| Birmingham stay 21:01 - Jul 23 with 2381 views | the_toff |
England’s 2nd City or whatever they call it, despite that I know little about it and have long had a perception (perhaps unfairly) that’s it’s a bit of a dive. Wondered if anyone had any suggestions for nice places to stay / eat there or if it’s generally worth avoiding? Can’t imagine a place of that size doesn’t have its nice parts and I’m sure I’m just being a bit ignorant.
Keen to hear suggestions if anyone has any. |  | | |  |
| Birmingham stay on 21:11 - Jul 23 with 2330 views | gainsboroughblue |
Are you needing to go up at a specific time? If not, I do recommend waiting till at least late November and taking in their Christmas market. Plenty of budget hotels round the city centre, a cracking real ale pub (The Wellington) and of course, copious curry houses. |  |
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| Birmingham stay on 21:12 - Jul 23 with 2329 views | factual_blue |
Various decentish hotels along Broad Street, and plenty of places to eat/drink there too. |  |
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| Birmingham stay on 21:12 - Jul 23 with 2326 views | rodney76 |
Birmingham is a great place. You'll end up loving it.
Plenty of good eating areas from the Balti Triangle to China Town and everything in between.
The Hagley Road is quite upmarket with good pubs, clubs and restaurants.
Tolkien's local, The Ivy Bush mentioned in 'Lord of the Rings' is one. | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 21:13 - Jul 23 with 2323 views | redrickstuhaart |
Depends what you want. Plenty of decent hotels in the centre. Broad st etc. Lots of air bnb apartments. Champagne bars, high end Indian restaurants. Nice bars by the waterside, brindley place etc etc | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 21:13 - Jul 23 with 2320 views | redrickstuhaart |
| Birmingham stay on 21:12 - Jul 23 by rodney76 |
Birmingham is a great place. You'll end up loving it.
Plenty of good eating areas from the Balti Triangle to China Town and everything in between.
The Hagley Road is quite upmarket with good pubs, clubs and restaurants.
Tolkien's local, The Ivy Bush mentioned in 'Lord of the Rings' is one. |
The Ivy Bush is pretty rough, as is the area behind it. Unless its changed a lot in the last 10 years. | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 21:21 - Jul 23 with 2289 views | rodney76 |
| Birmingham stay on 21:13 - Jul 23 by redrickstuhaart |
The Ivy Bush is pretty rough, as is the area behind it. Unless its changed a lot in the last 10 years. |
It is a typical, friendly local or was.
I'm more than ten years out of date though. I had my wedding reception there as I was once a regular.
Yes, it's an iffy area between there and the reservoir.
Hagley Road it'self gets better as you progress. [Post edited 23 Jul 2023 21:23]
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| Birmingham stay on 21:25 - Jul 23 with 2272 views | Lord_Lucan |
Nothing wrong with Birmingham.
Broad St though is for hen and stag nights and older "Salesmen" types who are confused as to where the Tower Ballroom went - Avoid.
Edit - Sorry to disagree with The Balti Triangle recommendation as well but this is poor and old hat, much better in a Desi Pub.
IMHO of course [Post edited 23 Jul 2023 22:05]
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| Birmingham stay on 22:12 - Jul 23 with 2162 views | Fixed_It |
The centre of Brum has had a major facelift in recent years and no doubt a lot of investment. I think you'll be pleasntly surprised. |  |
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| Birmingham stay on 09:00 - Jul 24 with 1865 views | jontysnut |
| Birmingham stay on 21:25 - Jul 23 by Lord_Lucan |
Nothing wrong with Birmingham.
Broad St though is for hen and stag nights and older "Salesmen" types who are confused as to where the Tower Ballroom went - Avoid.
Edit - Sorry to disagree with The Balti Triangle recommendation as well but this is poor and old hat, much better in a Desi Pub.
IMHO of course [Post edited 23 Jul 2023 22:05]
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https://www.birminghamworld.uk/lifestyle/food-and-drink/desi-pubs-birmingham-wes |  | | |
| Birmingham stay on 09:20 - Jul 24 with 1837 views | SuperKieranMcKenna |
| Birmingham stay on 22:12 - Jul 23 by Fixed_It |
The centre of Brum has had a major facelift in recent years and no doubt a lot of investment. I think you'll be pleasntly surprised. |
Indeed, I was there this weekend for the first time in about 10 years and was impressed at the investment and modernisation- much of it through the university’s. In my opinion I always thought it was more down in the dumps than Manchester, but it seems much more vibrant now. There is also some great Georgian architecture which almost gives it a mini-London feel.
