This is Birmingham

FIRST LOOK

Birmingham Cathedral after dark

Managing Director Ian David Heads ian.heads@ kingfishermedia.co.uk

DESIGN

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PRODUCTION

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EXPERIENCE

a foodie’s paradise with a host of fantastic restaurants, cafés and pubs – so make sure you bring a healthy appetite.

there’s more than enough to keep you busy, a journey further afield can make for an exciting new adventure.

Khao Piyo Aish Karo Eat Drink Laugh & Enjoy

This wonderful city draws visitors back like a magnet year after year

Welcome, visitor!

Birmingham has one of the youngest populations in Europe, making it a dynamic, creative city that is constantly evolving. Visitors make a beeline to this city to sample its authentic cultural offering, superb shopping and fantastic food.

Peruse world-class museums and galleries, discover the city’s industrial past, wander around stately homes or wear the kids out at a zoo or theme park. You’ll never run out of things to do!

Shopping in Birmingham is a real treat, wander the streets of the city centre where you’ll find department stores, flagship fashion shops and the mighty Bullring & Grand Central shopping centre. Or head out of town to one of the gleaming malls on the city’s outskirts.

You can get a taste for sumptuous food at

the end of a hard day’s shopping at a number of Birmingham’s award-winning restaurants. Our must-visits include Grace and Savour at Hampton Manor; Adam’s on Waterloo Street; Carters of Moseley on Wake Green Road; and Opheem on Summer Row.

If you’re a culture vulture, you’re in luck in Birmingham. This city is home to top art galleries and venues such as The Ikon Gallery, Barber Institute of Fine Arts and Grand Union in Digbeth. Theatre buffs are well-catered for too, with the likes of the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome and The Alexandra Theatre to name a few.

Whether you’re visiting for business or pleasure, you can always be assured of finding something exciting to do, delicious to eat or interesting to explore. ■

Birmingham Cathedral

Birmingham offers an abundance of things to do with days out and top attractions for the whole family to enjoy

Great days out

Birmingham buzzes with urban action, but you’ll find quieter corners too, both in and outside the city. Peruse world-class museums and art galleries, discover the city’s industrial past, wander around stately homes or wear the kids out at a zoo or theme park. You’ll never run out of things to do!

The city’s fascinating history and culture are on show wherever you go. Get acquainted with Birmingham’s historic homes and buildings, visit museums detailing the city’s links with industry or sign up for a walking tour that’ll take you to lesser-known city highlights.

If old buildings are your thing, visit Blakesley Hall in Yardley, an elegant Tudor

For Tolkien devotees, Sarehole Mill is a must visit

home dating to 1590. It’s a unique example of the timber-framed buildings once common in the West Midlands. You can tour the house and elegant gardens and there are fantastic regular events for kids.

Aston Hall, constructed between 1618 and 1635 for Sir Thomas Holte, was one of the last great Jacobean mansions to be built. Fully restored to its original grandeur, the Great Stairs still bear the cannonball marks from Cromwell’s siege during the English Civil War. While in Bournville, visit Selly Manor. First mentioned in the court rolls of 1327, it’s a fine example of oak beam construction, and was moved here from its original location by George Cadbury in 1907. In its grounds also

The 250-year-old Sarehole Mill was an inspiration for both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings

stands Minworth Greaves, a medieval hall house that was saved for the nation by the Cadbury family.

Packwood House in Solihull is a 16thcentury Tudor beauty, surrounded by elegant, manicured gardens as well as vast swathes of parkland and wildflower meadows. Step inside to find an imposing Great Hall, an impressive tapestry collection and a plush bedroom once slept in by Queen Margaret of Anjou, the wife of Henry VI.

Also in Solihull, the National Motorcycle Museum is a must-visit for any classic bike enthusiast. This magnificent centre has become the largest motorcycle museum in the world and attracts around 250,000 visitors a year. One of the biggest attractions for many guests is the comprehensive cross-section of British machines on display, spanning the “60 Glorious Years” of motorcycle manufacturing in the country.

During the Industrial Revolution, thousands of cheap back-to-back houses were built around courtyards to provide homes for the workers. The three that have survived, the Birmingham Back to Backs, now recreate life across four different periods between 1840 and 1977, telling the stories of those who lived and worked here. Guided tours last 75 minutes and are well worth your time.

Winterbourne House and Garden is one of the city’s hidden treasures. Built in 1904 for John Nettlefold, a pioneer of early housing reform, it’s a fantastic example of an Edwardian Arts and Crafts villa and garden. Home to more than 6,000 plant species, it includes a woodland walk, hazelnut tunnel and a 1930s Japanese bridge as well as several 19th-century printing presses.

For Tolkien devotees, Sarehole Mill is a must visit. This 250-year-old watermill was an inspiration for both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. It features a permanent Tolkien exhibition and is the starting point of a Tolkien walking trail.

The Jewellery Quarter dates back some 250 years and is a designated conservation area with more than 200 listed buildings. It remains Europe’s largest concentration of jewellery businesses, producing 40 per cent of all the jewellery made in the UK.

Fancy something slightly macabre? The nearby Coffin Works offers a historical tour of a Victorian factory that made shrouds and coffin accessories, including the fittings for the funerals of Joseph Chamberlain, Winston Churchill and the Queen Mother.

If you’ve time to spare, there’s a lot to see and do around the Black Country, much connected with its history. The crown jewel l

Victoria Square, the heart of the city

Cocktails Social Darts ® events

EXPLORE NATURE IN THE HEART OF BIRMINGHAM

Visit one of the UK's most significant historical botanical gardens. Spanning 15 acres of Grade II* listed landscape and featuring four Victorian glasshouses, the Gardens are home to over 10,000 plants and trees.

Charity No: 528981

is the Black Country Living Museum, near Dudley. You can stroll down two streets of restored buildings which recreate a canal-side industrial village from the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Highlights include the Racecourse Colliery, a typical small Black Country coalpit from 1910, and Gripton’s Radio Store, where you can listen to music from vintage wirelesses. Peaky Blinders fans will be pleased to know that the museum was a regular filming location!

For a different perspective on the city sign up for a guided tour. Explore the colourful street murals of Digbeth with Positively Birmingham Walking Tours or let them take you around Birmingham University to learn the fascinating stories behind the development of the campus.

If you like your walking tours with a side of scary, sign up for an evening ghost tour, and hear tales of plague, hauntings and executions as you wander from Victoria Square to the chilling catacombs of the Jewellery Quarter. Tours take place on the third Friday of every month, departing from the Council House steps. Contact the Tourist Information Centre for further details.

Beer and ale connoisseurs will be pleased to hear that Birmingham has more than its fair

share of breweries, from the big and bustling to the boutique. Many offer tours led by their own professional brewers, with tastings included. Check out Two Towers Brewery, Birmingham Brewing Company and Burning Soul Brewing Company for starters.

There’s loads of family fun to be had in Birmingham. Wow the kids at a chocolate factory, scream your heart out at a theme park or meet fabulous beasts up close at the local zoo or aquarium. Not quite enough for you? There are also museums, parks and gardens to keep you happy.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fans will love a visit to Cadbury World, in Bournville. You’ll get the lowdown on cocoa and chocolate production, but the real chocolate factory magic comes from seeing chocolate-making machines in action and visiting the chocolatemaking (and testing) zone! Use all that sugar rush energy to explore surrounding Bournville when you’re done. This charming village was built by the Cadbury family to house early 20th-century factory workers.

If you’re a big kid, you’ll want to visit the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre at Arena Birmingham. It features a 4D Lego cinema, creative Lego building workshops, a Miniland (built with more than 1.5 million bricks) and the tot-friendly Kingdom Quest ride. l

Black Country Living Museum, Dudley

Specialists in corporate and public canal trips, events, entertaining and catered cruises

Available for hen & stag parties, special birthdays and other celebrations

Your cruise on one of our three passenger boats depart daily from the International Convention Centre, the bustling heart of Birmingham.

You will cruise along quiet stretches of canals which first brought commercial life to Birmingham and was the start of the world’s first industrial revolution over two hundred years ago.

We run heritage narrow boat trips and our boats offer a fascinating venue for your event be it a private party, meeting with a difference, corporate entertainment, school outings or even a wedding reception.

Our boats offer all levels of catering and our well stocked bar is available for your guests or clients, music if required and we can arrange a disco or live entertainment. All our boats are

centrally heated and have toilet facilities so as to ensure your comfort at all times.

Daily Public Trips

Discover Birmingham’s canals by narrowboat with full commentary on our public boat trips departing from the International Convention Centre Quayside at 11.30am, 1.00pm, 2.30pm and 4.00pm (please note booking essential for 4.00pm trip) every day from Easter to October and every weekend during the winter (weather permitting).

