Thursday, December 31

Birmingham travel guide


Birmingham
FA Premier League
St Andrews
Saturday January 9, kick off 17:30


Tickets
Out of a capacity of 30,016, United got 3,783 tickets in the Gill Merrick Stand behind the goal. All have been sold and posted out.

They cost £33 for adults and £16.50 for over 65s and under 16s.

Home end tickets are still on sale, priced between £23 and £45, depending on what part of the ground you go in. There are currently less than 500 tickets left. Details here.

Weather
The game will be played in freezing temperatures, according to the BBC.
The temperature during the match will be in the region of 0C to -1C. It is expected to be clear during the game, though there will be some light snow in the evening.
Forecasters say there will be no more snow in the days leading up to the match.
It is anticipated that all major roads to the ground and Birmingham city centre will be clear and all train services will be running as normal.
If any problems emerge, we shall post updates.

TV
The match will be shown live on ESPN and ESPN HD with the programme starting at 17:00 and finishing at 19:45.

Travel
We recommend: Get the National Express from Chorlton Street for £8 return, which drops you off a 15-minute walk from the ground and gets you back in Manchester by 21:55.

Car - £25
If you're using a satnav or an internet routeplanner, use the destination postcode B9 4RL.

The journey will cost you £12.50 in petrol each way and takes just short of two hours each way. It's 96 miles from Manchester to the ground.

The basic route is M6 → A38 → A450

Here is a map of the ground and the surrounding roads.

Parking – free
The club car park is small and you will have to arrive very early to get a spot. There's another one on Garrison Lane but it is also small.

The biggest, and most reliable, car park is at the Birmingham Wheels Park at Adderley Road South, Saltley. B8 1AD. It costs £4 per car and is a 10-minute walk to the ground.

But you don't have to pay if you're willing to park an hour before kick off. You'll find street parking in Arsenal Street, Little Green Lane and on Great Wood Road. All are off Cattell Road.

Train - £20.50
A return ticket bought on the day will cost you £28.50.

But, as we've written about recently, you can get cheaper fares if you book in advance. See here for details.

Getting there

Manchester Piccadilly to Birmingham New Street
From 07:07, direct trains leave at 07 and 27 past the hour. Journey time is roughly 90 minutes.

At New Street you've got three options
1.Walk

It's a mile and a half and will take about half an hour.

Follow the signs to Birmingham Moor Street train station and then go on to Park Street.

Follow the road round onto Digbeth High Street and keep walking for ages until you turn right at Coventry Road. The ground is ahead of you.

2.Get the train
The nearest station to the ground is Bordesley (pictured).

But to get there, you have to walk to Birmingham Moor Street train station, then get the train to Small Heath and then change again.




It's a lot of hassle and probably easier to walk it and stop off at pubs along the way. It will also be rammed after the game

3.Get the bus
Walk to Moor Street (as above), which will take a couple of minutes, then get the 12 or 17 from stand ME, the 97 or 97 from stand MS or 57 and 60 from stand M6. It takes about 10 minutes.

4.Get a taxi
It takes about five minutes and costs about £6.

Getting back
The roads around the ground are extremely busy right after the match. Buses can take anything up to an hour to get into Birmingham and the train can take a similar amount of time. It's easier to walk.

Birmingham New Street to Manchester Piccadilly
Direct trains leave at 19:51, 19:57, 20:31, 20:57, 21:57 and 22:31. Journey time is roughly 90 minutes.
An indirect trains via Crewe leave at: 20:20. Journey time is 95 minutes.

Coach - £17
United are running coaches to this game. They leave from the Old Trafford N2 car park at 12:30 and are due return by 20:30. Places cost £23 per person. To book, call the club on 0161 868 8000.

Red Army Travel are running a coach to this game, with places costing £20 per person. For booking details, go here.

The Betty Bus is running to this game, with places costing £17 per person. The coach leaves from Chorlton Street Coach Station at noon and from the Bishop's Blaize pub at 12:15. It will stop off in Broad Street, Birmingham, which has its fair share of boozers. To book your place, email your name and contact number to redsaway@hotmail.co.uk

Public coach - £4
Megabus is running a coach which leaves Shudehill Interchange in Manchester at 07:35 and arrives at The Priory Queensway stop PC in Birmingham (pictured) at 09:35. One way fare is £4.

This is a five-minute walk to both New Street and Moor Street train stations. Both are well signposted. See the train section for details of how to reach the ground from there.

On the way back, the coach leaves from The Priory Queensway stop PC at 20:00 and arrives at Shudehill at 22:00. One way price is £4.

National Express is running coaches between Chorlton Street in Manchester to Digbeth High Street Coach Station in Birmingham (pictured).

On the way there, coaches leave at 07:15, 09:05, 10:10, 11:40 and 12:40, with most of those journeys costing £4 one way. Journey time is two hours and 55 minutes.

The coach stop is a 15-minute walk from the ground. Keep walking towards Bordesley and turn right at Coventry Road. The ground is ahead of you.

On the way back, coaches leave at 20:10 and 22:30. The first takes 105 minutes, the second takes two hours and 45 minutes.

Clich here for a full pub guide.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Is it likely that I would be able to get back to New Street for a train at 20:10 after the game or would this require a lot of running?

Cheers

vitty100 said...

It's only a mile or so walking. As long as you know the way, you should be able to make it easy enough.

Anonymous said...

what pubs would you suggest? ta