Away-day guide
St Mary's, Saints.
Quick takeaways
About the place
St Mary's is on the eastern side of the city, near the River Itchen. It's a fully enclosed, modern bowl-shaped stadium.
A cantilevered, steel-truss roof covers every seat in the ground, keeping the crowd sheltered from the elements.
The stadium has a very good food & drink village outside, with a range of street food vendors, covered seating and a large screen showing Sky Sports.
Away fans are housed in the southwest corner, between the Chapel and Kingsland stands, just past the covered seating.
Club info
Section 02
By train
Southampton Central is the city's station. From there, it's about 25-30 minutes on foot.
You might want to jump in a taxi:
Matchday shuttle bus
There is a dedicated matchday shuttle bus service for home and away supporters, picking up from two locations:
The service starts 2 hours before kick-off, and runs every 10-15 minutes, depending on traffic. Contactless payments are accepted.
The service drops off/returns from Britannia Road, next to the stadium.
Voi scooter
Southampton is served by Voi Scooters, offering a sustainable way to travel around the city. Download the app before riding.
At the stadium, the nearest parking bay is located under the Northam Footbridge.
Section 03
Parking options
There's no general parking at the stadium. There are a number of car parks in town within walking distance to St Mary's. However, check the signage as some of these only have a 3-hour maximum stay.
There are 4 accessible parking spaces available to visiting fans. These can be booked through your own club system.
Near the stadium
Min walk
Pay & display car park, with the option to pay by phone.
Kings Park Rd, Southampton SO15 2AY
Notes
We've parked here; it was the only parking in the area that allowed longer than 3 hours. Good location, 20 minutes to the stadium.
Min walk
Large council-run multi-storey near Southampton Central station.
West Park Road, Southampton SO15 1FZ
Notes
Useful for avoiding some of the heavier stadium congestion and getting back towards the M27/M3 afterwards, although it's a 25-minute walk.
Min walk
Large marina-side multi-storey surrounded by bars and restaurants, popular with away fans before the game.
Ocean Village, Southampton SO14 3TL
Notes
Convenient location, but notoriously slow to exit after full-time due to traffic around the marina roads. If you want a quick getaway, don't park here.
Other options
Southampton City Council has a good guide to parking in the city: southampton.gov.uk/travel-transport/find-and-plan/find-parking
Matchday road closures
Matchday road closures around St Mary's can catch out first-time visitors. Restrictions centre on Britannia Road and the surrounding streets, typically coming into force around 90 minutes before kick-off and lifting about 20 minutes after the final whistle.
Away supporters are directed to approach and leave via Melbourne Street, with stewarded pedestrian routes in operation around the Kingsland and Chapel corner. Expect congestion after the match, particularly on routes towards Northam Bridge and the city centre.
If you're driving, your best bet is to park outside the immediate stadium area and walk in.
Post-match traffic
The main bottlenecks tend to form on Marine Parade/Britannia Road, Kingsway, Northam Road and around Northam Bridge, as thousands of people funnel back towards the city centre and eastern suburbs. Traffic heading towards the Itchen Bridge can also back up heavily, especially for evening games.
The car parks closest to the ground often experience the longest delays. Supporters regularly report queues leaving the Ocean Village area and the city-centre car parks immediately after full time, particularly for the busiest matches.
Parking a bit further out means a longer walk in, but you'll probably get away more easily after the match.
Section 04
Southampton’s well-stocked with food and drink choices. The question is which part of town to be in. The city centre has tonnes of options, especially around the Westquay area, while Ocean Village is a bustling waterfront development next to a marina, with bars, restaurants and outside terraces.
As you get closer to the stadium, you'll find local takeaways and matchday food vans.
The stadium has several fan zones. The Kingsland Fan Zone is the most away-fan-friendly option, sitting close to the away turnstiles in the Kingsland/Chapel corner. The Northam Fan Zone is geared towards Southampton's home support in the Northam End, while the Family Zone is designed primarily for Junior Saints and home families.
Closer to the stadium
Close to the away turnstiles in the Kingsland/Chapel corner
The Kingsland Fan Zone has a food and drink village with covered seating and a big screen showing sports. The vendors rotate, but when we visited, there were stalls selling Indian street food, salt and pepper chicken and Greek gyros wraps.
