Are you up for it? (Birmingham in General)

Member Name: Cheuk

Product:	Birmingham in General
Date:	14/06/01 (253 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Large selection of clubs, Safe night out in general, Friendly

Disadvantages: Strict dress code, Poor Image of the City, Where are those girls?

I’ve spent nearly 3 years now in Birmingham and have started to feel at home. For the first 6 months in Brummie, it was boring. The campus being far from the city centre doesn’t help. But I’ve managed to re-adjust. Brummie is different. It has an expanding city scene and the city centre is notably being redeveloped with the Mailbox being opened with Harvey Nich moving in. Bars and restaurants are now springing up in this part too, hopefully rivalling the city’s posh area of Brindley Place which is just behind the ICC symphony hall. For Britain’s second largest city, the improvements have taken a long time going. It now boasts the largest number of cinema screens in UK. The new UGC on Broad Street having some big screens and is worth the money.



Anyway for those with stamina and excess energy to burn and looking for a night out then I hope this will help.

Well to start the evening off in Birmingham, by eating out there are many restaurants in the city centre. But being in Birmingham, a curry is a must. Areas to go for curries are Sparkhill (birth of the balti) but my favourite being the Dilshad in Selly Oak (read posted op). Getting to Selly Oak is not a problem, with the trains running every 15mins (if its not late) or the frequent bus service (which admittedly I rarely use, remember to have the correct change!) and this is recommended. Getting a return service to Five Ways means a 5 mins walk to Broad Street. Getting off at New Street means ur at the centre of town and can venture anywhere you want. It’s a longer walk to Broad Street though, but much quicker to the Mailbox.

This op will now separate to the various sections of the city. It is upto you where you want to go but if you’re really up for it, then mix it up by visiting the different areas, providing you can still stagger.

A word of warning the city has a strict dress code, so no jeans and trainer
s. You’re not coming in even if you’re names on the list!! The op will include brief walkthrough of the main areas. See the other ops for more info on the clubs themselves.

Broad Street
Well it’s a long street and is the city’s buzzing place. From the Five Ways walkabout there is Bakers. Which is well worth going to but prepared for queues and the expensive entrance fee. Sports café is further along and next to the figure of eight. The drinks are cheap in the Figure of Eight and serves as a good meeting point or a pre-club drink session. Sports café entry in free before 10pm and 3 quid thereafter. The music varies and is loud. Drinks are not cheap. The Walkabout is at the other end of Broadstreet and is packed, Drinks are cheap. Getting served can be difficult though. Hey guys I’m straight, stop touching me up whilst I’m getting my drinks!! You ladies are welcome at any time though!! Music is played and varies. Surf paradise is next to it, but the dance floor is small.
People present range from students to mature looking people. Very lively. Note getting taxis late at night can be very difficult.

Brindley Place
Up market part just off Broad Street. Very nice. Bars pleasant but drinks are expensive. Lively atmosphere and food is available from many of the places here. People tend to be more classy but not snobbish. Good starting point.

New Street and the Centre
Mainly pubs and restaurants. The Trocedero and The Shakespeare are pleasant but not really the young trendy place as in Broad Street. Still less distance to stagger to get a taxi.
Odeon cinema nearby as the first of many Macdonalds and Pizza Huts.

Acardian
The Chinese Quarter bit. Have very trendy bars now, such as Bar Coast and 52 degrees north. Stars are supposedly hanging out at the latter. Mix crowd from young student types to classy looking mature people. Another UGC cinema f
or those interested.
Around the corner is O’Neills and the Gay Quarter. Quite pleasant, surprisingly haven’t been touched up there yet! Opposite the Aracadian is the Steering Wheel Club, haven’t been yet and Legs 11 for those into their lap dancers. Near the Arcadian are more bars.

Digbeth
The Irish quarter. Many bars and clubs including The Sancturary, God’s Kitchen or Code. Fairly quiet in the streets, but very lively inside. Tend to more up-market student types in the clubs. Locals visible,

The Last bit
Well on my most recent Saturday night out, we decided to try something different and give Broad street the miss. We started queuing at the Cash Machine in the Arcadian, which was about 10 mins, but didn’t mind as we observed the classy people and scantily dressed walk by. People around was a mixture, but I would say where more of mid twenties with money to burn. Popping into the Toad, was a laugh, I was expecting this to be similar to the Walkabout but it wasn’t. Beer reasonably priced and good cocktails as well. Although quite busy, and with music playing, it seems to lack any atmosphere. A few drinks later didn’t make any difference. This is more of a stopping place for people going clubbing next door later on. The Zanzibar is across the road and is new but the queue deterred us from going in. So we settled on McCluskys. Well the 2 -4 -1 offer before 10pm persuaded us and the all night dancing. Paying the 4 quid entry fee, we were shocked to find a small dance floor and 80s music. The crowd is mainly locals, very few young student type around. Drinks are expensive even with the 2-4-1 offer. A vodka red bull cost 4.70. After downing the 2 and a couple of buds at 2.70 we observed the crowd. Me and my mate struggled to find any decent women to pull and my female friends were disappointed with the lack of decent blokes apart from us. Even the proposal by a mad bloke to
his girlfriend and the competitons failed to lift this place. A quick down of the last round to make us feel better about paying the entry fee we quickly left the place.

The night was still young and not wanting to stagger far I wanted to visit the Steering wheel club. From the experience of McCluskys, (My choice) they quickly outvoted me and decided to wander into the unknowns of Digbeth. We wanted to flee in to The Sanctuary. After staggering across some major roads and the speeding cars like a drunker version of frogger,we made it to the Sanctuary. The queue was long and we had now decided to seek out the Code. Another of 10mins wander and wondering where it was, I saw the light, CODE is very well lit up and we walked over to it. The queue wasn’t that bad and we decided to go in. Security is tight and we were searched before we were allowed in. Women don’t worry, female bouncers search you. Now if only they searched us as well….
Entry fee is a crisp tenner. After only a minute of going in it seemed to be worth it already. The scantily clad dancing girls on stage, made us wonder whether we had entered a Gentleman’s club!! The music is LOUD! It is heavy dance material. After regrouping, we hit the bar, and was shocked to find a bottle of Stella was three quid. Oh well. The bar maid was very fit though!! After gradually settling into the music I was quickly grooving away, The place soon filled up and I was away looking for fit women. Another Stella later and I had failed to find any. Well single and free anyway. Another hard session on the dance floor followed and more attempts to find partners was a disaster. The number of men seem to outnumber the females quite heavily. And many of these seem to have an interest in me and my male friends, to the disgust of my female friends. The toilets are clean but lack any vending machines. Well this was an experience. The music was different but my body was seri
ously moving to it. Its simply hynotic. Our attempts to find normal companions for the night was a failure, though there were offers to my female friends for strange things though. After staggering out in the very early hours of the morning, we were very fortunate to hail a cab and get back home. It was an expensive ride though, thank god are guts held up.

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