Birmingham City – St Andrews
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St Andrews Stadium in Bordesley Green, Birmingham has been the home of Birmingham City F.C. since 1906.
Having undergone major refurbishment in the 1990s, it is now an all-seater venue, with a capacity of 30,000. The two-tier Main Stand, on the North side of the ground, dates back to 1954. The upper tier has standard seating and a media area, while the lower tier (”the Paddocks”) consists of a limited number of seats placed on the terraced area in front of the stand. The club plans £1.3 million worth of restructuring work during the 2009 close season.
Relegation to the Third Division freed the club from the 1994 Taylor Report deadline for conversion of all stadia in the top two divisions to all-seater. However, Birmingham continued with their planned £4.5 million development scheme. At the end of the 1993-94 season, the Kop and Tilton Road terraces were demolished, to be replaced by all-seater, single tier stands forming a continuous L-shaped structure around half the pitch. Construction of the two-tier Railway (West) Stand was delayed by a lack of planning permission and only opened in 1999. The lower tier houses away fans. Family areas are available in the lower Railway Stand and Main Stand Paddocks, though from 2009-10 onwards, a single family area is planned in the Kop Stand.
How to get to St. Andrews
By Road:
For satnav purposes, the required address is St Andrew’s, Bordesley Green, Birmingham B9 4NH.
Away fans driving from the North should follow the M6 as far a junction 6, exiting towards A38 (M) / Birmingham. After about ½ mile, merge onto the A5127 / Aston Expy, taking the ramp onto the A38 / Aston Rd after about 500 yards. After about a mile, take the 1st exit at the roundabout (A4540 / Dartmouth Circus) towards Lichfield / A45 / A47 / B’ham. After passing through 3 roundabouts, take a slight left onto St. Andrew’s Road.
From the South East (e.g. London), the recommended route is via the M1 / M6. Exit the M6 at junction 6, towards Birmingham (cen.) / A38 (M). Merge onto the A5127 / Aston Expy, and then follow directions as above.
From South West (e.g. Bristol), follow the M5 as far as junction 3, exiting onto the A456 (signed Birmingham Cen. / Birmingham W. At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit towards Birmingham, following the A456 through 2 roundabouts. Take the ramp onto Hagley Road West. At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto A4540 / Islington Row. Follow the A4540, taking the 1st exit at the roundabout, signed A4540 / Highgate Middleway. Pass through 2 roundabouts, continuing on the A4540 as far a Garrison Circus and taking the 4th exit, signed A4540 / Watery Ln. St. Andrew’s Road is the next left turn.
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By Rail:
The nearest railway station to the stadium is Bordesley, on the Birmingham-Stratford Line which has regular services on match days. The stadium is a 20-minute walk from Birmingham New Street station, which is served by direct trains from most parts of the country, and slightly less far from Birmingham Moor Street, which is served by trains from London Marylebone. Additionally, Digbeth Coach Station is a 15-minute walk away, with regular services to the stadium. Click here to check the current train timetables
By Air:
The nearest airport is Birmingham International, about 10 miles away, with 9 trains per hour connecting to Birmingham New Street, with a journey time of 10-20 minutes. Click here to check the current flight times
Where to Park?
There is a small car park at the away end, but this is shared with coaches, so space can be very limited. Limited on-street parking is available for early arrivals. Several fans have recommended parking at the “Birmingham Wheels” racing circuit in Saltley. Secure parking is offered, within a 15-minute walk of St. Andrews. Some local schools and businesses also offer reasonable priced parking facilities.
Away Friendly Pubs near St. Andrew’s
Most of the pubs near St. Andrew’s are not recommended for away supporters. For those arriving by train, many away fans have recommended The Wellington, on Bennetts Hill. This pub specialises in real ales, with about 15 different types. It does not serve food, but has no objections to patrons bringing their own. The Briar Rose, also on Bennetts Hill, has received favourable reviews.
En route to the ground, The Anchor, on Bradford Street (behind Digbeth bus station) is frequented by some home fans, but the welcome is reported as friendly. The Cricketers Arms is a 10-minute walk from the ground and is another pub shared by home and away fans. It is small and crowded, though there are tables outside. Otherwise, alcohol is served within the stadium.
