North West England football weekend: Anfield, the Hill Dickinson and the trains

A north west england football weekend in Liverpool is now a genuine two-ground trip, because Anfield and the Hill Dickinson Stadium stand in the same waterfront city and both sets of supporters reach them through the same Merseyrail line. Everton's move from Goodison Park turned one of England's most traditional football cities into a place where two 50,000-plus grounds can be covered in two days.

The pair works because the geography is tight. Anfield sits north of the centre, the new Everton ground occupies a filled dock at Bramley-Moore, and the station between the two has been rebuilt with exactly this traffic in mind. Here is how I would split the weekend.

Why a liverpool football weekend works as a double

Anfield holds 61,276 across four stands and is the fifth-largest football stadium in England, with the Spion Kop, the Main Stand, the Sir Kenny Dalglish Stand and the Anfield Road End making up the bowl. It has been all-seater since 1994, its record crowd of 61,905 was set in 1952 against Wolverhampton Wanderers, and the ground is about two miles from Liverpool Lime Street, with Kirkdale the nearest station at roughly a mile.

Everton's new home at Bramley-Moore Dock holds 52,769 and is the eighth-largest stadium in England, a bowl of steel and glass built over a former commercial dock that was filled with reclaimed sand from the River Mersey. It replaced Goodison Park, where Everton had played since 1892, and it is already booked as a host venue for UEFA Euro 2028.

anfield and hill dickinson: two grounds, one rail line

Both grounds are reached through Sandhills, on Merseyside's Merseyrail Northern Line just north of the city centre, whose two platforms form a single island overlooking the river. It is the station football fans use for Liverpool and Everton matches alike, and between March and December 2024 its capacity was increased as part of the Liverpool Waters development and in anticipation of the new Everton ground opening, with a fan zone laid out in the car park and an extra footbridge added in 2025.

The Anfield story is worth the walk on its own. Everton played there from 1884 to 1891 before leaving for Goodison Park after a dispute with the owner John Houlding, who then founded Liverpool FC in 1892. The statues of Bill Shankly and Bob Paisley sit outside the ground today, one by the Kop and one by the Main Stand.

liverpool football weekend travel: Lime Street, Sandhills and the Soccerbus

Liverpool Lime Street lies on a branch of the West Coast Main Line from London Euston, so a London arrival is straightforward. Supporters travelling by train can book to Anfield and change at Sandhills onto the match-day Soccerbus, which runs only when Liverpool are at home and drops you at the ground.

For the Everton day the same station does the work on foot, along the dock road towards Bramley-Moore. That is the reason the weekend holds together: one rail line, one station, two grounds, and a city centre you can walk back into.

liverpool football weekend on foot, between the docks and the park

The spare hours are the reason this double works as a trip rather than two ticket scans. Anfield gives its name to the streets around it, and the ground is the reason Liverpool exist at all: Everton were the tenants, they left in 1891 after a row with the owner John Houlding, and he formed a new club on the same pitch the following year. Walk the outside of the ground and the story arrives in that order.

Bramley-Moore is the opposite experience. The dock was filled with sand dredged from the Mersey, the bowl was built in steel and glass, and the site is now part of the Liverpool Waters development, so the ground stands in a district that will look nothing like this in a decade. Between them, the centre, the river and both stadiums sit inside one walkable band, which is rare in a city with two grounds this size.

A second anfield and hill dickinson day: how to time it

Two matches in one weekend depends on the fixture list cooperating, so a handful of decisions do most of the work.

• Check both home fixture lists before booking anything; the trip needs the two games on different days.
• Stay in the centre and travel out by Merseyrail rather than booking a hotel next to either ground.
• Use Sandhills for both days: the Soccerbus for Anfield, the dock walk for Everton.
• Allow time after the final whistle, because 61,276 at one end and 52,769 at the other empty onto the same line.
• Keep one evening free in the centre instead of chasing a third match.

Where to stay on a north west england football weekend

The centre is the sensible base, with Lime Street as the hub and buses and trains fanning out north to both stadiums. Staying near the ground looks convenient on paper and is not: the streets around Anfield fill and empty in bursts, and the dock area is still a development site rather than a district to spend an evening in.

Book the Saturday first, then shape the Sunday around it. The city between the matches does the rest, and the two grounds that once shared a single pitch in the 1880s now give one weekend two very different afternoons.