Note there is now a clean air zone, but since I didn’t have to pay (despite having a performance car) I assume it’s fairly lenient! | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 09:29 - Jul 24 with 1826 views | Warkystache |
Broad Street can get very busy and the pubs are pretty much chain pubs (Wetherspoons etc) but are cheap.
Brindleyplace is great for higher end restaurants and bars. The Wellington is a good pub. So is The Shakespeare in Lower Temple Road. Bacchus Bar is beautifully decorated.
There's loads of Chinese/Indian restaurants dotted around, most are decent. Also, near the Bull Ring is the Birmingham Back to Backs, where they filmed Peaky Blinders. It's National Trust owned and they've kept it exactly as it would have looked in the 1920's. |  |
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| Birmingham stay on 09:33 - Jul 24 with 1814 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| Birmingham stay on 21:12 - Jul 23 by rodney76 |
Birmingham is a great place. You'll end up loving it.
Plenty of good eating areas from the Balti Triangle to China Town and everything in between.
The Hagley Road is quite upmarket with good pubs, clubs and restaurants.
Tolkien's local, The Ivy Bush mentioned in 'Lord of the Rings' is one. |
The Balti Triangle has been decimated by the perfect storm of original owners reaching retirement age at the same time as the Covid pandemic hit.
Many of their children didn't want to take over the businesses, having been educated here and having other opportunities.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/31/the-culture-has-changed-end-of-t
My recommendation for a Balti would be
https://royal-watan.co.uk/
An adjacent area to King's Heath/Moseley. One of the restaurants where the sons did take over from their Dad.
There are several Michelin Star restaurants.
Adam's for high class, white linen, classic French inspired.
Or Simpson's, but I would put Adam's above it.
Purnell's for quirkier, more fun, take on perfection.
Carter's of Moseley for ultra creative and more out-there ideas.
(Opheem has already been mentioned)
The best thing about Birmingham is the people. Brummie are amongst the friendliest, warmest people in the country, with a great self-depracating sense of humour.
It's a great city. [Post edited 24 Jul 2023 9:52]
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| Birmingham stay on 09:39 - Jul 24 with 1799 views | JammyDodgerrr |
I think we're spoilt round here to have a good city like Norwich, imo. To me Birmingham is not great but there are some good little places. If you're into Coffee, go to Faculty coffee. We also stayed at the staybridge suites - right in the centre. Cheap and decent hotel room. |  |
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| Birmingham stay on 09:57 - Jul 24 with 1775 views | TractorBrew |
Get's a bad reputation, but I honestly prefer going out in Birmingham to most other UK cities. Great craft / ale scene, excellent independent cafes and restaurants and super diverse. You can find proper authentic Chinese, Korean, Caribbean food as well as some great Desi pubs as mentioned (Hen & Chickens won't leave you hungry)
Stirchley is a great place to head, you get a bit of traditional brum alongside the "gentrified" elements. Can also swing by Bournville if you want a bit of heritage
Avoid Broad Street as it is just generic rubbish. Town Hall to the ICC has had some massive redevelopment, and is a really nice public space. Library is worth a visit if you are in to that, Shakespeare room worth a look on the roof. | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 10:00 - Jul 24 with 1769 views | JakeITFC |
| Birmingham stay on 09:33 - Jul 24 by ArnoldMoorhen |
The Balti Triangle has been decimated by the perfect storm of original owners reaching retirement age at the same time as the Covid pandemic hit.
Many of their children didn't want to take over the businesses, having been educated here and having other opportunities.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/may/31/the-culture-has-changed-end-of-t
My recommendation for a Balti would be
https://royal-watan.co.uk/
An adjacent area to King's Heath/Moseley. One of the restaurants where the sons did take over from their Dad.
There are several Michelin Star restaurants.
Adam's for high class, white linen, classic French inspired.
Or Simpson's, but I would put Adam's above it.
Purnell's for quirkier, more fun, take on perfection.
Carter's of Moseley for ultra creative and more out-there ideas.
