Charlton Athletic has been told to communicate more with the club’s neighbours after it was given permission to host a “fan zone” outside The Valley on matchdays.

The League One club has been given the go-ahead to serve alcohol and play music and video from two hours before men’s and women’s matches. It can open for an hour afterwards, or until 9pm, and no away fans will be served.

Charlton’s original application had been for a seven-day-a-week licence from 9am to 9.30pm, but the club’s head of stadium operations, Jon Blythe, said that was to “cover all bases” because of the variety of kick-off times, and the club had agreed with police that it would be a matchday-only operation.

The fan zone, which includes a three-a-side football pitch, has already been operating on temporary licences.

But Charlton Village & Riverside councillor Jo van den Broek objected to the plans on the basis that it would be open all day, every day. Seventy-nine local residents signed a petition against the plans.

Football stadium before a match
One resident said she was unaware when Charlton’s fixtures were taking place. Image: The Greenwich Wire

Much of the bad feeling appeared to stem from a “family fun day” on July 30, which 3,000 people attended, but some neighbours said they had not known about it in advance.

“I had a deputation of esidents at my surgery a few weeks ago who were very, very upset,” Van den Broek said at the meeting last week. “It’s the nine to nine, seven hours a week, entertainment, music, films, whatever. I quite support their concerns about noise.

“There was an open day sometime in July which they hadn’t known was coming. It took place in that car park and it was very, very noisy. They’d been trying to talk to the club and weren’t getting anywhere.”

Van den Broek said she was surprised that the residents hadn’t made noise complaints, and said she had advised the residents to complain to the council if a similar incident happened again.

Blythe said the club had written to 75 neighbours whose homes backed onto the car park about the plans for the fan zone, with just four turning up to a meeting. He said that two men had turned up at the end to say they represented other residents who would be objecting “as they already deal with a lot of noise”.

Charlton Athletic fan zone with mini pitch
The fan zone includes a three-a-side-pitch. Image: The Greenwich Wire

“I then explained that the fan zone was for match days and they were absolutely fine for that,” he said.

Blythe said the fun day was a separate event held in association with the council offering free activities to the local community, and 3,000 people turned up.

“I believe a notice went out,” he said. “We had leaflets all around the local community. They were in the local Sainsbury’s [on Charlton Church Lane], they were in the big [Charlton Riverside] Sainsbury’s. We had things on our website about it. It wasn’t just an event that came out of nowhere. There was no alcohol on the day.”

Just one local resident spoke. Jenny Westney said she was unaware of a meeting between the club and residents, and that antisocial behaviour after matches was sometimes “unbelievable”.

“We don’t know when the games are,” she said. “A few days before you might notice a car parking notice up, if you’ve got a car and you take notice of these sorts of things. The effect on the residents is very disturbing.

“This increase in sales of alcohol worries me and worries the residents in the area quite a lot, particularly those residents who are adjacent to the car park. I have been in their gardens myself and witnessed the sounds and the smells that are coming from this fan zone.”

The Valley with banners of footballers down the side of the stand.
The women’s team have recently started to play matches at The Valley. Image: The Greenwich Wire

She claimed there was noise from 9am on the fun day and added: “How much can residents have to experience and have to live with? We’re entitled to have peace and quiet and live a normal life just like everybody else.”

Van den Broek, who said she had received abusive emails from Charlton fans, acknowledged there had been misunderstandings and said the licence should explicitly say the fan zone should be for match days only.

“Perhaps councillors, the club, residents, should get together at some time in the near future and just talk through where there are issues,” she said. “I cannot be surprised that people have reacted so badly. It’s about residents knowing in advance when something is going to happen.”

David Gardner, the chair of the licensing sub-committee, said it “would be useful for the club to look at ways it can work better with immediate local residents”, while Ann-Marie Cousins, one of the committee members, suggested an announcement-only WhatsApp group.

The sub-committee – Gardner, Cousins and Clare Burke-McDonald – voted to grant the application, in a decision published on Tuesday afternoon, a week after the meeting.

Charlton’s men’s team are currently fourth in League One despite losing 2-1 to Blackpool on Saturday, while the women’s side are top of the Championship after winning their first three matches, including beating Durham City 2-1 on Sunday.

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