North London ground to a standstill on the last Sunday of May as Arsenal brought the Premier League trophy home for the 2025\/26 season, parading it through streets packed with the best part of a million fans. The open-top bus set off from the Emirates mid-morning with the squad and the manager aboard, wound its way around the borough, and eventually looped back to where it had started \u2014 by which point the pavements, rooftops and even the traffic lights had all found extra passengers.<\/p>\n
The household was on the road before eight that morning, scarves on before the car had even left the drive, determined to get among the crowds early. By early afternoon the streets near the parade route were already thick with red and white, fans queuing along the barriers hours ahead of the bus, with flares already going up well before anyone had caught a glimpse of the trophy itself.<\/p>\n
As the bus drew closer the crowd only got denser. Fans climbed traffic lights and lamp posts for a better view, plumes of red smoke rolled down the street, and at one point a fire engine had to nose its way patiently through a sea of shirts just to get past. It was loud, it was packed, and by most estimates it was very nearly a million people all trying to catch a glimpse of the same open-top bus.<\/p>\n