News

Premier League football gets the sommelier treatment

18 October 2024 By James Evison

There has been a surprising addition at Fulham FC’s new gleaming Riverside stand overlooking the Thames: a full sommelier service for its fans.

Usually, football fans would expect some fairly standard scran at the club’s Craven Cottage stadium. According to the club’s own food and drink menu, a pint of Guinness will cost you a fiver and a glass of wine around £5.50. There are also a number of pie or burger and pint deals, all priced under £10, which considering the standard prices in restaurants and bars within this area of London, is fairly impressive.

As shown by the drinks business last month, the club is certainly not normally considered an expensive place to grab a drink, with that honour going to the North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

But now, if you are planning to go the stadium’s shiny building overlooking the River Thames, you may be in for a bit of a surprise. The stand, which has been in construction since before the Covid pandemic, and has cost £120m to build, is rather different to the more traditional Grade II listed, wooden Johnny Haynes stand sitting opposite.

Upping their game

Fans of the club have already complained about the high prices of tickets in the freshly-minted stand, which cost from £120 to £125 a seat per game, and season tickets are priced upwards of £3,000.

Yet this is small beer compared to the prices of the new stand’s corporate hospitality options. Indeed, there was much laughter several years ago about Tottenham Hotspur’s new stadium having a cheese room as a a VIP option – something which the club later binned. But it would seem that Fulham have gone one step further than their London rivals and are now top of the League for exclusive fine dining.

Options for guests at the new Riverside stand include a staggering £12,000 ticket to watch games, including an impressive outdoor ‘al fresco’ dining option, and a full sommelier service. The stand also has a rooftop bar and even, wait for it, a swimming pool.

The various hospitality tickets, which start at around £5,000, and also give access to an exclusive bar space, rapidly rise in price. It includes menus developed by chefs “inspired’ by Michelin-starred restaurants, and even first team players pitching up to answer your questions on, it must be assumed, the team’s performance. A cheaper option allows for a first team player “appearance”, but one assumes you can’t ask them any questions.

Gourmet

The somm service, called “Club Sommelier”, starts at the £10,000 price point. This overall option, dubbed “The Gourmet” includes a collection of drinks, Grand Cru Champagne, cocktails, as well as the sommelier-curated wines.

So called “cheaper” options include tickets for the basement of the Riverside, which offers “traditional small plates”, drinks at half-time, but with a “fan’s spirit” – all for £4,500, the club said.

The full details were revealed by Fulham Focus on Twitter, presumably from marketing literature distributed by the club.

We know you’ve all been waiting for your tenterhooks to find out what a @FulhamFC corporate Riverside ticket costs.

Well, here they are, and they are for only the hardest of the hardcore. Prices are pro-rated this season & inc cup games up to 1/4 finals.

Here we go… #FFC 1/9 pic.twitter.com/jdiQbAQcoE

— Fulham Focus (@Fulham_Focus) October 16, 2024

Many years ago, there was complaints by Manchester United legend Roy Keane about the “prawn sandwich” crowd at Old Trafford. Who knows what he would think of this move towards supreme luxury on the terraces of West London.