Search for Santa – throughout December. Please arrive 15 minutes before departure.

To book your own heritage holiday boat please call: 01782 785 700

JONNY-ROCKS Chauffeurs, provide luxury chauffeuring services throughout the United Kingdom. Covering a total of 46 UK regions with experienced local chauffeurs.

BIRMINGHAM

luxurychauffeurhirebirmingham.co.uk

Our regional websites are listed below:

BEDFORDSHIRE • BERKSHIRE • BRISTOL & BATH, SOMERSET • BUCKINGHAMSHIRE

CAMBRIDGESHIRE • CARDIFF, SOUTH-WALES • CHESHIRE • CORNWALL • CUMBRIA

DERBYSHIRE • DEVONSHIRE • DORSET

ESSEX

GLOUCESTERSHIRE

HAMPSHIRE • HEREFORDSHIRE • HERTFORDSHIRE

KENT

LANCASHIRE • LEEDS • LEICESTERSHIRE • LINCOLNSHIRE • LIVERPOOL • LONDON

MANCHESTER

NEWCASTLE • NORTHAMPTONSHIRE • NORFOLK • NORTHUMBERLAND • NOTTINGHAMSHIRE

OXFORDSHIRE

SCOTLAND • SHEFFIELD • SHROPSHIRE • STAFFORDSHIRE • SUFFOLK • SURREY • SUSSEX

TEES VALLEY

WARWICKSHIRE • WILTSHIRE • WORCESTERSHIRE • WREXHAM

YORKSHIRE

Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston

Get down to Brindleyplace for a day at the National SEA LIFE Centre – one of the West Midlands’ best-loved days out and home to the UK’s only 360-degree ocean tunnel. See the colony of Gentoo penguins at Penguin Ice Adventure, meet sea otters Ozzy and Ola, who were rescued from Alaska when they were orphaned, and be fascinated by giant turtles, seahorses, blacktip reef sharks and nurse sharks.

Flora and fauna devotees will find much to explore amid the tranquillity of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston. Founded in 1829, the gardens are renowned for their Tropical House, which was built in 1852 to house the famous tropical water lily, Victoria amazonica. There’s much more besides, including cactus gardens, a woodland walk and a butterfly house.

Elsewhere, Cannon Hill Park makes for a fabulous family day out. It’s home to a boating lake, mini golf course, fun park and miniature train ride, as well as the Birmingham Wildlife Conservation Park, which houses furry critters including red pandas, lemurs, meerkats and wallabies amongst others.

The industrial past, present and future come together at the state-of-the-art Thinktank, an innovative science museum and digital planetarium at Millennium Point.

Explore amid the tranquillity of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston

Themed galleries take visitors on a fascinating technological journey from the early days of steam engines right through to mankind’s ventures into space.

We Made It features more than 20 manufacturing-themed exhibits demonstrating how Birmingham became known as ‘the workshop of the world’. In the Marine Worlds Gallery, you can discover prehistoric marine crocodiles.

The Thinktank Ichthyosaur is an almost 200-million-year-old giant sea monster from the time of the dinosaurs. Finally, young kids will love MiniBrum, an interactive gallery for under eights, where the children are very much in charge!

Adjoining Millennium Point is Eastside City Park. This is Birmingham’s first new city centre park in 130 years and the largest single piece of public land in Birmingham City l

Centre, featuring more than 300 trees, lawns, public squares and a canal feature. The park also includes a Science Garden with 14 different interactive science exhibits, all designed for children aged seven and under and their families.

Young (and old) adventurers can get their thrills at The Bear Grylls Adventure at Birmingham’s NEC. Steel your nerves for epic experiences including the tallest high ropes course in Europe, a sky diving wind tunnel, a Royal Marines-inspired assault course and a thrilling shark dive experience.

To get a new perspective on Birmingham from the water, rent your very own vessel from GoBoat and set sail along the city’s historic canals. The boats are fully electric and you can cruise at your leisure, taking in sights including Gas Street Basin, The Mailbox and The Cube.

Further afield, you can experience the ultimate family day out at Drayton Manor Theme Park, a sprawling space including rides, amusements and a zoo. Scream your heart out on adrenaline-pumping roller coasters or take younger ones to Thomas Land, where they can meet all of their favourites from the Thomas the Tank Engine TV series.

Travel into nearby Dudley and you’ll find

Dudley Zoo and Castle, one of the country’s leading centres for the conservation of endangered species. Among them are Asiatic lions, Sumatran tigers, Bornean orangutans, Tibetan red pandas, Rothschild giraffes and the UK’s largest parent-reared colony of Humboldt penguins.

The Belfry

For anyone interested in golf, whether learning or playing, you can’t visit this city and not pay a visit to the award-winning Belfry Hotel & Resort. The Belfry is synonymous with golf and its three golf courses, including The Brabazon and PGA National, have hosted The Ryder Cup four times – more than any other venue in the world.

The resort’s Toptracer Driving Range allows guests with any level of golfing expertise to enjoy a wide range of games and activities with family and friends. There are also four individual custom-fitting suites as well as a putting green and short game area; all designed to help you perfect your game.

Birmingham is stuffed full of big-city pleasures, from fascinating museums and galleries to elegant parks and gardens. Head just outside the city and there’s even more fun to be had. Think theme parks, zoos and countryside waiting to be explored. ■

The Belfry, a must see for Golfing enthusiasts

DON’T MISS

Our top things to see and do when visiting this picturesque city

1

Custard Factory

The Custard Factory is the focal point of Birmingham’s arts and media quarter, providing a home to artists, designers, media businesses, charities, musicians and many others, along with a range of shops, bars and galleries. The five-acre sprawl of riverside factories was built more than 100 years ago by Sir Alfred Bird, the inventor of custard (yes it really was a custard factory).

2

National Sea Life Centre

The National Sea Life Centre is a tropical paradise in the heart of the city. Take a marine voyage beneath the waves and explore more than 60 spectacular displays. From the touch pool to the one millionlitre ocean tunnel, you’ll encounter everything from starfish to seahorses, sharks and rays. The latest residents are a collection of sea stars from around the world.

3

Visit the Bullring & Grand Central I

Birmingham is home to the historic Bullring – site of a market for more than 800 years. The Bullring & Grand Central shopping development boasts more than 200 shops, boutiques and restaurants. It also attracts around 20 million customers a year and was voted the third most photogenic British landmark, behind the London Eye and Big Ben.

4

Sarehole Mill

Rebuilt in 1768, on a site first used in 1542, the mill at Sarehole is one of only two surviving watermills in Birmingham and, amongst other famous connections, is renowned as the childhood haunt of JRR Tolkien. The cobbled courtyard and mill pool are a tranquil haven from the 21st-century life outside, while the buildings and their impressive machinery give a unique insight into the

lives of the millers who once inhabited this rural retreat.

5

Birmingham Town Hall

Opened in 1834, a splendid example of neoclassical civic architecture, it features a magnificent huge Georgian organ recognised as one of England’s finest examples. Mothballed in 1996, it reopened in 2007 after a £35m refurb to restore it to its original glory.

6

Cadbury World k Cadbury World is a popular family attraction based in the historic village of Bournville, where visitors can learn all about the history, magic and making of Cadbury chocolate. With a number of interactive zones, a team of in-house chocolatiers, the World’s Biggest Cadbury Shop, the Cadbury Café, plus the unmissable 4D Chocolate

Adventure, there’s so much for visitors of all ages to see and do.

7

The Black Country Living Museum I

Step back in time at the Black Country Living Museum, near Dudley. You can stroll down two streets of restored buildings which recreate a canalside industrial village from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Highlights include the Racecourse Colliery, a typical small Black Country coalpit from 1910, and Gripton’s Radio Store, where you can listen to music from vintage wirelesses. Peaky Blinders fans will be pleased to know that the museum was a regular filming location!

8

Visit the Pen Museum Birmingham was the centre of the world pen trade

for more than a century, employing thousands, pioneering craftsmanship, manufacturing processes and employment opportunities.

9

Thinktank Birmingham’s science museum features 10 themed interactive galleries exploring past, present and future. There’s the world’s oldest working steam engine, exhibitions on space exploration, planetarium and galleries dedicated

to the people, inventions and manufacturing of Birmingham. The outdoor Science Garden also provides a family-friendly interactive discovery and play area.

10 Birmingham Markets You can’t visit Birmingham and not spend time shopping in its famous markets, soaking up the vibrant atmosphere and getting bargain prices on a tray of beef joints, vintage clothing or fruit and veg. ■

SHOPPING

Shopaholics will love Birmingham for its eclectic mix of boho-chic boutiques, high-street staples and quirky independents

Birmingham has the third largest city economy in the UK after London and Manchester, which is good news for shoppers! It’s one of the most popular retail centres in England and there are gleaming towers springing up everywhere, changing the face of the city.

