Give it a few years...it'll be great (Shopping Areas in Birmingham in general)

Member Name: Waikie

Product:	Shopping Areas in Birmingham in general
Date:	26/03/01 (96 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Huge range of shops, newly modernised

Disadvantages: Lots of building work at the moment

I spent 4 years living in Birmingham whilst I was at University, and recently returned for a weekend. The first thing I noticed about the central shopping area was how much it had changed in the 3 years since I had left.

The Bullring is gone, and all that is left is a huge hole in the ground, a re-routed road system and a lot of rubble. They're building a new Bullring, and from what I've seen, it's going to be a superb shopping centre and Selfridge's will be moving in to one corner of it.

They've torn down another of the shopping arcades in the centre as well - Martineau Square (apologies if I've spelled that wrong), and are re-building that too.

Boots has moved into a much larger and more modern store, and a new glass lift has been installed in Waterstones. Gone are the old subways that as students we tried to avoid and instead there are more pedestrianised areas and road crossings.

The only down-side that I could find, is that the shopping centre above New Street Station (The Pallasades) has not undergone any modernisation and is looking almost seedy now. There may be plans afoot to reburbish it once the new Bullring is in place, but I have not heard of anything yet.

The new look Birmingham city centre is really pulling England's second city into the new millenium. The range of shops is now far superior than a few years ago and rivals the central shopping areas in Cardiff and Reading, both of which I am particularly fond of.

Once the building work is completed in a few years time this really will be a shopping area that Birmingham can be proud of.

Summary: