Parking Near Anfield Stadium

Football stadiums are venues that regularly welcome tens of thousands of people, coming from all over the country to watch their team play their games. Most will be home fans, but plenty will be coming in order to support the away side, meaning that they are unlikely to know the layout of the local area in terms of parking. In that respect, Anfield is no different to any other ground in the country. One of the things that does make it different, though, is the capacity of the stadium. The extension to the Anfield Road Stand means that 61,000 people are able to come along and watch the Reds play, which is a huge number.

In fact, in terms of being a ground that is for a club side, unlike Wembley Stadium, only Old Trafford, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the London Stadium have bigger capacities. One of the big problems with Anfield is that the public transport infrastructure around the ground really isn’t there. As a result, many supporters are going to want to drive and park close by, rather than choosing to try to get a train or a bus that might not get them that close to the venue. If you’re going to drive and park, of course, you need to know where you’re going to be able to park, which is precisely the point of this page and guide.

Visiting on a Non-Match Day

The first thing that I should point out is that some people might be keen to head to Anfield on a non-match day. There are numerous reasons why that might be the case, from heading there in order to do the stadium tour through to wanting to go to the club shop. There will even be some of you that simply want to head to the area in order to take a look at the stadium and suss out what it’s like ahead of a match day. Whichever category you fit into, you’ll no doubt be wanting to know what you can expect from your visit to the area in terms of parking, with the good news being that there is free parking available at the stadium itself.

If you’re planning on visiting Anfield for any reason and it isn’t a match day, you’ll be able to park in the Kenny Dalglish Stand car park. It is free of charge, with the area also being manned by security staff so you know that it will be relatively safe to park there. Your car will be checked, which is a security issue, but other than that you’ll just be able to park up and head off to do what you need to. For disabled people, there are a number of parking spaces around the ground that you can use on a match day, such as opposite the club shop, but you will need to remember to put your badge up in order to avoid being given a parking ticket.

Parking on Match Days

When it comes to parking on a match day, things become a lot more tricky. There is no general parking available at Stanley Car Park, nor Utting Avenue. The only exception to this is that there are pre-allocated slots for disabled people and for those aged over 65. You need to contact the Disability Ticketing Team in order to obtain one of these tickets. The area around Anfield is largely residential, with resident permits in place. If you park there without a resident’s permit then you will get a ticket. Again, there is an exception to this that comes in the form of those with a disabled badge, who can park in resident’s bays with their badge correctly displayed.

There are some areas away from Anfield where you will be able to park without falling foul of the parking restrictions that are in place directly around the stadium. It will obviously require you to walk to the ground, which is worth bearing in mind if that is something that you struggle with, but will mostly be free. I say ‘mostly’ because there are often some enterprising young Scousers who hang around in the areas where people often park, asking you if you want them to mind your car. The sensible thing is to give them a pound or two and tell them you’ll give them another pound if they’re still there when you get back from the match.

Unofficial Parking

One of the key options that will be available to you when it comes to parking is the unofficial parking around the local area. This is often in the likes of car parking areas for pubs or large undeveloped land, the owner of which allows cars to park there in order to make some money on a match day. As you might imagine, this tends to be off-book and you will need to ensure that you’ve got enough cash in order to have your car parked there successfully. One such example is the North Liverpool Academy, which costs £10 and is around 15 minutes’ walk from the ground. You can’t pre-book, though, so it’s worth getting there early.

North Liverpool Academy opens for match day parking three hours before kick-off, closing one hour after the full-time whistle. That means it’s ideal for those that want to go and soak up the atmosphere ahead of the game but not necessarily for anyone hoping to hang around the pubs after. There are other such car parks available, such as one on the Walton Breck Road that is about as close to Anfield as you’re going to get. That, of course, means that you’ll be caught up in traffic after the full-time whistle, with both cars and departing supporters making it tricky for you to get where you’re going at any sort of decent speed.

The beauty of Anfield and Goodison Park is that they are not far from each other, so there are numerous places around Everton’s stadium where you can park on a match day. As you’d imagine, this isn’t cheap, but it is a ten minute or so walk across Stanley Park to get to Liverpool’s home stadium. Presuming that Everton do indeed move to their new stadium in the city centre, this will mean that Goodison is sold and re-developed, so parking close to that stadium will become limited. For the moment, though, there are definitely more than a few bits of land where you can park up and pay for your car to be reasonably safe.

