West Brom travel guide

West Bromwich Albion
The Hawthorns
Premier League
Tuesday January 27, kick off 19:45

Tickets
Out of a capacity of 28,003, United have got 2,400 tickets in the Smethwick End, priced at £42 adults, £25 for over 65s and £20 for under 16s.

The deadline for applying for tickets has passed and everyone who was successful should have had money taken from their accounts by now.

Home end tickets are sold out. Internet touts are charging £184 for away end tickets.

TV
This match will not be shown live on Sky or Setanta, but you can view it on the internet. Find links here nearer the time.

Travel

Car - £25.54
If you’re using a satnav or an internet routeplanner, like Greenflag, use the postcode B71 4LF.

The journey will take 80 minutes each way and will typically cost £12.77 in fuel.

The easiest route is down the M6, onto the M5, leaving at junction 1 on to the A41 and it’s signposted from there.

Parking

Park for free 15 minutes away from the ground on either Kenrick Way or Telford Way. It’s very easy to get away from the ground after the game as it’s just off junction 1 of the M5.

You can pay a fiver to park on the club’s East Stand car park. Entry is via the A41 by McDonalds.

The Hawthorns Pub, in Birmingham Road, B71 4JZ, is right next to the ground, also charges £5 for places.

ICS Distribution Ltd, in Halfords Lane, B66 1BP, charges £4 for places and it’s a two-minute walk to the ground.

For £2.50 you can get a spot at Park Lane Industrial Estate, Park Lane, B21 8LE, which is a five-minute walk to the ground.

Train/bus combo - £21.40
Leave Manchester Piccadilly by train: 15:27
Arrive Stafford: 16:24
Leave Stafford by West Brom club coach: 17:00
Arrive at the stadium

Then
Leave stadium by West Brom club coach: 21:45
Arrive Stafford: 22:30
Leave Stafford by train: 22:59
Arrive: Manchester Piccadilly: 00:37

The train costs £16.40. Book here www.nationalrail.co.uk
The coach costs £5. Book by calling West Brom on 0871 271 9780.

Train - £28.70
The nearest train station to the ground is called The Hawthorns – a five-minute walk to the ground.

It takes roughly two hours to get there from Piccadilly and requires two and sometimes three changes.

There are three trains that will get you home after the match, each requiring two changes.

Ask for an off-peak return ticket on the day, which is the cheapest you can get, at £28.70.

To save money, you could buy a single to Wolverhampton for £10 and a single from Wolverhampton for £10 and then buy return tickets on your next two trains (if you see the conductor). But the latest you could set off doing this would be 15:07.

Manchester to The Hawthorns
There are many services throughout the day. Use this to search for them, but below are the three latest routes to get to the game on time. Remember, set off after 10am else it will be much more expensive.

Option A
Leave Manchester Piccadilly: 17:06
Arrive Birmingham New Street: 18:31
Walk to Birmingham Moor Street: 18:53*
Leave Birmingham Moor Street: 18:53
Arrive The Hawthorns: 19:04

Option B
Leave Manchester Piccadilly: 17:27
Arrive Wolverhampton: 18:39
Leave Wolverhampton: 18:49
Arrive Smethwick Galton Bridge (pictured above): 19:04
Leave Smethwick Galton Bridge: 19:11
Arrive The Hawthorns: 19:14

Option C
Leave Manchester Piccadilly: 17:27
Arrive Birmingham New Street: 18:58
Then walk to Birmingham Moor Street*
Leave Birmingham Moor Street: 19:23
Arrive The Hawthorns (pictured below right): 19:34

The Hawthorns to Manchester

I would go for option B because
- it gives you more time after the game than option A
- there’s no walking in the dark through Birmingham city centre involved unlike option A
- you end up getting on the same (last) train as those who take option A
- it gets you home earlier than option C.

The only danger with option B is that if one connection is late, you could be in for a long wait.

Option A

Leave the Hawthorns: 21:47
Arrive Birmingham Moor Street: 21:57
Then walk to Birmingham New Street*
Leave Birmingham New Street: 22:28
Arrive Manchester Piccadilly: 00:37

Option B:
Leave the Hawthorns: 22:04
Arrive Smethwick Galton Bridge: 22:07
Leave Smethwick Galton Bridge: 22:17
Arrive Wolverhampton: 22:33
Leave Wolverhampton: 22:46
Arrive Manchester Piccadilly: 00:37

Option C:
Leave the Hawthorns: 23:07
Arrive Smethwick Galton Bridge: 23:10
Leave Smethwick Galton Bridge: 23:17
Arrive Crewe: 00:16
Leave Crewe: 00:44
Arrive Manchester Piccadilly: 01:36

*From New Street Station, exit on to Queen’s Drive, turn left and keep walking onto St Martin’s Circus Queensway and onto Moor Street. The station is on your right. It takes five minutes.

Coach
Official
United are running coaches to the game, with places costing £20 per person. The coaches leave at 4pm from the W2 car park at Old Trafford and are due to be back by midnight. Book here.

National Express runs coaches from Chorlton Street in Manchester to Birmingham Central coach station on Oxford Street.

They take roughly 2 hours and 45 minutes and leave Manchester at: 10:10, 11:40, 12:50, 14:40 and 16:00. If you go at 12:50 or 14:00 it's only £4 one way.

From there, you can walk to Birmingham Moor Street station and get the train to The Hawthorns station.

On the way back, there's only one coach and it leaves Birmingham at 22:30. It really isn't worth risking because you've a good chance of missing it.

Megabus runs one coach there leaving Chorlton Street at 12:00 and arriving at Birmingham Queensway at 14:00, with a one-way far costing £6. There is no return coach.

We'll put up a pub guide in the next few days.