream? Geez-louise, pass the Frank’s Red Hot sauce.
Burgers are also cooked in a mandatory fashion-which means over-cooked, over-sauced and on a flaky bun.
We have yet to find a good burger in London after 15 years, but hopefully one day!
McDonald’s is consistent and has free wifi.
If you are looking to watch some sports-here are a few places we would recommend for this weekend.
Princess Alexandra
Located in leafy Crouch End, this pub is close to Tottenham Stadium and is open late.
While not on a direct tube line-it is a celebrity haunt, so you never know who you might find.
MeatHouse
Right near Kings Cross Station, this place has meat, meat and more meat. They have a few tvs for the games, and a great feast of a menu.
Sports Bar & Grill-Farringdon
This sports bar chain is under new owners, so they are starting to change them around. While it is a chain, we like this one because of their manager Martin. Classy, funny guy, who makes the trip worthwhile.
What a week it was in the NFL!
Touchdowns galore!
Unless of course you were Tom Brady or Patrick Mahomes, who had ZERO touchdowns in week 4.
The Eagles and Jordan Howard opened some whoop-ass TDs on Aaron Rodgers and the Packers to kick-off TNF to start the week.
Packers fans hated that loss. They start to sound like Cowboys fans when they are on a winning streak, and Cowboys fans when they lose!
Baker Mayfield and the Browns opened it up on the surprised Ravens, and Lamar Jackson truly looked lost at home.
He was not the TD machine that everyone thought.
How about ‘dem Bills?
Buffalo choked the Patriots to submission on Sunday, not allowing them to make the cover and thoroughly chasing TB12 around the field.
Mahomes and the Chiefs needed the running game to score on Sunday, as Matt Stafford and the Lions made it a tough afternoon of football.
The big surprise? How about the Tampa Bay Buccaneers?
They combined with the LA Rams for 95 points-with so many touchdowns, it takes up a big chunk of this video.
Enjoy & see you Sunday!
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