The Bullring

Birmingham in General

Birmingham City Centre, Birmingham, England Heart Of Inc Birmingham

Recommendation added: 04/06/2007 22:25
By: katygriff (YSUK rating +336)

katygriff has been thanked 11 times for this contribution

"Now this is not something you hear people say often but me I am proud to say that I love working and living near the UK's second city which is the wonderful Birmingham. I have to tell you though that I did not always like Birmingham and when I was younger I used to avoid it like a plague. I used to think it was too busy and very dirty and up until when I was 22 I had actually only being into the city three times. Considering I live fifteen minutes away everyone thought it was pretty strange. So when I turned 22 and needed a full time job I began to work in the city and ever since then I have loved it and here in this review I will attempt to tell you why.

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Shopping:

The one thing that nobody can fault Birmingham for is for its shops. It is like a shopper's paradise with all the high street, designer and small boutique shops you could want. I have yet to experience not finding what I want in the city as there is so much to visit.

The main place I suppose now is the Bull ring which is probably what most people have heard of as it is quite new still. The Bull ring is very snazzy and contains shops for everybody's taste and preferred spending costs. The sort of shops they have range from New Look, Debenhams and then Borders and a variety of phone shops. I worked in the bullring for about 6 months and never really went shopping out of it as I found you can buy so much from there that you need.

In sale times the bull ring gets very busy indeed so you have to get there early. I think it is lovely though as it is well looked after, a lot of security is there and the place is spotless.

The main city centre homes hundreds of shops of all sorts. You can find high street and designer but the thing I recommend is to actually walk down the side streets as this is where you find unique shops. There is a great clothes shop at the side of superdrug which sells clothes that I would never see anywhere else and they are affordable so everybody can go vintage.

The newest shopping paradise in Birmingham is the Mailbox which is wonderful. The only thing is the shops are all designer so unless you have loads of money then you can't shop here. I can't afford anything but I love looking around as it is clean and new and the whole building just looks so smart. At the back is where you can find the canal which is lovely to sit by and have a stroll down.

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Restaurants:

Now I am a girl who loves her food so nice restaurants are a big part of my everyday living. Birmingham has a lot of restaurants on offer and again they range in style, cuisine and also price so there are a lot to choose from so if you fancy Italian, Chinese or sushi you can find it in the city.

My favourite place to eat at the moment is Bar Estillo in the Mailbox as I walk past it everyday and the smell makes you want to run in there. They do great tapas for lunch and the menu is full of everything really. Inside it looks funky and being in the Mailbox there is such a great buzz about the place.

Seriously though there is so much to offer from Chez Jules and pizza hut which are so nice and cheap and cheerful and then to places such as San Carlos which is very expensive and attracts famous people when they visit the city. Also you can eat in the city centre such as in the bullring if you are shopping or go to the mailbox and eat by the canal or even go and eat at Brindley place which is a very nice area to go to.

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Bars / Nightclubs:

Birmingham is famous for broad street which hosts exclusive bars and nightclubs. You literally have to walk down here after about 6 in the evening and it is busy with people enjoying the night and having fun. You have your places like Chicago's and then they go to things like Zen which if you go upstairs then you have stunning views over the canal and some great cocktails.

I know I keep going on about the Mailbox but there are some great bars here and my favourite has to be Pennyblacks in which I have spent many a drunken night there. Also by the canal is the pitcher and piano which is very nice to go to. I don't go nightclubbing very often so I cannot really tell you mush else about them apart from there are loads.

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Comedy Clubs:

Birmingham boasts two great comedy clubs which are Jongeleurs and the Glee club which are both a great laugh to go to.

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Things to do:

Well Birmingham is full of things to do and my favourite place to go to is the seal life centre which speaks for itself really. This is a great place to take children but me and my fiancé went last year and had a great time just the two of us.

The think tank is the newest place to go in Birmingham and is basically a science and technical museum. It is very good here and well worth a visit as there are lots to see and many of the rooms have small things that you can have a go at. At the moment there is this alien exhibition so I think may go next weekend.

Just out of the city centre are two major places that I definitely do recommend you make time for if you visit. The first is Cadburys world and who can resist the lure of chocolate. I know I can't! This is a great place and you get lots of free samples of chocolate which is always welcome in my eyes. Then we have the botanical gardens and they are truly wonderful. In the summer it is great to just go and have a stroll around and one of my favourite memories of school was going there and they had a swearing parrot which was very funny indeed. A great place for all in my eyes.

Birmingham also does have a magnificent library and also an art museum which is fantastic.

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Football:

I know many people won't support them but Birmingham has two major football clubs, Birmingham city and Aston Villa so if you live here or visit and fancy catching a game then you should be able to see some good matches.

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Theatres / Exhibitions:

There are some great theatres in Birmingham and the three ones in the city centre are the rep, the Alexandra theatre and the hippodrome. They show some great things that are varied each year round and the prices range from about £10 – 40 so they are not that bad. Each theatre is clean and nice inside and the great thing about them is because they are not that big wherever you sit you should be able to see the stage which is always a plus.

One of my favourite places to see what's on is the National Exhibition Centre (NEC). It is fantastic here and my favourite events of the year have to be Crufts, the clothes show and the good food show. They also do lots of craft and train fairs and one great event is the memorabilia show where you can get to meet some great famous people. Last year we met some people from Buffy the vampire slayer, Star Trek, David Carradine and old Doctor Who Tom Baker.

The National Indoor Arena (NIA) is a great place and here you can get to see lots of artists perform. The place is huge so you can usually get seats but prices rae quite expensive at times depending on who is playing. The Symphony hall is also fantastic and plays a lot of classical music. The one thing I love here is the Christmas concert which trust me is just amazing.

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Parking:

Birmingham is fantastic for parking with multi storey ones everywhere and at each of the main centres or attractions you will find separate parking.

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Public Transport:

Birmingham is so easy to get to which I think is fantastic. Trains, the metro and buses go here so from anywhere in the UK you should be able to get to Birmingham. The airport is great and very easy to find your way around and is huge.

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I suppose the final thing to mention about Birmingham is my overall verdict. I think you should have got the impression by now that I love the city and honestly I cannot think of a nicer place. People go on about the accent annoying them and I even had people at university calling me thick and dirty for living here but they couldn't be more wrong if they tried.

Birmingham is fast becoming the place to go and everywhere is always clean and nice and above all everybody is friendly here. I was walking into the centre on my lunch today and sneezed on two separate occasions and people said bless you which I thought was quite sweet. Birmingham people are fantastic and if you are ever lost then ask anybody and they will help you.

Now me as a young girl I do have to worry about my safety and my fiancé worries about me. In the centre though there are always so many people. I mean I get into work at about 7.30 in the morning and it is busy and then throughout the night it stays busy so there are always people around. The public transport areas are monitored closely by security and police do patrol the streets so you do feel at ease.

In conclusion I am just going to have to give Birmingham top marks because I love it and I am so glad I work in such a fun and vibrant city. When it is warm like it has been today and you get to finish work and have some drinks watching canal boats go by while in a nice area and listening to jazz people play like they were doing in the mailbox then I think you would love it to.

Thanks for reading.

xxx"