Want to fill your bag with high-street gear? There are large shopping malls both on the outskirts and inside the city. Is Independent shopping more your thing? You’ll find one-off boutiques aplenty, including excellent vintage and jewellery stores.

Bullring & Grand Central is the jewel in Birmingham’s retail crown

Wander the streets of the city centre where you’ll find department stores, flagship fashion shops and the mighty Bullring & Grand Central shopping centre. Or head out of town to one of the gleaming malls on the city’s outskirts.

The biggest new shopping centres in Birmingham are outside the city centre. Over at the NEC near Solihull, Resorts World is a vast entertainment complex featuring restaurants, cinemas and theatre and music venues as well as a clutch of excellent shops. You’ll find big names including Kurt Geiger,

Nike Factory Store, Skechers, Levi’s, The North Face and Skopes.

Over at Longbridge Shopping you’ll find Mountain Warehouse, Mamas & Papas and the biggest Marks & Spencer in the West Midlands. The Fort Shopping Park, to the northeast of the city centre, has popular high street names including Next, River Island and Clarks. It’s also home to sprawling fashion store Flannels, which offers swanky goods by the likes of Balmain, Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen.

Back in Brum, Bullring & Grand Central is the jewel in Birmingham’s retail crown. Inside the shopping centre, you’ll find familiar fashion and beauty high street names such as L’Occitane, Diesel, AllSaints, Arket, Cos, Kiehls, Mango and Ted Baker. Would you rather shop designer gear? You’ll find outposts of Michael Kors, Coach and Calvin Klein as well as a brand-new branch of luxury watch retailer Tag Heuer.

Selfridges is a one-stop shopping destination – the store features clothing and accessories collections from top designers including Stella McCartney, Louis Vuitton and Alexander McQueen, as well as upscale high-street fashion brands such as Whistles and The Kooples.

There’s also a sprawling Food Hall full of international gourmet goodies and a clutch of fantastic eateries. If shopping puts you in a celebratory mood, there’s even a luxurious champagne bar!

Excellent

shops

In the heart of the city, alongside high-end department store Harvey Nichols, you’ll find Mailbox Birmingham. This polished spot is a mixed-use development featuring restaurants, studios, a cinema and a clutch of excellent shops. If you’re into brand names you definitely won’t be disappointed here. There are outlets by designers including Gieves & Hawkes, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein and James Lakeland. A stunning flagship art gallery, Castle Fine Art has also recently opened.

Shopping here isn’t just about malls. Strolling down the city’s main streets brings you plenty of browsing action. Head along High Street and there’s budget shopping aplenty at world’s largest Primark, as well as lots on offer for bookworms at a sprawling branch of Waterstones.

Make your way to Corporation Street, west of the Bullring, and you’ll find more highstreet staples including Urban Outfitters. Looking for some jogging gear? Check out specialist sports store Up & Running in the

Grand complex in Colmore Row.

If the budget’s tight, New Street has affordable options including Blue Banana and H&M’s flagship store, as well as Suit Direct, one of the UK’s leading men’s formal wear retailers. While you’re in Bullring & Grand Central be sure to visit TK Maxx, which has two floors offering incredible savings on everything from designer clothing to perfumes, electrical goods and homeware.

If you fancy shopping in elegant surroundings, head to one of the city’s Victorian arcades. Just off New Street, Piccadilly Arcade is worth visiting for its architecture alone, and includes a splendid painted ceiling.

While you’re here you can get a manicure at nail salon Marco Benito, get your shoes fixed at Piccadilly Cobbler or browse jewellery by some of Birmingham’s most talented designers at The Onyx Workshop Jewellers.

If you’re in Birmingham during the run-up to Christmas, pay a visit to Victoria Square. It transforms into the atmospheric Frankfurt l

Mailbox, Birmingham

Live, work or play. Mailbox is one of the UK’s largest mixed-use destinations outside London, providing a truly unique office, leisure and lifestyle experience, with a vibrant 24/7 environment.

Only a 5-minute walk from Birmingham New Street train station and voted as one of Birmingham’s best breathing spaces, Mailbox boasts unrivalled accessibility to Canalside dining and some of the city’s best leisure amenities.

If you’re visiting Birmingham and need a place to stay, Mailbox has got you covered. With two hotels, Malmaison and AC Hotel, you can relax and indulge in pure comfort. Plus, with a secure underground car park managed by Q Park, open 24 hours a day, your convenience is Mailbox’s priority.

For those visiting Birmingham for work, don’t miss out on SPACES, a flexible coworking space located on Level 1 of Mailbox. Whether you need an open desk or a meeting room for a few hours, SPACES has the perfect solution to manage your diary on the go. Visit the Mailbox website to explore the options and to book your space.

In need of some downtime? You’ll find high-end brands such as Harvey Nichols on Level 2 of Mailbox, as well as a host of restaurants and bars, including premium eateries and award-winning independents offering a variety of cuisines on Mailbox’s iconic Canalside. Mailbox’s Canalside is

also home to Everyman, a boutique, three screen cinema, as well as Sixes cricket experience – perfect for socials, parties or the whole family.

With live music, festival celebrations and much more planned throughout the year, visit Mailbox’s social media pages and website to find out more about what’s coming up, events and partnerships.

Mailbox – an invitation to much more. ■

Mailbox, Birmingham Royal Mail Street Birmingham, B1 1RD mailboxlife.com

Market and Craft Fair, where you can pick up all kinds of festive hand-made toys and craft goods. Though perhaps the biggest incentive is the Glühwein, German beer and grilled sausages!

If you like your shopping with a side of individuality, there are plenty of independent shops and boutiques where you can look for one-off gifts, vintage clothing or smallname brands. Birmingham has an excellent selection of markets too!

In Colmore Row you’ll find shoemaker Crockett & Jones. Come here to get your hands on beautifully made leather and suede footwear and belts. The vibe is old-school classic, and you’ll find styles for both men and women.

For designer footwear, denim and menswear including brands such as Folk, Nudie Jeans and Norse Projects, head to Liquor Store, a short hop down the street.

Linking Colmore Row and Temple Row, the Great Western Arcade was once voted one of Birmingham’s favourite buildings. It’s also a great place to shop. At designer handbag and accessories recycling store Designer Exchange you can bring in your Gucci and leave with a Birkin.

Retro flavours are in store at Rascals Lifestyle, a recent addition to the arcade.

Come here for vintage sportswear and streetwear brands ranging from Nike to Guess to Adidas. If you’re more into vintage wine than vintage gear, then Loki Wine will sort you out with a good tipple or two.

The streets leading off Corporation Street are full of boutique attractions. Ethel Street has the stylishly minimalist Autograph which sells upscale labels including Vivienne Westwood, Belstaff and Dries van Noten. Meanwhile, brick-paved Cannon Street throws down the gauntlet for fashionistas l

L The Great Western Arcade I The Mailbox

Shopping at Selfridges

Located in the legendary Bullring & Grand Central shopping district, Selfridges Birmingham is an iconic building you can’t miss. Opening over 20 years ago in 2003, and designed by architects Future Systems, the building is covered in 15,000 spun aluminium discs, inspired by the chainmail dresses of Paco Rabanne. Today, the iconic building offers an unrivalled selection of designer fashion, beauty, kids’, toys, fine jewellery, home, food and more.

Across four floors, you’ll find the most sought-after and exclusive designer brands in the world, spanning emerging talent and established designer powerhouses including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior and Prada. Plus, you’ll have access to the new and noteworthy brands gaining a cult following, from SKIMS to Jacquemus and Fear of God ESSENTIALS.

On 3, discover the extraordinary Beauty Hall, the biggest in the Midlands and home to the world’s leading brands and beloved niche labels including Charlotte Tilbury, Gucci Beauty, NARS and Le Labo. Whether you’re looking for a signature scent, a go-to skincare saviour or a new lipstick, here you can find the very best of beauty. Plus, you also can book a make-up masterclass, a revitalising skincare session or a men’s grooming service.

Beyond the brand new, discover pre-loved designer pieces in the RESELFRIDGES destination, re-wax your favourite jacket at Barbour

or shop refillable beauty and home items, from perfumes to lipsticks and more. For other experiences and services, consult with the Experience Concierge to give any special occasion the finishing touch, the Beauty Concierge to book exclusiveto-Selfridges services and Personal Shopping for style advice and recommendations tailored to you.

From exclusive brand collaborations to one-ofa-kind events exclusive to Selfridges including fashion and beauty popups and immersive in-store experiences, discover what’s happening now and what’s next at selfridges.com. ■

info@jqbid.co.uk or

with names that include long-established gentlemen’s tailors Rosen & Nathan.