Harbour Parade, Southampton SO15 1QF — around 25 minutes from the ground
A major shopping and dining destination in the city centre, around 25 minutes from the ground. Westquay North is where the shopping mall food court is, with a wide range of popular fast-food outlets. Westquay South has bars and sit-down restaurants with outdoor terraces, overlooking the historic city walls.
Ocean Village, Southampton SO14 3TL — around a 15-minute walk from St Mary's
Around a 15-minute walk from St Mary's, Ocean Village offers one of the best pre-match food areas in Southampton. The marina is lined with waterside bars, cafés and restaurants ranging from casual pizzas and burgers to Italian small plates and more upmarket dining, making it a good option if you're arriving early and want to avoid the busier city-centre chains. It's also Southampton's main pre-match social area, with The Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis Wetherspoon acting as the main away-fan gathering point. Generally relaxed and away-friendly, though it becomes extremely busy before kick-off and traffic afterwards is notoriously slow.
Above Bar Street and the Bargate area
There’s a city-centre street market along Above Bar Street and the Bargate area on Fridays and Saturdays, with independent stalls serving everything from bratwurst and jerk chicken to falafel and Greek wraps. It runs until 5pm and sits on the main walking route between the station and the away pubs.
113-117 Above Bar St, Southampton SO14 7FH — around 15 minutes from the ground
The main designated away pub in Southampton, located on Above Bar Street around 15 minutes from the ground. Expect a busy chain-pub atmosphere with away fans welcome in colours, live sport on screen, cheap drinks and standard pub food.
166 Above Bar Street, Southampton SO14 7DU
Large Greene King pub popular with football fans, with plenty of seating, multiple big screens and a reliable food menu focused on pies and burgers. A good neutral option before the game.
130-132 Above Bar Street, Southampton SO14 7DU
Irish-themed chain pub next to The Scholars, known for a lively atmosphere, good Guinness and quick food options that work well before kick-off.
Inside the ground
Inside the stadium, the options are more predictable; hot dogs, pies etc.
Section 05
The away end is in the corner of the Kingsland and Chapel Stands. The view is decent despite being in the corner.
The majority of the away allocation is now safe-standing, which can add to the atmosphere, especially if you’ve sold out your ticket allocation.
Standard seated areas remain available for supporters who prefer or require them.
The concourses are spacious by Championship standards, and the stadium's enclosed design means that noise carries well.
Section 06
An evening kick-off meant a half day off work. We got down there just before 6pm. Plenty of time to get parked up and find food.
We headed for a car park that we'd seen mentioned online — Wilton Avenue. We wanted to stay north of the ground, to give us a quicker getaway. When we got there, it was 3hrs maximum stay. That was no good. We drove around. The next car park was 3hrs maximum stay. Drove on. We found metered on-street parking — that was 3hrs as well. A pattern was emerging.
After 15 minutes of driving around aimlessly, we found Kings Park Road long stay car park. This still had spaces, but it was starting to fill up with home fans. It was about 20 minutes from St Mary’s, close enough to walk to, but far enough away to be out of the stadium traffic.
We headed towards the ground, with the Maps app open looking for restaurants. We followed Brinton's Road and took a right through an underpass which took us onto Northam Road. There was a kebab shop that had a decent rating. We didn't really want a kebab, but it was alright. We ate in the street outside, as more and more people streamed past us towards the ground.
We followed the crowd, and within two minutes, we saw a street food van selling footlong hot dogs and big burgers. It looked pretty good. If we knew it was there, we’d have ditched the kebab for a hotdog.
50 yards further on, a walkway emblazoned with Southampton folklore took us from Northam Road to the stadium.
Right in front of us was a bloody food village, with Greek gyros, Indian street food, and fried chicken. If we knew it was there, we’d have ditched the kebab/footlong hotdog for a butter chicken loaded fries.
It started to rain, so we grabbed a drink and sat in the covered seating area.
We were in the upper section of the away end, so we had a decent view.
After the game, fans were funnelled south on Melbourne Street. This was the opposite way to where we wanted to go. After a few minutes, the cordon was lifted and we made our way back round to the food village. A quick butter chicken loaded fries gave us the fuel we needed for the long drive home.
Getting away from the car park was a breeze, as we were already clear of the immediate post-match scrum.
If you've got more time
Take a punt
5questions, multigenerational. Some you'll know, some only a long-time fan would. No timer, no leaderboard — just for the fun of it.
Reviewed by Andy · 2 weeks ago