A number of road closures have been announced in Ipswich ahead of the first East Anglian derby between high flying Ipswich Town and Norwich City for nearly five years.

The closures are part of one of the biggest derby day police operations as football fans and Christmas shoppers prepare to descend on Suffolk's county town.

It is the first derby in nearly five years and Suffolk police have announced a large operation, including several road closures, to manage the volume of people heading to Ipswich this weekend.

The game which will see Norwich City take on Ipswich Town at Portman Road is set to kick-off at 12.30pm on Saturday, December 16.

The fixture is sold out, with a crowd of just under 30,000 people due to attend.

Due to the vast volume of people heading into Ipswich, including football fans and Christmas shoppers, several roads will be closed. 

From 10.30am:

  • Princes Street - between the junctions with Civic Drive/Franciscan Way and Grafton Way/Chancery Road.
  • Chalon Street at the junction with Princes Street

From 11.30am:

  • West End Road, from the junction of the car park to Princes Street/Chancery Road.
  • Commercial Road, at the junction with the Commercial Road Retail Park, to Princes Street.
  • Burrell Road at the junction with Station Yard; and Ranelagh Road to the junction with Ancaster Road (from Princes Street).
  • Chancery Road at the junction with Russell Road.

These closures will be lifted once the game kicks off and reinstated before the final whistle. 

They will remain in place after the game until the majority of crowds have dispersed.

There will be some disruption to public transport as a result of these closures.

Buses will be operating on diversionary routes whilst Princes Street is closed.

Additional trains will run between Ipswich and Norwich on the day, with those heading into the town encouraged to choose rail travel.