Much of historic Birmingham was bombed out of existence in World War II when it was the most bombed city in the UK outside of London. The radical 1960s replacement turned its heart into a nightmare. Now, all that is changed.
When I visited Birmingham in 2007, it was the first time I'd been there since the 1990s and the place was unrecognizable. Back then, I never saw the center because I could not figure out how to escape the traffic whirling around and over it on elevated ring roads.
Today, the historic commercial center of Birmingham is full of life, light and air. Plus - shophounds will be pleased to hear - hundreds and hundreds of shops.
The new Bullring changed the face of Birmingham. Built at a cost of £500 million, it includes 140 shops and cafes in a pair of linked, glass covered malls covering 26 football pitches. There are more than 3,000 parking places plus easy bus and rail access.
Two of the UK's biggest department stores, a futuristic Selfridges and Debenhams, anchor the shopping area alongside just about every UK high street merchant and loads of independent fashion shops.
And beyond the Bullring
New Street, leading from the Bullring Shopping Center to Victoria Square, has become a leafy, pedestrian shopping avenue punctuated with advertising kiosks that give it a cosmopolitan, almost Parisian feel. The Victorian arcades, Great Western Arcade and Piccadilly Arcade, off New Street, are lined with exclusive fashion boutiques, chocolatieres, jewelers and stationers.
Find on a Map
Bullring Shops
How to Get to the Bullring