If you’re a comic book geek, make for Smallbrook Queensway and specialist comic and collectables store Worlds Apart. You’ll be able to browse comics, magazines, toys, T-shirts and action figures to your heart’s content. Bookworms can check out Foyles in Grand Central, or head further out to Bourneville and independent gem The Bookshop on the Green.

Jewellery makers

Birmingham is home to some of the world’s most highly skilled jewellery makers. Dotted around the celebrated Jewellery Quarter are a myriad of stores, workshops and boutiques offering antiques or custom-made pieces at exceptional value for money. Among them are Victoria James Jewellers for stunning Art Deco style gems, and the Creative Watch Company, which specialises in swanky designer timepieces.

If you’re a whisky devotee, you should make your way down to Spencer Street and Hard To Find Whisky. As the name suggests, it sells the kind of rare bottles that are bound to impress your dinner party guests. On the shelves you’ll find gems such as a Karuizawa 17-year single malt from Japan.

The Custard Factory in Digbeth is home to a handful of independent stores

Travelling south of the city, a stroll down the Bristol Road will lead you to Bromsgrove Street and The Diskery, the city’s oldest record store. This offbeat find is an Aladdin’s cave of rare vinyl and it’s easy to spend hours sorting through the crates. It has a particularly good selection of rare soul.

Just a 10-minute walk from the Bullring & Grand Central, Digbeth High Street is home to retro fashion store, Cow Vintage, where you can pick up top-quality vintage threads at bargain prices. Just around the corner is Redbrick Market where offbeat outlets include Retro Kimono, for vintage kimonos and other goodies from Japan.

A few steps further down the road is The Custard Factory. An arts and media centre on the site of the old Bird’s Custard factory, it’s home to a handful of independent stores. Among them are Ideal Skateboard Supply, l

The Custard Factory, Digbeth

Shoppers looking for a bargain – be it fresh fruit and vegetables, fish, meat, household goods, clothing or haberdashery – should take a visit to the city’s landmark markets

St Martin’s Rag Market

Bull Ring Open Market

Bull Ring Indoor Market

Offering a mix of the latest fashions –hats, bags, fabrics, haberdashery, gifts, cosmetics, a wide range of household goods and mobile repairs & accessories – it’s a real Aladdin’s cave.

Open from 9am to 5pm (Tue, Thu & Fri) and 9am to 5.30pm (Sat)

A vast array of fruit and vegetables, tasty cheese and farm fresh eggs, along with a wide choice of fabrics, handbags, jewellery and other household essentials.

Open from 9am to 5pm (Tue to Fri) and 9am to 5.30pm (Sat)

An exotic mix of fresh meat, fish and produce to suit all tastes – along with bedding, fabrics, casual dining and mobile repairs & accessories, natural health, footwear, cards and gifts, hardware, Chinese café, clothing, clocks and watches including repairs, tailoring and key cutting, luggage and bags, hairdressers and beauty treatments.

Open from 9am to 5.30pm (Mon to Sat)

Jinxy Art and Ridding & Wynn, a boutique selling hard-to-find homeware, gifts and curiosities.

For something special, head to the Sara Preisler Gallery, where you can buy a unique necklace or pair of earrings by the internationally acclaimed jewellery designer. When you’re done shopping, Autobrew bills itself as the UK’s first self-service bar and café, where you can pull your own pint at the tap wall and tuck into paninis, toasties and wraps.

Trading spirit

For unique shopping in beautiful surroundings visit nearby Lichfield, with its historic cobbled streets and modern shopping centre. It’s just a short train or bus ride from Birmingham city centre, and you’ll easily find a rare gift in one of the many charming independent shops.

Birmingham grew up around its market traders and small shopkeepers. So much so that it developed a reputation as ‘the city of a thousand trades’. That trading spirit still lives on today in the city’s market community.

Incorporated into the Bullring & Grand Central development, the Bull Ring Indoor Market is open six days a week. There are some 140 different stalls here offering all kinds of bargains, from carpets to

confectionery. It’s the meat and fish that really bring the punters in, however. It has one of the largest selections of any market in the UK.

If you’re after well-priced clothing and fabric, then the famous Rag Market is a safe bet. It takes place on Edgbaston Street, every Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday and has around 350 stalls stocked with all kinds of fabric goodies.

Foodies should head for the Kings Heath Farmers’ Market, which takes place on the first Saturday of every month, or the Moseley Farmers’ Market, which takes place on the last Saturday of the month. The latter was the proud winner of Best Farmers’ Market in the UK 2023.

To experience market life outside of the city, head to Lichfield. The main market days are Tuesday, Friday and Saturday, but you’ll also find specialist markets featuring local and seasonal produce and other artisan products throughout the year.

If you’re looking world-class shopping, Birmingham won’t disappoint you. There are gleaming shopping malls to meet all your high street needs, designer boutiques and jewellers for that high-end fix and a plethora of offbeat vintage stores and markets for those one-of-a-kind gems. It’s easy to shop all day in Birmingham! ■

The Bull Ring Market

EATING OUT

Birmingham is a foodie’s paradise with a host of fantastic restaurants, cafés and pubs – so make sure you bring a healthy appetite

If you’re after delectable dining, you really won’t be disappointed in Birmingham. You’ll find everything from fantastic fine dining restaurants to trendy vegan cafés to low-key gastropubs. The city is also famous for its Indian restaurants. You’ll find some of the best curry in the country here, from Bombaystyle street food to the aromatic Balti – Birmingham’s most famous gastronomic creation.

If you want to get stuck into some seriously smart cuisine you’re in luck! Recent years have seen a veritable gastronomic explosion in the city. It’s home to some of the best dining in the UK, including several award winners.

Headed up by top chefs Andreas Antona and Luke Tipping, Simpsons in Edgbaston gained its Michelin star in 1999. Set in an elegant Georgian villa it offers classic, seasonal British cuisine with an international twist. Their signature tapenade bread rolls are rightfully famous!

Modern British cuisine is on the menu at Michelin-starred Adam’s on Waterloo Street, owned by husband-and-wife team Adam and Natasha Stokes. Pull up a chair in the chic, intimate dining room and sample elegant dishes such as chalk stream trout with apple and yuzu. The seven-course tasting menu is a fantastic way to sample their inventive cooking.

Carters of Moseley isn’t just one of the best restaurants in Birmingham, it’s one of the best in the country. As well as winning

a coveted Michelin star, it’s been included in The Sunday Times Top 100 restaurants in the UK and ranked 66th in the 2018 National Restaurant Awards. What’s on the menu? Seasonal, local British food that’s as low-impact as possible. Owner Brad Carter is one of the founders of the Birmingham Slow Food movement.

Opheem, in Summer Row, was the first Indian restaurant in the city to be awarded a Michelin star. Aston-born chef and owner Aktar Islam serves up top quality à la carte and tasting menus celebrating the diversity of Indian food. The menu includes family favourites passed down by Islam’s mother!

Glynn Purnell opened his titular city centre restaurant, Purnell’s, in 2007, swiftly earning a star with his

individual take on British cuisine. The contemporary fine dining menu includes dishes such as monkfish masala and Wiltshire downlands lamb with anchovy.

Great British Menu star Kray Treadwell, who trained under Glynn Purnell and won Michelin Young Chef of the Year in 2021, has opened his first permanent restaurant in Digbeth’s Custard Factory. Named 670 grams it offers a playful and inventive tasting menu served in an industrial black-and-white interior.

Restaurant 8, Andrew Sheridan’s debut solo venture, is a striking modern space serving creative tasting menus to a maximum of 16 guests per sitting – with all dishes inspired by the number eight. The restaurant has three AA Rosettes and featured in The Times as one

Dishoom, Chamberlain Square

of its top 10 worldwide dining experiences.

Michelin-starred Grace & Savour has been winning rave reviews from critics and diners alike. Set in the charming surrounds of Hampton Manor, just outside Solihull, it’s committed to biodiversity, ethics and sustainability, and menus celebrate the seasons, inspired by the produce in the manor’s Victorian walled garden. Showstopping dishes on the fifteen-course tasting menu include the likes of grass-fed beef brisket smoked over pine.

Hampton Manor has more than one great restaurant up its sleeve. Set right beside the kitchen garden is Smoke – where simple, seasonal food comes cooked over coals and is complemented by a selection of natural, biodynamic wines.

Former Hampton Manor chef Rob Palmer has opened his own fine dining restaurant in nearby Solihull. Taking inspiration from the region’s local produce and its multicultural community, Toffs by Rob Palmer offers four, five and seven-course tasting menus and is listed in the Michelin Guide

For award-winning Italian cuisine, get down to San Carlo. The restaurant has been going strong for 25 years and the elegant dining rooms serves up beautifully presented plates of classics such as rock oysters, scaloppa alla Milanese and tournedo Rossini, as well as inventive takes on pizza and pasta.