Hotels near St. Andrew’s
The 4-star Thistle Birmingham City, Saint Chads Queensway, Birmingham B4 6HY is 1½ miles from the city centre and has received excellent reviews with regard to service, comfort, cleanliness and value for money. It is adjacent to an NCP car park.
The Ramada Birmingham City Centre, 160 Wharfside Street, The Mailbox, Birmingham B1 1RL is located in the Mailbox leisure and shopping centre, about 1½ miles from St. Andrew’s . The hotel is a glass-fronted building overlooking Birmingham’s canals. The rooms have airy modern décor, TV with pay movies, direct dial phones with free local calls, coffee/tea makers and wireless internet connections. Satellite TV is provided in the bar lounge.
What have other Away Fans said about their trip to St. Andrew’s?
Many visiting fans have found the atmosphere within the ground intimidating. With only plastic netting separating the rival supporters, many away supporters were made to feel uncomfortable by abuse and gestures from the home support. Several visitors have had altercations with home fans and advise keeping colours covered in the city centre and near the ground.
Away fans have been universal in their praise of the view of the action from the North Stand, though several have found legroom limited. Catering facilities have been reported as excellent in terms of range and quality of products on offer, though the concourses become extremely crowded and queues are very long.
St Andrews is pretty easy to find, and there is parking to be had on-street not too far from the ground. However, we ended up parking in with the home fans in a car-park just behind the stadium. Cost something like £5. Seemed a great option at the time, until the end of the game, when we arrived back at our car to find the stewards had disappeared, and it was now a free-for-all to get approx 300 cars out of a single-car wide exit, onto a road that was queued with traffic. End result was that it took us over an hour and a half to get back onto the M5 afterwards. Next time, I’ll be parking further away from the ground, and walking in!
The ground itself is pretty good – the home fans are right next to you, and quite vocal, but good natured with it too – although we did roll over and hand them a nice easy 3-0 win during my last visit, so that may have had something to do with it!
We had a few pints in the ground, and although it took a while to get served, it was pretty reasonably priced.
Went to St Andrews with United this season and due to some sort of problem (frozen pipes was mentioned?) only one concessions stall was open for alcohol. This resulted in a crush that was pretty unpleasant indeed, worsened when the Pollice decided to get involved (pretty heavy handendly although not helped by some of the more ‘militant’ elements of United’s away following) and I was left feeling glad I had attended without my wife.
The stewards adopted a relaxed attitude, they turned a blind eye to me taking a full pint into the stands at half time in order to escape the aforementioned shenanigans in the concourse.
The stadium itself is a trek from the city centre and if it is your first visit it may be worth a taxi (£6/7) but on the way back you may as well walk (turn right out of the away coach park and follow the crowds across the roundabout at the bottom of the hill and then upto the city centre) as the traffic means it’s not much difference in time.
Despite later hearing of trouble in the city centre in a couple of pubs, caused by Villa and not Birmingham supporters – I guess due to the the lack of fixtures that day the scallies got bored – I had a decent couple of beers afterwards in a Wetherspoons just down from Snow Hill without any bother,
Went to Birmingham this season (09-10) and had near enough a pretty good day out. We drew 1-1 conceding in the last 2 minutes but apart from that, my time there was good.
Negatives: The concourse was rammed, although saying this Spurs had 4,500 fans up there that day as they opened the whole railway end for us. Long cues and a bit of a struggle to get a beer, but thats to be expected.
:The home support, were pretty dreadful and really didn’t make any effort whatsoever throughout the whole game, I was almost embarrassed for the. A few of their fans though were spending more of the game trying to give us all a bit of grief, but again, thats football.
Positives: Really easy to get away and to the ground, very easy to find and quick to get out from. Got back to my car which was parked around 15 minutes away in a residential road, and as soon as I hit the dual carriageway on the way back to the m42 I had no problems at all.
: Cheaper prices, but then again everywhere is out of London.
Had no problem wearing my shirt on the way out, but I cant say what it would of been like had the home team lost, everyone seemed rather friendly although again that could change from week to week. The leg room was pretty bad in my opinion, but the stewards had no bother with the whole of the away end on their feet the whole 90 minutes.
So overall a nice little away trip, one of the grounds that you have to go to atleast once in your life time.