ArseWEB - Highbury Ticket buyer's guide

Sorry, but some of the info below is a bit out of date. Please see Arsenal.com tickets page for current availability through official sources

It is possible to get tickets through unofficial source ssuch as touts outside the ground, but we cannot recommend or advise on that.

Everything's gonna change again soon anyway!

Season Tickets & Ticket Registration Scheme

• If you want to get a season ticket put yourself on the waiting list immediately by ringing the club and asking them about it.
  The wait is long. You are now very unlikely to get a season ticket at Highbury (I'm writing this in November 2001).
  We have in the past heard stories of people getting season tickets a lot quicker by pestering the club with regular phone calls about it. But we haven't heard of this for a while now so don't hold your breath (but best of luck if you do go for it!)
• We don't know exactly when the new stadium will open (as yet we don't know where it will be either), but we reckon that if you get your application in now you'll stand a decent chance of getting a seat there. We would not recommend waiting till the stadium is being built. At the moment the size of new stadium is not known (the plans are for about 60,000 but the plans have not been approved yet). And, more significantly, we also do not know how many season tickets they will sell. The policy at Arsenal has always been to not sell more season tickets than the number of tickets the club would be allocated if they get to the FA Cup final. The (laudable) idea is that every seaosn ticket holder should be guaranteed a cup final ticket. At some other clubs, if they get to the cup final their season ticket holders go into a ballot to see if they get a ticket for it (speaking as a ST holer myself, that's a scary thought). If Arsenal were to continue with that policy, then although the number of tickets available for each match would rise considerably, the number of season ticket holders might not. Add that to the fact that there's already a long waiting list, and it's clear that there can be no guarantees. If you think you might want a ST at the new stadium, apply now.
• Another option is the Ticket Registration Scheme , whereby you pay the club for a better chance of getting tickets to home games (tickets go on sale to TRS members before they go on general sale). If you think you'll be buying home tickets regularly and/or want to give yourself a better chance of seeing the big games, check out the TRS.
• The club now also do an away match season ticket, essential if you want to get to all the away matches (they operate an away ticket file to reward frequent attendees with preference in the ballot for short-supply tickets but it doesn't always work.

Availability

Various companies sell packages, where they get hold of tickets from Arsenal and sell them on together with accomodation. London Football keeps an eye out for Arsenal match deals.

The AFCi tickets page

Where to get your seats.... (how follows)

• See AFCi for list of Seat prices
• Visiting supporters are put in the west corner of the Clock End and the south corner of the West Stand (lower tier). Clubs with large travelling support (including London derbies) occasionally get allocated the whole of the Clock End.
• The most vocal part of the ground these days is generally the Clock End (when available for home fans), largely because non-Bondholding ex North Bank season ticket holders were moved to this section. If you want to sing, and don't mind standing up for most of the match, this is the place for you.
• There is a "singing section" scheme operated in the North Bank. This is a laudable attempt by the club to bring back the noise that used to be generated by the old North Bank Terracing. If you're interested, ask about it when you ring or go to the box office.
• The view from the very back of the West stand lower tier is atrocious. In my experience, from the back row you can't see the far side of the pitch because the roof's in the way. Ian Newitt writes to say that the view's fine up to row 40. He reckons the East Stand lower is the worst area (especially considering the cost).
  (please let me know if you can provide similar information).
• If you're not familiar with Highbury Stadium, the following plans should help you to follow the above information...
  You can click on the images to download full-size versions, the sizes of which, in bytes, are indicated to the right of the inlined images.
  • 3D plan (280K).

  • Seat Prices (190K).

    Please note that the prices in this image are last season's. The division of the ground into differently priced sections is expected to follow the same pattern this season, but you'll need to refer to the price list on AFCi (link above) to work out the current prices. Also note that the East/West stands' lower tiers now have different prices for the wings.

• Wembley
  For help on buying tickets for matches at Wembley (Cup finals, Charity Shields, Champions League) see the ArseWeb Wembley page featuring a plan of the ground (showing block numbers and turnstiles).

4 ways

Online

The TicketMaster website lets you buy Arsenal tickets online, but they do tend to sell out quick. They have an alert service you can sign up for whichemails you info when tickets become available, but you still have to get in there quick to nab the tickets. You don't have the choice of seats you get by doing it over the phone, but it can be a nightmare getting through on the phone.

In person

The box office at Highbury is on Avenell Rd. It is open 9.30am-5.00pm Mon-Fri (9.30-7.00pm if there's a home match that night), and 9.30am-12.00pm on Saturdays only if there's not a home match. Ring the box office if in any doubt.

By post

Write to Arsenal Box Office at the Stadium address enclosing payment and a SAE. Ring the box office if in any doubt.

By phone

Credit card bookings at the number below. A booking fee is charged (not charged when purchasing using the other 2 methods)

Please note The credit card "hotline" will be jammed solid on those mornings when tickets for big games go on sale. This includes late-stage cup games, games against top teams (the likes of Newcastle, Liverpool, and Man Utd) and those against Spurs (because of local rivalry rather than because they're a top team). It is possible to get through on these mornings, but only by redialling solidly for anything up to several hours. But even if you do get through there's a chance they'll have sold out already. Your best bet for getting a ticket to such a match, if you can spare the time, is to go to the ground early that morning and queue. (see also note under Ticketmaster National number below).
The only guarantee is to get a season ticket. [but see also details of the ticket registration scheme]

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Phone numbers

Highbury Box Office

0171-704-4040

Ticketmaster

• AFC credit card hotline
  0171-413-3366 (see also following number)
• National number
  0870 606 9999
  Quite often the dedicated 0171 Ticketmaster number above gets extremely busy when there are big Arsenal tickets to be bought. One thing you can try in these situations is ringing this National number. You can get Arsenal tickets through it too.

Recorded Information

0171-704-4242

Do you know how to get to Highbury ?

Our clickable street map is sadly but temporarily unavailable....