Birmingham has its own outpost of famous restaurant The Ivy. You might not see as many celebs here as in the original London branch, but the dining room is equally polished, as is the understated Brasserie cuisine. As well as an all-day dining menu, the restaurant serves weekend brunch and afternoon tea.

Set on the 25th floor of the Cube, Marco Pierre White’s Steakhouse Bar & Grill offers panoramic views of the city and a Veuve Clicquot champagne lounge conveniently located next door.

Seasonal British fine dining is on offer at The Wilderness, a swanky restaurant in the Jewellery Quarter. The interior features dramatic dark

walls complete with living moss and a tree canopy, and the delicious tasting menus are just as theatrical.

For modern Peruvian cuisine and cocktails in chic surroundings, head for Chakana in Moseley. Led by Michelin-starred chef Robert Ortiz, it offers fantastic tasting menus as well as an à la carte featuring treats such as suckling pig and sea bass, served with traditional side dishes of plantain, yuccas and more.

The revamped Grand Hotel on Colmore Row has seen the opening of Italian restaurant Gusto and exclusive bar chain The Alchemist while around the corner on Barwick Street, in the Grand’s former boiler room, is Tattu, an upmarket Chinese restaurant where the food looks as exquisite as it tastes.

Over on Newhall Street you’ll find award-winning Indian restaurant Asha’s, which is far from a casual curry house. Specials include a whole lobster simmered with spices and mustard paste.

For more luxurious dining, make your way over to the award-winning Belfry Hotel & Resort in Sutton Coldfield. The Belfry offers an impressive selection of restaurants and bars, each different from the other. Ryder Grill has two AA Rosettes and serves a la carte dishes of steaks, grills and dishes made from the best quality ingredients.

Guests can also enjoy Sam’s Club House, with amazing burgers, pizzas and wings or settle down in the resort’s family-friendly Italian restaurant, Rocca’s Pizza Pasta. Then there’s the Brabazon Bar which offers afternoon tea, light bites and an impressive selection of fine wines and cocktails.

Birmingham’s multicultural population means one thing –diverse and delicious dining. You’ll find everything from Thai to Hawaiian. But it’s the city’s Indian cuisine that’s most celebrated.

Birmingham has a long tradition of Indian restaurants. The very first in the city was The Darjeeling, which evolved from a 1945 curry and rice café. Today it’s the famous Balti Triangle of Sparkbrook, Balsall Heath and Sparkhill that pulls in the punters.

Introduced to the UK in the mid1970s, the Balti – an aromatic curry cooked in a pan known as a karahi –has become Birmingham’s signature dish. With huge portions for around a fiver and plenty of BYOB options, a Balti night out can be as cheap as it is cheerful.

If you’re looking for something a little more sophisticated, there are plenty of upmarket Indian options too. One of the city’s most celebrated Indian picks is Lasan on James Street. This plush joint was the winner of the British Curry Awards West Midlands for four years in a row and has been listed among the UK’s Top 10 Indian restaurants by The Times.

Also in the city centre, Barajee specialises in both Indian and Pakistani cuisine and is one of the most popular Indian restaurants in the city. Come for the panoramic canal views and the refined menu of aromatic curries and grills.

Broad Street offers an excellent choice of watering holes and eateries. Upmarket PushkaR not only has a striking, white, cream and gold dining room. It was voted Best of Birmingham at the 2023 Nation’s Curry Awards and Best Fine Dining at the 2023 WOW! Awards.

Curry fans will be in heaven in King’s Heath. Among the best dining choices are Kings Indian Dining, The Spice Merchant, The Rowley Village and Radhuni Restaurant.

Travelling a little further, Hall Green is home to Jyoti, which serves tasty Indian vegetarian meals and traditional sweets. Nearby, the much-praised Raja Monkey specialises in Thali (a platter of different curries, rice and breads).

Across in the city centre in Chamberlain Square, Dishoom pays homage to India’s now almost vanished Irani cafés. The food of old Bombay, including grilled meat and fish dishes, is served up with Dishoom’s famous gunpowder potatoes, made with deggi mirch chilli powder.

On the Stratford Road in Shirley, SKVP (Shree Krishna Vada Pav) is a vegetarian restaurant celebrating the many flavours of Mumbai street l

food. The highlight is vada pav, a spicy potato filling sandwiched between soft buns and layers of spicy garlic and green chutney.

Birmingham’s first Chinese restaurant opened in 1956, and today there are excellent eateries all over the city. The heart of the action, however, is the bustling Chinese Quarter around Hurst Street’s Arcadian centre.

Among the best restaurants in the area are the popular Chung Ying Garden, renowned for its Cantonese and dim sum, Café Soya with its vegetarian and vegan specialities and buffet restaurants Ming Moon and China Court.

Away from the city centre Henry Wong in Harborne is one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in the Midlands. It offers refined Cantonese classics in elegant surroundings.

If you’re hankering after a Chinese hot pot, you’ll be pleased to know that the Bullring & Grand Central houses the first Haidilao restaurant in the UK outside London. You choose from a range of ingredients and cook them in a steaming pot of delicious broth, right at your table!

The Chamberlain Square development is home to Rosa’s Thai. Part of a well-loved national chain, this laid-back eatery offers a range of Thai dishes, including their signature pad Thai, green curry and papaya salad.

At the Bullring & Grand Central you’ll find Vietnamese street food chain Pho, souk-style Lebanese restaurant Comptoir Libanais and Japanese ramen bar Tonkotsu. For more Asian food, head for the Arcadian shopping mall, where you can try Japanese grills at Miyako Teppanyaki, sushi at Ten Ichi and Kyoto and pan-Asian dining at Rozu.

Waterside Brindleyplace has several excellent dining options. Caribbean vibes, a central island bar and fiery dishes straight from the jerk pit are on offer at Turtle Bay. The upbeat reggae soundtrack and selection of potent cocktails keep the good times rolling. If you’d rather visit the Persian Empire,

From fabulous curries to creative British cooking, there’s something for everyone on the menu in Birmingham!

Qavali is an upmarket spot serving aromatic stews, biriyanis and charcoal grills, as well as Persianinspired cocktails.

Just off Colmore Row, in Church Street, you’ll find one of Birmingham’s best wine lists, with a classy French-inspired menu to match, at Hotel Du Vin’s bistro.

The Burlington Arcade, just off New Street, houses the Macdonald Burlington Hotel’s Scottish Steak Club, which serves modern Scottish cuisine in swish surroundings.

In the Great Western Arcade, there are offbeat eats to be had at Kuula Poké, the city’s first Hawaiian restaurant, or Habanero’s, where you can fill up on hearty burritos, wraps and salad bowls, made fresh daily from local ingredients.

At the Mailbox shopping centre, Chez Mal Brasserie is a laid-back spot offering a menu of burgers, steaks and other grills as well as Sunday lunch, afternoon tea and breakfast. Also in the Mailbox, Indico Street Kitchen is the place to go for Punjabi small plates. Drinks and cocktails come courtesy of their gin bar.

Head over to Harborne and you can indulge in hearty home cooking at the Secret Sicilian, a cosy southern Italian restaurant offering dishes such as trout alfredo and beef involtini, as well as plenty of pizza and pasta. Huge sharing platters featuring Italian cured meats and cheeses are also worth a try.

Rather take a trip to the Middle

East? Harborne is also home to Damascena, a popular café serving up sharing platters of aromatic grilled meats, vegetables and dips, as well as excellent coffee and freshly baked pastries.

If you find yourself hungry in the Jewellery Quarter, the Blue Nile on Great Hampton Street is the place to go for a platter of Ethiopian stews and injera, as well as fabulous traditional coffee.

Hidden down Shaw’s Passage in Digbeth is Original Patty Men, a US-style burger joint offering a small but select menu of burgers, wings and indulgent loaded fries, while authentic wood-fired Neapolitan pizza is on the menu at Baked in Brick, a short stroll away on Gibb Street.

In Moseley, there’s acclaimed Thai restaurant, Sabai Sabai, which has branches in city centre and Harborne. You can get your fix of red curry and satay sticks alongside less familiar choices such as soft shell crab salad and roast tamarind duck.

Head for a pint at the Dark Horse and you’ll be treated to Vietnamese street food from the brilliant Brúm Mì. Go for rice bowls, Vietnamese fried chicken or a classic bánh mì.

If plant-based is your scene, head for the Warehouse Café on Allison Street, where you can sample vegan dishes washed down with vegan beer from local breweries. For something more upmarket, Land in the Great Western Arcade offers seasonal vegetarian dishes with an Asian slant.