Supermarkets sometimes offer a chance for people to park up and head to the game, but will often have parking restrictions in place that you need to be mindful of. There is an Asda on the Queens Drive/Utting Avenue area, for example, where you can park your car for free for three hours if you’re a customer. This means that you might need to pop in and buy something from the shop, perhaps even checking with someone there if you’re ok to leave your car in the car park until you get back, but the benefit is you won’t be too far from the ground but can often avoid being caught up in the traffic after the full-time whistle.

JustPark

If you’re particularly keen to find somewhere to park within walking distance of the ground then JustPark is definitely an option for you to consider. It is an online system that requires you to enter the address of where you’re going, at which point you’ll be presented with a list of nearby parking spaces. Some of these will be people’s driveways, whilst others will be car parks associated with nearby shops. There is, for example, a Sainsbury’s not far from the ground where you can park with JustPark for only a few quid, which is significantly cheaper than a lot of the bigger car parks closer to the ground and arguably safer.

As you might imagine for such a system, the closer you get to the ground the more expensive it becomes. It is also going to pricier the longer you leave it before you begin to look. I tried it two days before a League Cup game and found spaces not far from the ground for around £35, whilst ones that were further afield were more like £6.50. I then looked again at a Premier League game a few days later and the prices were more like £12-£20 for close to the stadium and £5 to park further away. In other words, it benefits you to be organised and have a look at the JustPark options ahead of time in order to keep options open and prices down.

Park & Ride

One of the options that you might want to consider is that of Park & Ride. You can park at Sandhills Train Station, for example, and then get the Soccerbus out to Anfield. If you have a valid pass for Merseyrail then you’ll be able to get on the bus for free. This is, of course, designed to encourage people to get the train over to Liverpool rather than driving, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t take advantage of it if you have driven. The one thing to bear in mind is that the car park isn’t unlimited in size, so you need to get there relatively early in order to ensure that you’re able to grab one of the parking spaces for yourself.

There are numerous train stations across Liverpool and the Wirral where you could park before getting the train either to Liverpool city centre or else to Sandhills. Doing this will obviously increase your chance of getting a space and also make it more likely that you’ll be able to get the Park & Ride bus for free. The downside is that it will increase your journey time, based on the fact that you will then need to do the reverse journey on the train heading back to your car after the match. Which one matters to you the most will obviously be a matter of personal preference, but it is certainly an option that is worth considering.

City Centre Parking

As you can imagine for a city as big as Liverpool, there are numerous different parking options available across the city. These range from council-run parking areas through to private ones that are run by the likes of Q-Park or the NCP. There are far too many specific parking areas for us to mention each and every one, but here is a look at two of the more obvious examples:

Q-Park at Liverpool ONE

Liverpool ONE is the shopping centre in Liverpool, boasting the likes of a John Lewis, a LEGO shop and a Sports Direct. That means that you can enjoy some top-quality shopping before you head off to watch the match, should that tickle your fancy. It has nearly 2,000 parking spaces, so there is a good chance that you’ll be able to park there if you arrive early enough. There are also plenty of restaurants available in the Liverpool ONE, so it’s the ideal place to go for a bite to eat before you look to head up towards the stadium in time for kick-off, or to have some food after the match if you’ve been to see an afternoon game.

Paddington Village Car Park

Outside of Liverpool close to the Edge Lane, the University of Liverpool and the Williamson Tunnels Heritage Centre is Paddington Village Car Park. It is open 24-hours a day, with over 1,000 spaces on offer. Whilst it’s a couple of miles from the stadium, it is secure and there are both staff working and cameras in operation in order to ensure that you will have peace of mind whilst you’re off watching the team play. There are even some bays that allow you to charge an electric car, which is always a relief to anyone driving such a vehicle to know that they can park up and they’ll have enough juice to get home afterwards.

Getting From Town to Anfield

If you’re able to get yourself parked up somewhere in town then the next thing that you’ll want to know is how you go about getting yourself from there to Anfield for the match. There are a couple of options available to you, including getting a train out to Sandhills before taking the Park & Ride, or paying for a taxi. There are even some brave souls who choose to walk all the way, but it is worth noting that it isn’t an easy walk nor is it one for the faint-hearted; the walk takes you across the likes of dual-carriageways and other busy areas that are far from inviting for people who aren’t confident when trying to negotiate traffic.

The best way to get from Liverpool city centre out to Anfield, though, comes in the form of the 917 Express Shuttle Bus Service. This runs from Commutation Row up to near Anfield. At the time of writing it costs £2.30 to go one way and £4.60 for a return. If you want to use it to head back into Liverpool after the match then you’ll want to head to Sleepers Hill, which is where the queue starts, winding down to the junction of Walton Lane and Walton Breck Road. There are other buses that run up to Anfield from the city centre, but the 917 is definitely your best and quickest option.