(Opheem has already been mentioned)
The best thing about Birmingham is the people. Brummie are amongst the friendliest, warmest people in the country, with a great self-depracating sense of humour.
It's a great city. [Post edited 24 Jul 2023 9:52]
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Was lucky enough to have hospitality tickets for Edgbaston for the first Ashes test this year and my box was catered by Glynn Purnell - really brilliant food and a lovely bloke.
I think Birmingham is a cool city; tonnes of great food options, good bars and a lively nightlife scene in general. |  | | |
| Birmingham stay on 10:15 - Jul 24 with 1748 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| Birmingham stay on 10:00 - Jul 24 by JakeITFC |
Was lucky enough to have hospitality tickets for Edgbaston for the first Ashes test this year and my box was catered by Glynn Purnell - really brilliant food and a lovely bloke.
I think Birmingham is a cool city; tonnes of great food options, good bars and a lively nightlife scene in general. |
I'd love to meet him. His recipe books are brilliant, and very funny, and sometimes only 99p on Kindle. | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 10:22 - Jul 24 with 1731 views | Lord_Lucan |
| Birmingham stay on 09:39 - Jul 24 by JammyDodgerrr |
I think we're spoilt round here to have a good city like Norwich, imo. To me Birmingham is not great but there are some good little places. If you're into Coffee, go to Faculty coffee. We also stayed at the staybridge suites - right in the centre. Cheap and decent hotel room. |
Sorry Jammy but that's a bit of a stretch.
I spend a lot of time in both Norwich and Birmingham (I am in both places this week) but comparing the two is nuts.
Norwich is a nice place but the two are off the scale, Birmingham has so much going on. Completely different. | |
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| Birmingham stay on 10:29 - Jul 24 with 1715 views | the_toff |
Thanks for all of the suggestions, seems I'm definitely ignorant when it comes to Birmingham. I look forward to checking it out.
I've actually just booked a hotel called New Hall in Sutton Coldfield, it looks nice and we've got breakfast, use of the spa and a treatment for my wife the following day, so we can make the most of the facilities on the Sunday. She's pregnant, so she probably won't fancy a late night and will be able to drive us out there from Brum after spending Saturday in the city. I'm definitely going to get a reservation at one of these recommended curry houses. I'm not really a fine dining fan, I prefer what I would call a proper curry house of which there looks to be plenty.
Thanks again. | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 10:38 - Jul 24 with 1682 views | edd |
| Birmingham stay on 10:29 - Jul 24 by the_toff |
Thanks for all of the suggestions, seems I'm definitely ignorant when it comes to Birmingham. I look forward to checking it out.
I've actually just booked a hotel called New Hall in Sutton Coldfield, it looks nice and we've got breakfast, use of the spa and a treatment for my wife the following day, so we can make the most of the facilities on the Sunday. She's pregnant, so she probably won't fancy a late night and will be able to drive us out there from Brum after spending Saturday in the city. I'm definitely going to get a reservation at one of these recommended curry houses. I'm not really a fine dining fan, I prefer what I would call a proper curry house of which there looks to be plenty.
Thanks again. |
Sutton's nice, just close your eyes as you go through Erdington on your way into the city. | | | |
| Birmingham stay on 10:56 - Jul 24 with 1655 views | Lord_Lucan |
| Birmingham stay on 10:29 - Jul 24 by the_toff |
Thanks for all of the suggestions, seems I'm definitely ignorant when it comes to Birmingham. I look forward to checking it out.
I've actually just booked a hotel called New Hall in Sutton Coldfield, it looks nice and we've got breakfast, use of the spa and a treatment for my wife the following day, so we can make the most of the facilities on the Sunday. She's pregnant, so she probably won't fancy a late night and will be able to drive us out there from Brum after spending Saturday in the city. I'm definitely going to get a reservation at one of these recommended curry houses. I'm not really a fine dining fan, I prefer what I would call a proper curry house of which there looks to be plenty.
Thanks again. |
You would be better off taking a Uber rather than driving into town.
Try a Desi pub for food and make sure you have a mixed grill. | |
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| Birmingham stay on 11:14 - Jul 24 with 1632 views | Number22 |
Edgbaston Park Hotel is a nice place to stay. Only about 1km from the park by the stadium, 20min drive to Villa/City too. |  | | |
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