Out of town, Resorts World at the NEC is home to rooftop restaurant Sky By The Water. Come here for the stunning views and stay for the mix of classic British comfort food and French dishes, as well as stellar cocktails and afternoon tea.

From fabulous curries on the Balti Triangle to creative British cooking in the city centre, there’s something for everyone on the menu in Birmingham! Best of all, you can sample the city’s fantastic food at a range of different venues, from elegant Georgian townhouses to gleaming glass towers to gritty urban cafés. ■

Eating at Selfridges

Make your visit to Selfridges one to remember at one of its in-store eateries

Finding great dining destinations is key to a good day out in Birmingham. At Selfridges Birmingham, visitors can expect an unrivalled shopping experience, complete with excellent food at a myriad of different destinations, from Indian street food to authentic ramen bowls, a nostalgic American diner and more.

The culinary journey at Selfridges Birmingham could begin at any time of day – even before the store’s official opening hours. Start your morning by grabbing a coffee and pastry from Pret A Manger on 1 or by discovering the breakfast menu at Medicine Bakery, complete with grilled sandwiches and granola bowls.

For lunch bites, pay a visit to Tonkotsu on 1, a traditional ramen counter serving up delicious selection of hot soups in seconds. Alternatively, Indigo brings the authentic street food of India to life with curry bowls, masala fries and more, while Ed’s Easy Diner brings that classic American feel –burgers, root beer, jukebox and all.

Short on time? Head to The Foodhall’s offering of quick-bite destinations. Choose from sushi at YO!’s iconic conveyor belt, doughnuts from Krispy Kreme or cupcakes from Lola’s. Here, you’ll also find Selfridges Selection, an impressive line of luxury food and drinks made by the

finest artisans from around the world. Discover gourmet treats, premium ingredients for your pantry, luxury chocolates, champagne and more.

If you’re planning a special, occasion, San Carlo Fumo on 4 boasts a chic dining venue serving up some of the most authentic Italian cuisine in the Midlands. Expect expertly crafted small plate dishes with original and classic seafood, meat, pasta, and salad specialities, plus an extensive wine and cocktail list.

Book your tables in advance on selfridges.com, so you can beat the queues too. ■

Only here for the weekend? Fear not! Here are some ideas for a memorable short break

WEEKENDER

DAY ONE

Start your two-day trip to Birmingham at the heart of the city where you can spend the morning discovering your favourite brands at Bullring & Grand Central. It’s here that you’ll find everything you could possibly need, from fashion and jewellery to technology and toys. While you’re here, make sure you take a selfie with the bronze bull sculpture at the entrance, then make your way to the iconic Selfridges building.

Vibrant Cafés

For lunch and maybe a cocktail, or two, head across to Birmingham’s Broad Street for lunch at one of the vibrant cafés, bars or restaurants at Brindleyplace. Rudy’s, Yorks at Ikon, Siamais, Wagamama and Las Iguanas are just a few of our favourites!

If your stomach is full yet you’ve still got an appetite for contemporary art, make a beeline for the splendid former 19th-century school that is now Brindleyplace’s Ikon Gallery or head to Temple Row for spiritual nourishment with 18th-century baroque splendour and BurneJones stained-glass windows of St Philip’s Cathedral.

To see the day out, catch a live performance at one of the city’s many fantastic venues including Birmingham Hippodrome, Birmingham Repertory Theatre and The Alexandra Theatre.

If you’re eating out, there’s everything from Michelinstarred gourmet to grab and go in Birmingham, but you shouldn’t visit without trying a balti in the city where it was born. Most agree

Shababs is the best there is – just hail a cab and let your senses do the rest.

DAY TWO

Start with a trip to The Birmingham Botanical Gardens in Edgbaston which, aside from the rolling lawns and woodland walk, include a cacti garden, subtropical houses and a wonderfully fragrant orangery-style

Mediterranean house.

Since you’re in the area, visit the Barber Institute of Fine Arts, often called Birmingham’s best-kept secret but better described as ‘one of the finest small art galleries in Europe’, the Art Deco building has works by pretty much every Old Master and Impressionist you can name!

In the afternoon, why not pay a visit to Cadbury World in Bournville? Learn all about cocoa and chocolate production and see the chocolate-making machines in

The Botanical Gardens has rolling lawns, a woodland walk and a cacti garden

action. Once you’re all sugared out, explore the surrounding village of Bournville. This charming village was built by the Cadbury family to house early 20th-century factory workers.

Canalside bars

Head back to the city centre for dinner, then watch the sun go down over the skyline with a nightcap in one of the many canalside bars or gaze over the city from Marco Pierre White’s 25th floor Steakhouse Bar & Grill at The Cube. ■

Birmingham Botanical Gardens, Edgbaston

Culture vultures assemble! Birmingham offers the perfect mix of galleries, museums, exhibitions and festivals

Culture Club

If you’re looking for a dynamic, cultured city, look no further!

Birmingham has festivals, live music and theatre in spades. Whether you want to watch a bigname act at a major arena, catch a thought-provoking play by an up-and-coming writer or see worldclass art at one of the city’s galleries, you’re simply spoilt for choice!

Birmingham is a city that knows how to celebrate and there’s a festival to suit your every mood. Spend a day (or more) sampling the best of Caribbean food, listening to literary luminaries or headbanging

to high-octane rock music. A festival in Birmingham is never boring.

Birmingham is one of Europe’s most vibrant cities and it has a busy calendar of festivals to prove it. They include the Verve Poetry Festival at the Old Rep (February), the Gin & Rum Festival (April), Birmingham Design Festival (June), TILT, Birmingham’s first dedicated aerial and physical theatre festival (July) the Birmingham Coffee Festival (July), the Caribbean food-themed Jerk Festival (August), LGBTQ+ Shout Festival (November), the Midlands Whisky Festival

(September) and the annual Frankfurt Christmas Market.

Birmingham’s annual festivities kick off in March with St Patrick’s Day. This huge celebration has been going in the city since the 1950s and is said to have the biggest St Patrick’s Day parade outside Dublin and New York.

Release your inner film snob at the Flatpack Festival, which takes place in the city every May. Curated by the enterprising 7 Inch Cinema, this innovative event highlights independent, short, experimental and archive films.

Sandwell & Birmingham Mela, Victoria Park, Smethwick

Birmingham City University even has its own event in June. The BCU Inspired Festival shines a spotlight on the work of artists, actors, designers, engineers, writers and musicians who are graduating from the university.

The annual Moseley Folk & Arts Festival takes place on the first weekend of September in Moseley Park, while the Mostly Jazz, Funk & Soul Festival takes place at the same venue in July.

Supersonic, the highly acclaimed weekend festival featuring a host of experimental sounds, takes place in Digbeth in September. You’re likely to expect a line-up of names you’ve never heard of!

Sandwell & Birmingham Mela, the UK’s Biggest South Asian Music Festival, gets going in July at Victoria Park, Smethwick. Come down and you’ll find the best of music, dance, food and art from across South Asia.

The Birmingham, Solihull & Westside Jazz Festival has been on the scene for almost four decades.

Sandwell & Birmingham Mela is the UK’s Biggest South Asian

Music Festival

This exuberant celebration of all things jazz, blues, boogie, swing hits the city in July and offers well over 100 citywide shows, mostly free, including artists from across the world.

For laid-back vibes make for the Simmer Down Festival in Handsworth Park in August. This family-friendly event focuses on reggae music, but also sees poets and dancers take to the stage.

If you’ve little ones in tow, the Big Family Festival in Sutton Coldfield is the place to be. Taking place over the first weekend in August, it’s got slime school, drama workshops and lip synch battles as well as plenty of high-octane live music. Come for the day or buy a weekend camping pass.

The city’s most colourful and exuberant festival is Birmingham Pride, a huge celebration of LGBTQ+ culture that takes place each September. The 12-acre site includes a main stage, a cabaret stage, a dance arena and a whole host of stalls, but the highlight is l

The Library of Birmingham

• The largest collection of British motorcycles in the world

• Five huge display halls

• Over 850 bikes on display at any one time

• 171 different British marques

• Restaurant & café

• Open every day of the year (except 24/25/26 December and 1 January)

• Free parking

Coventry Road, Bickenhill, Solihull, West Midlands B92 0EJ

Telephone: 01675 443311

Online: www.thenmm.co.uk

Email: shop@thenmm.co.uk

/The-National-Motorcycle-Museum

@TheNMMUK

youtube.com/TheNMMUK

the street party and parade.

The biennial Birmingham International Dance Festival is one of the largest in the world, bringing all kinds of styles to the city’s theatres, streets and public spaces.

If you’re up for a laugh, head to Birmingham in October for the multi-site Birmingham Comedy Festival. It’s one of the longestrunning comedy festivals in the UK and sees big-name acts such as Russell Brand, Mark Steel and Jenny Eclair take to the stage.

