Tens of thousands of Newcastle fans will soon descend on Wembley Stadium for the magpies’ cup final against Manchester United. Legions of dedicated fans snapped up almost 34,000 tickets in no time at all and train tickets, coach fares and flight seats followed suit.
Big groups of fans who wish to travel together may choose to ditch public transport and head for the garage instead. Driving from Newcastle will take around five hours, but there’s traffic to think about as well.
So if you’re thinking about driving to Wembley, here’s everything you’ll need to consider for the journey down.
Read more: Pubs in Wembley and where to go for a pint at the Newcastle Carabao Cup final
Route and directions
Thankfully, the route down to Wembley is relatively straightforward. From Newcastle city centre, the journey down the A1 and M1 will take around five hours, or six if there is traffic, which is highly likely. Here, we’ve added the route from St James’ Park to Wembley Stadium and pointed out a few worthy stops along the way.
Top service stations
These all feature in a list of the best service stations in the UK according to Which?. They were rated according to their customer service, range of quality shops and food outlets and on their prices.
Wetherby - Moto services, A1(M), junction 46
Which? gave Wetherby services a 61% service score, with its range of shops - including Greggs, Costa, KFC and M&S Food - landing a four-star rating. This is a very popular service station, with its large food court rarely empty.
Donington - Moto services, M1, junction 23A-24
Donington always ranks in the top service stations and comes in at 7th on the Which list. The Moto services, which scored a 60% customer score, offers multiple Costa Coffee options as well as Burger King, Pret A Manger, Krispy Kreme and M&S Food. For those after a blast of fresh air, Donington Park has a large field and lakeside walk, too.
Tibshelf - Roadchef services, M1, junction 28-29
The first service station on the list to offer McDonald’s, fill up on nuggets and coffee before filling up on fuel at the Shell forecourt or at its range of electric charging stations.
Woodall - Welcome Break services, M1, junction 30-31
Woodall’s Welcome Break has many options to satiate your mid-journey cravings. At this services, which scored a 54% customer score, refresh with Starbucks, Subway, The Good Breakfast and Krispy Kreme.
Northampton - Roadchef services, M1, junction 15A
The first Leon of this small list features at Northampton services but only on the northbound side, so either pass over the walk bridge or bookmark it for the return journey. Other options at these four-star rated services include Costa, McDonald’s and WH Smith.
Electric charging points
Motorway Services Online recommends the services marked with yellow pins on our map above as those that can provide EV charging points. Charging points include InstaVolt, Gridserve and Tesla Superchargers.
Parking costs
Wembley Stadium recommends that spectators book their car parking via the stadium website as soon as possible. At the time of writing, Newcastle’s dedicated car park has 152 car tickets available, 42 coach tickets and just nine minibus tickets.
Passes start at £40 for cars, £120 for coaches and £75 for a minibus. Unfortunately, blue badge and wheelchair parking is showing as sold out.
If you do not obtain parking passes, drivers will be turned away upon arrival. The Stadium warns that Brent Council will have restrictions in place for street parking.
The Stadium also advises people to steer clear of ‘pop-up’ car parks taking advantage of the demand on event days, as these are not likely to have the correct insurance in place and therefore you won’t be covered if something happens to your car. They are also not patrolled by security, meaning that car crimes such as break-ins or theft could be more likely.
What about the clean air zone?
While London does have a low emissions zone and an ultra-low emissions zone, the costs only apply to those in heavy polluting vehicles, similar to Newcastle’s own clean air zone. If you are venturing past Wembley and towards the centre of London, however, do check on the TfL website whether costs will apply to avoid any costly fines.
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