IPSWICH TOWN
Premier League, Portman Road, Sunday 25 May 2025, 4pm BST
West Ham United complete the 2024/25 Premier League season with a trip up the A12 to Suffolk to face Ipswich Town.
The Hammers will play at Portman Road in a competitive fixture for the first time since losing 5-1 there in the EFL Championship in January 2012, and the first time in the Premier League since winning 3-2 there in October 2001.
The Tractor Boys are heading back to the Championship themselves, having been relegated in their first season back in the top-flight since that 2001/02 season, but can be proud of their efforts, having won back-to-back promotions from League One under impressive manager Kieran McKenna.
McKenna’s squad includes two former Hammers in Ben Johnson and Kalvin Phillips, while young centre-forward Liam Delap has scored 12 Premier League goals, including one at London Stadium earlier this season.
How to get there…
For West Ham United supporters living in Essex or north east London, getting to Ipswich is a fairly simple task by either road or rail.
If you are driving, simply get onto the northbound A12 and stay on it until the Copdock interchange with the A14 just south of Ipswich. Take the A1214 London Road into town until you reach a Sainsbury’s supermarket, then turn right onto West End Road. After half-a-mile, you’ll find the stadium!
Parking is available in Portman Road itself, West End Road (post code IP1 2DZ) or at Ipswich railway station (IP2 8AL), but you need to be early to guarantee a space.
If you park there or take the train, the ground is ten minutes’ walk from Ipswich railway station. Services run from London Liverpool Street at 08 and .30 past the hour and stop at Stratford. After the game, services leave Ipswich at .11 and .41 past the hour.
Where to stay…
It is unlikely you’ll opt to stay in Ipswich for the weekend, but if you do want to make a night of it, branded hotels are available in the city centre and south at the Waterfront, which has been redeveloped along the bank of the River Orwell.
For accommodation options, click HERE.
What to do…
As the oldest recorded town in the UK, Ipswich has plenty of history and interesting attractions to visit, with much of it based around its maritime traditions.
The Ipswich Waterfront is the vibrant hub of activity in modern-day Ipswich, and you can enjoy the hubbub and also take a trip on a boat or barge along the River Orwell.
The Wolsey Art Gallery houses the UK’s most significant collection of Constable and Gainsborough paintings and drawings outside of London.
If you fancy a walk, Christchurch Park is the town’s oldest public park, dating back to 1895, and is also home to the Tudor period Christchurch Mansion.
Further afield, the nearby town of Woodbridge is a pleasant former port once known for shipbuilding and sail-making, with historic narrow streets and buildings.
What’s happened there before…
Despite Ipswich Town being founded as long ago as 1878, West Ham United did not visit Portman Road for a competitive fixture until November 1954, when Dave Sexton, John Dick and Jimmy Andrews scored in a 3-0 Second Division victory for Ted Fenton’s Irons.
That remains our joint-biggest win at Portman Road, having been matched by a 3-0 First Division success in March 1984, when Paul Hilton, Tony Cottee and an own-goal by England defender Terry Butcher secured three points for future Ipswich manager John Lyall’s Hammers.
We have been to Portman Road four times previously in the Premier League and never lost, drawing 1-1 on the first three occasions in December 1993, April 1995 and October 2000, then winning 3-2 in October 2001 (pictured), when Paolo Di Canio, Frédéric Kanouté and 19-year-old substitute Jermain Defoe were on target.