Bookworms should head for the Birmingham Literature Festival in October, for talks, debates and workshops covering a huge variety of genres. Former speakers have included Michael Rosen, Jim Crace and Elif Shafak.

Film bods come to the city in November for the Birmingham Film Festival, a 10-day celebration of cinema featuring screenings, seminars and workshops as well as a star-studded awards ceremony.

There are gigs and galleries

to keep you going all year in Birmingham, from superstar concerts to small-scale theatre productions and student art shows. They’re all part of Birmingham’s fascinating cultural mix.

The city’s two largest venues are the Resorts World Arena, part of the NEC complex, and Utilita Arena Birmingham on Broad Street. Both host major music, comedy and theatre acts as well as sporting events. The former puts on the Horse of the Year Show while the latter hosts the British Basketball League Cup Final and the Birmingham International Tattoo.

Meanwhile, the massive NEC exhibition complex stages crowd pleasers including Gardeners World, Crufts, the BBC Good Food Show, Grand Designs Live and Autosport International.

In Brindleyplace you’ll find Symphony Hall, the jewel in the city’s musical crown. One of the world’s finest concert venues, it’s also home to one of the world’s

finest orchestras, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra.

Head up to Victoria Square and you’ll find another world-renowned music venue, the Grade 1-listed neoclassical Town Hall, declared the finest music hall in the country when it opened in 1834.

Into independent and foreign cinema? Birmingham is well served on the art house circuit. The best venues are the Midlands Arts Centre, the Mockingbird Cinema at the Custard Factory, the threescreen Everyman Cinema and the Electric Cinema, the oldest working cinema in the UK.

If you’d rather watch blockbusters in front of a massive screen, you’ll find IMAX screens at both Cineworld and the Empire, while ODEON Luxe Birmingham Broadway Plaza has iSense and reclining seats. The Broad Street branch of Cineworld has 4DX where you get to feel, smell and move with the action as well as watch it.

The Birmingham Repertory l

Symphony Hall, Brindley Place

Theatre is a major player on the performing arts scene, with a main stage as well as the smaller Studio Theatre and The Door. In Station Street, the Old Rep Theatre, the UK’s first purpose-built repertory theatre, continues to stage amateur productions.

You’ll find grandeur aplenty at the Birmingham Hippodrome over on Hurst Street. It regularly stages spectacular West End and Broadway musicals as well as the UK’s biggest, most lavish pantomime. It also hosts heavyweight seasons by the Welsh National Opera and is home to one of the UK’s leading dance companies, the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

The Alexandra Theatre is one of the country’s top touring theatres with a programme embracing drama, comedy and evergreen family musicals. Set in Cannon Hill Park opposite Edgbaston Cricket Ground, the Midlands Arts Centre is acclaimed for its diverse programming and exhibitions. It’s the home of Sampad, an organisation dedicated to the promotion of South Asian arts.

In addition to several thousand books, the Library of Birmingham’s glass and metal filigree building showcases the city’s archives and special collections, including photography and early and fine

The Barber Institute of Fine Arts features an outstanding collection of Old Masters

printing. Visitors can also see classic films, television, documentaries and even home movies from the British Film Institute National Archive.

Digbeth is very much the city’s artist quarter while Eastside is currently the largest physical regeneration project in Birmingham. Situated in Heath Mill Lane, Eastside Projects is a free, artist-run collection of artists’ galleries and studios, and an excellent place to take in an experimental exhibition or two.

Grand Union is a gallery and artists’ studios complex in Digbeth that hosts a free programme of public exhibitions and events. It provides affordable studios for visual artists in the heart of a supportive creative community, with opportunities for members of the public to visit behind the scenes and see them at work.

The Ikon Gallery in Brindleyplace is one of Europe’s leading contemporary art galleries with a changing programme of exhibitions and events featuring the best in international and British art.

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery has the largest collection of pre-Raphaelites in the world, however, it’s currently closed or essential maintenance works, so check their website before visiting.

Over in Edgbaston, the Barber Institute of Fine Arts features an outstanding collection of Old Masters. The Jewellery Quarter, meanwhile, houses the UK’s second oldest independent art gallery, the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists as well as Iron House, a gallery and events space where you’ll find a diverse and dynamic offering from fine art to sculpture. For a contemporary space where you can buy art as well as take in exhibitions, head to Castle Fine Art in The Mailbox.

If you want to immerse yourself in creativity, Birmingham is an excellent place to do so. You can marvel at traditional paintings, view outstanding contemporary plays at offbeat theatres and experience the city’s diverse community at a host of lively festivals. In short, it’s easy to get your cultural in Birmingham. ■

Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Edgbaston

The night-time economy in the city is thriving, packed with clubs, pubs, bars and live music venues

After dark

If it’s a fantastic night out you’re after, Birmingham will have you sorted! There are hedonistic bars and clubs to keep you going into the small hours, music venues showcasing big stars and unknown indie bands and a vibrant LGBTQ+ scene centred around the city’s Gay Village.

If you love a night of live entertainment, you’ll be well catered for in Birmingham. You can find fantastic live music any night of the week, as well as regular comedy nights at the city’s theatres and bars. If it’s a quiet drink you’re after, there

are loads of venues to suit you too.

The O2 Institute Birmingham is a major player on the touring scene, embracing both established and rising stars of mainstream rock, indie, R’n’B, rap and dance. In Digbeth, Dead Wax is an offbeat bar with a nice line of craft ales and a reputation for supporting up-andcoming indie names.

Arguably the city’s prime live music venue, the O2 Academy Birmingham, at Queensway Circus, has three rooms of different capacities and presents a wide spectrum of music from newbies to

major stars.

Big-name acts can be found projecting to the back rows of both the Resorts World Arena and Utilita Arena Birmingham, while jazz, rock, pop, folk and classical concerts take place at both the Town Hall and Symphony Hall.

Nestling in the Arcadian Centre, The Glee Club Birmingham is one of the city’s finest small venues. It’s the city’s leading comedy club, hosting regular nights by top stars and rising rib-ticklers as well as warmup spots for comics heading to the Edinburgh Festival.

The Glee Club, Arcadian Centre

If you’re into live rock and indie music you’ll be pleased to know you can catch regular gigs around the city centre, most notably at The Sunflower Lounge and The Asylum.

Moving out of the city, Kings Heath is home to some of the city’s smaller but most vital music venues. The Hare and Hounds is a regular port of call for both local and touring acts. It’s also the place where local legends UB40 played their first ever live gig.

Just across the road, The Kitchen Garden Café offers an intimate platform for folk, country and jazz artists as well as regular comedy and poetry nights. The Red Lion Folk Club, meanwhile, has a lively programme that mixes up the traditional and the contemporary. Over in the Jewellery Quarter, The Jam House regularly offers live music events, usually of a soul, jazz, blues or R’n’B nature.

In Digbeth, The Mill hosts regular bands and solo artists, from Indie to hip hop, as well as live DJs, club nights and the occasional

The Glee Club

Birmingham is one of the city’s finest small venues

tribute act.

If you’re just looking for a good drink, there’s a plethora of excellent pubs to settle into. In Edgbaston you’ll find The Physician, a former 19th-century medical library that sells eight local cask ales and recently won ‘Best Pub in the County’ at the National Pub & Bar awards.

Also good for a tipple are The Bartons Arms in Aston, where Charlie Chaplin used to drink, and the Rock & Roll Brewhouse in the Jewellery Quarter, which brews its own vegan beer. Over on Bennett’s Hill, real ale specialist The Wellington has an extensive whisky menu as well as a great selection of beers and ciders.

In the heart of the city centre you’ll find Bacchus, one of the oldest and most unique pubs in town. This subterranean space has a quirky set of themed rooms – you can sink a pint next to a suit of armour, underneath a Roman mosaic or next to golden tomb paintings in the Egyptian Room. l

Resorts World Arena

In Digbeth, Zumhof Biergarten is the place to go for Tankovna – fresh, unpasteurised Pilsner Urquell –delivered direct from Pilsen in the Czech Republic once a week. Come at the weekend for live entertainment from queer cabaret to live art installations to go with your bratwursts and burgers.

Head to the Jewellery Quarter and you’ll find beloved hipster hangout 1000 Trades, where the drinks include craft beers and organic wines, and food comes courtesy of guest suppliers – think Bajan street food, Thai small plates or posh hot sandwiches.

Birmingham is a city that rocks all through the night. There’s a huge array of clubs and late-night bars here playing every kind of music imaginable.

The biggest name on the nightlife scene is PRYZM on Broad Street. This four-room, 2,500-capacity venue has a main arena showcasing the latest technology. It invites guest DJs from around the

country and beyond to play to an exuberant crowd. The most popular weekly events are Fix Fridays and LYFECODE on Saturdays.

Also on Broad Street is The O Bar, which has a live DJ every night of the week for a soul, R’n’B, funk and house mashup. Australianthemed Walkabout offers live sports during the day and late parties on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Broad Street is also home to the late-night bar and dance venue Popworld, which plays party music from across the decades in a retro-themed room complete with light-up dance floor. Just nearby, The Velvet Music Rooms is an Irish pub and sports bar by day and a dance venue after dark, thanks to its upstairs nightclub Sugar Suite.

Hurst Street in Birmingham city centre is the heart of the city’s Gay Village. It’s the focus of the annual Pride Festival and home to the veteran Nightingale Club with regular club nights.

In the same area, LGBTQ+

culture can be found at Sidewalk while other bars and clubs in the Gay Village include Sidewalk, a café by day and party spot by night, cabaret venue The Village Inn, laidback Equator Bar and The Fox, the city’s only lesbian bar.

On Wrottesley Street, Bambu with its open-air-themed Moroccan garden, is one of the leaders on the party scene. If Indie is more your speed, veteran club Snobs on Smallbrook Queensway remains a student favourite thanks to its alternative weekend club nights.

Digbeth is a major clubbing hotspot with indoor and outdoor spaces hosting everything from indie rock gigs to eclectic dance as well as club nights. The Night Owl is the only Northern Soul and Motown bar in the Midlands, named the city’s best nightclub at the 2019 Birmingham Music Awards.

LAB11 is a house-themed warehouse club in the heart of Digbeth that also puts on regular outdoor daytime parties, while, with

The Velvet Music Rooms, Broad Street

a capacity of just 150, Suki10C is at the heart of independent, creative clubbing and music in Birmingham. The Ruin is a trendy bar offering Mediterranean snacks and regular DJ nights.

Just down the road is the Digbeth Arena, which offers live music as well as club nights. Mama Roux’s is an intimate venue hosting a range of live music and DJs in genres ranging from grime to electronica as well as regular cabaret nights.

Over on the other side of town, beneath the railway arches on Water Street, The Tunnel Club is an underground dance music venue sprawled across six different rooms and three dance floors offering everything from hardcore industrial to dubstep and garage.

If your tipple is gin, you’re well served by the canal-side Gin Vault. It offers 350 gins and was named the best gin joint in the UK at the Icons of Gin World Gin Awards.

Stylish 40 St Pauls, meanwhile, is an intimate spot with more than 140

gins, but only 24 seats.

Whisky lovers will find a slice of heaven at Grain & Glass in the Jewellery Quarter. There are more than 300 varieties on the menu including some rare and top-quality finds. It’s also the home of the Birmingham Whisky Club and there are regular tasting sessions should you want to deepen your knowledge.

If cocktails are more your thing, petite Couch in Stirchley serves some delicious specimens. It’s no surprise that it was ranked by The Daily Telegraph as one of the world’s best 20 bars in 2021 and is listed in the UK’s Top 50 Cocktail Bars for 2023.

Bar Ikigai is a minimalist bar in the Jewellery Quarter which celebrates seasonal Japanese ingredients. For New York vibes get to Manahatta, a US-inspired cocktail bar with a lively crowd.

Want a slice of sporting action with your cocktails? The Floodgate, set in The Custard Factory building, is an experiential bar offering

baseball, curling and PitPat table golf as well as large tables for drinking and dining.

In the same venue, Chance and Counters is a board game café with over 500 different games on offer, while Roxy in Digbeth has bowling, pool, beer pong and shuffleboard to go with the pizza and cocktails.

At The Flight Club on Temple Street, you can dabble in interactive darts alongside your drinks. If you fancy a flutter, there’s an excellent choice of gambling venues, too, most notably the Grosvenor Casino on Hill Street.

There are also three Genting Casinos, one on Hurst Street in the city centre, one on Norfolk Road in Edgbaston and a third at the Resorts World complex at the NEC.

After a day of sightseeing enjoy the best nightlife the city has to offer. Go from dinner to cocktails and clubbing, take in a live comedy performance or dance all night. Whatever your after dark whims they’re sure to be met in here. ■

PRYZM, Broad Street

Although Birmingham has more than enough to keep you busy, a journey further afield can make for an exciting new adventure

Time to explore

If you want to explore further afield, there are some fabulous attractions on the doorstep. At Aston Manor Transport Museum in Wythall old buses, coaches, and tramcars rub axles with vintage fire engines and electric battery-powered milk floats while further transports of delight can be discovered by the NEC where the National Motorcycle Museum is a tribute to and record of the years when British bikes ruled the world.

Just down the road in Coventry (UK City of Culture 2021), the Transport Museum is the world’s largest collection of British transport with hundreds of cars, cycles and motorcycles and timethemed galleries, including the Growth of the Motor Industry 1918 to 1939, while notable exhibits include an 1818 Hobby Horse and a Sinclair C5.

The museum is part of the Culture Coventry Charitable Trust, which also includes the inspirational, award-winning, family-friendly Herbert Art Gallery & Museum and the Lunt Roman Fort which includes the only gyrus in the Roman Empire. The historic Cathedral, which has been a place of worship for centuries, is also well worth a visit.

Also on a motoring theme, with seven permanent exhibitions, the British Motor Museum in Gaydon, near Warwick, offers the world’s largest collection of historic British cars, from early boneshakers to experimental land speed vehicles.

William Shakespeare remains Stratford-upon-Avon’s biggest tourist industry, so a trip round his life is an absolute must with memorabilia-packed properties all over the place. The Birthplace, Hall’s Croft and Nash’s House are in town, Anne Hathaway’s thatched

farmhouse cottage in Shottery and, in Wilmcote, there’s mum Mary Arden’s Farm with its examples of the history of domestic design and the origins of phrases like ‘chairman of the board’.

If you can get on with creepy crawlies, you’ll find them and their fluttering friends at Stratford Butterfly Farm. Second only to The Shakespeare Centre, as Stratford’s biggest attraction, it features an impressive ancient rainforest civilisation exhibit, the ‘Maya’ as well as Insect City, one of the largest collections of insects in Europe.

From Stratford, it’s a short trip to historic Warwick with its 1,300-year-old castle where a visit to The Castle Dungeon with its torture chamber, decaying bodies, chanting monks and medieval medical instruments will test your nerves. There are medieval battle re-enactments and jousts each summer, and Time Tower offers a quest through the castle’s history of bloodshed, death, treachery and destruction. The world’s first Horrible Histories adventure maze also offers fun challenges to unravel history’s best kept secrets.

Travel on to Kenilworth and, you’ll find Kenilworth Castle and Stoneleigh Abbey, which those who know their Jane Austen will recognise from the description of the interiors and gardens in Persuasion and Mansfield Park. While you’re in that neck of the woods, check out Charlecote Park, near Stratford-upon-Avon, where young Shakespeare was allegedly caught poaching in the deer park.

If stately homes are your thing, there’s also Coughton Court in Alcester, which houses the nightdress in which Mary Queen of Scots was beheaded, 17th-century

Ragley Hall in Alcester with its impressive murals, 15th-century moated manor house Baddesley Clinton at Chadwick End and nearby Tudor manor house Packwood House, where Charles II retreated following his defeat at Worcester.

While in Warwickshire, make time for Compton Verney, a fabulous country mansion art gallery featuring two centuries worth of paintings and the UK’s largest collection of British Folk Art. Over in Bromsgrove, Avoncroft

Museum of Historic Buildings offers 700 years of buildings to explore, each done out to recreate the way we lived and worked. Just north of Birmingham, in the beautiful county of Staffordshire, Lichfield District is a fantastic destination for a day out.

Culture is at the heart of the city with the Lichfield Garrick Theatre, Lichfield Festival and Lichfield Arts taking centre stage. Lichfield Food Festival is the largest in the country and takes place in August. Lichfield Cathedral is one of the oldest places

of Christian worship in Britain, and the burial place of St Chad, the Anglo-Saxon missionary. It is the only medieval cathedral in the country with three spires.

If history is your thing, you can travel back in time by exploring the home of Erasmus Darwin, Charles Darwin’s grandfather and leading doctor, inventor and scientist. And last but not least, Lichfield is a thriving city brimming with quality restaurants, bars and cafés together with independent shops.

If you can’t get enough of

animals, then head to Bewdley for the West Midland Safari Park, which features Sutton, the young elephant named in memory of Stephen Sutton. The Park also features the Cheetah Plains, Bengal tigers, a pride of white lions and the interactive African Village and Lemur Woods where the lemurs swing through the trees around you. It is also now home to Land of the Living Dinosaurs, the largest animatronic dinosaur attraction in the UK with more than 40 different fearsome species. ■

PHOTO-FINISH