Things to do in Birmingham

I have been to Birmingham three times:

  1. Uni open day. Saw someone vomming at lunchtime.
  2. To see Lou Reed murder a load of songs. On the way back we had abuse hurled at us by some yoots from another platform until our train turned up.
  3. Some meeting in an industrial estate about bus shelters.

Cheers!

did you start your powerpoint with the rolling stones?

I grew up with Birmingham as my nearest big city, but despite having been there loads over the years I still don’t feel in any way familiar with it really. Definitely don’t hate it and sure it’s better if you live there and make the effort to find the good stuff, but it definitely feels like it’s lacking something in comparison to pretty much all the other larger cities in the UK. Think part of that is that it’s harder to find the good stuff by just walking around.

A few pretty good pubs in the Jewellery Quarter and I’ve got a lot of time for The Wellington (really old-school boozer with 15 or so rotating ales) right by New Street. The Academy still seems to get a few gigs, and there’s some independent promoters putting on DIS-style bands at some pretty good, intimate venues outside the centre like the Castle and Falcon and Hare and Hounds. Mates who still have Birmingham as their main city for gigs say numbers playing Birmingham are really declining though, and those that do are often nowhere near sold out. Saw Cloud Nothings at the Castle and Falcon on Saturday and it wasn’t sold out even though they were doing two for £20 tickets (they were shite though, in fairness.)

Also, Moor Street is a fucking gem of a station and genuinely well worth poking your head in at even if you’re not actually getting a train from there. The Marylebone – Moor Street journey with Chiltern is about as nice a journey as you’ll ever have. Good vegetarian café round the back too.

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Pop in and see Rich in Ignite Records in Oasis Market, buy some records. Massive selection.

The wellington in the city centre has some cracking ales. Likewise the anchor in digbeth.

Digbeth dining is a bit hip and expensive, but tasty food. Some good gigs at Mama Roux next door, and centrala round the corner.

Hare & hounds also good for gigs out in Kings Heath, and Polar Bear Records just down the road. A couple of stupidly expensive bars down there also. Few cracking curry joints.

The library is nice to have a chill, and sit up on the roof if the weather is nice. Ikon gallery has some cool things on and always worth checking out. Likewise the mac by the cricket ground is cool, and in a nice park for a stroll. Museum & art gallery is cool also.

some places gigs some decent gigs occasionally happen - Sunflower lounge/Wagon & Horses/the mill/custard factory/muthers studio/hare & hounds/centrala/the victoria/the flapper/o2 institute

Sorry NoahVale but i wouldn’t recommend the 02 academy for gigs to anyone. Horrible venue!

Nice walks around the canals in the city centre, and some nice parks around south birmingham also.

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I’ve just moved to Birmingham from Bristol . Brum town love their redmeat carverys and pulled pork sarnies . I will report back with further musings

This was my post in a Brum thread a few years ago. It’s definitely a bit out of date, a few things don’t exist anymore or have moved.

Places to add: Botanical Gardens, Winterbourne House and Gardens, 1847 (fancy veggie food), Damscena (cheap middle-eastern).

forgot there! funny venue. Seeing …trail of dead there on Saturday.

Gigs have always been funny in Birmingham. real odd numbers. Seen some amazing bands with no one there over the years. Off the top of my head Cursed stands out as being a total farce.

Been here for years and never wanted to say “Fuck you, Japes” before

:wink:

i find that hard to believe

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Bloody love a night out in Brum. Endless great pubs, endless great people, and an absolute ton of different areas to get stuck into.

Personal favourite is get out of New Street, straight onto the little upstairs terrace at The Wellington, then go from there. Or just stay there - its great.

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Fair dos. Been there a couple of times recently (also Lemonheads in a couple of weeks) and found it OK. The fact that last time there I bought two pints with a £20 note and got £19.80 change might have coloured my view of the place. Not been to the Hare & Hounds yet but that will definitely happen at some point.

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Have spent a bit a few evenings there over the last six months for work reasons.

Tilt is great - good beers and loads of pinball machines.

Cherry Reds is also really nice.

The Wellington isn’t really my type of place but has a great selection of beers.

You can get massive tasty pizzas for cheapo at La Vera.

Haven’t really bothered with any live music there but I imagine it’s suffered from the general contraction in the touring circuit like most places that aren’t London/Manchester/Leeds/Glasgow have

The Victoria pub on Station St is good for an ale

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I miss Rich! I was at Aston 2010-2014, glad to hear he is still going in Oasis.

A very similar thing happened there with me with the change! Very satisfying. Normally you’d be lucky to get a tenner back.

It’s just academy venues generally to be honest. soulless venues ripping off the fans maaaaaaaaaaaaaan :wink:

Didn’t know the lemonheads were playing though i may go for that…

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Yea man, still has an insane amount of records and good ones at that!

Pre-Academy, I am very fond of The Craven Arms. Cracker of a pub, in the middle of a bit of a wasteland.

The Birmingham of the last few years is a great place to be if you know where to go, it’s improved so so much. I grew up in Birmingham, lived a bit in Manchester and moved back here about 7 years ago so can see how much the place has improved.

In terms of bars and pubs I always look at it in little clusters of areas to go out in.

City Centre
Tilt - great little bar with lots of old pinball machines and good selection of craft beers.
Wellington - lots (and I mean lots!) of mostly cask ales in this traditional old style pub, not my kind of thing but a nice place to drink.
Pint Shop - Next door to the Wellington, only opened last month I think, but big range of good beers on offer.
Pure Bar - just round the corner from both of these. This is the bar owned by local-ish brewery Purity and lots of theirs and guest ales on tap. Really good food too.
Old Joint Stock - I don’t go here too much but the building is amazing and I sometimes forget how nice this place is especially for visitors to the city.
Kongs - kind of retro games / table tennis craft beer bar that has newly opened just next to the Town Hall.

John Bright Street
This is still city centre, next to New Street Station but a nice little area that feels like it’s own town centre in a way.
The Victoria - old style Victorian pub with most of the old decor still in place, not the greatest range of drinks on offer but they do good cocktails if that’s your thing, always had good nights out in here.
Cherry Reds - cafe/bar with good beers, good food. Always super friendly staff and punters in here. I love this place.
Bonehead - newly opened and next door to Cherry Reds, food is amazing and good craft beers too. Music in here is always brilliant too.
Brewdog - over the road from here. Is what is is.
The Stables - next door to Brewdog, massive range of ciders and do good pizzas.

Jewellery Quarter
Rose Villa Tavern - traditional pub but all the old original decor, great glimpse into boozing in Birmingham in the early 1900’s
1000 Trades - just round the corner, big fan of this place…craft ale game is good here.
Rock and Roll Brewery - they have funny opening times so need to check beforehand (think they close at 9.00). This is a basement brew bar and feels like a secret hideout but the beers are good, they brew on site. Good friendly staff and awesome music.
Burning Soul - A brewery tap room that also has funny opening hours so need to check in advance. Its kind of on an industrial estate just tucked behind on of the back streets but the beers are amazing
Hen and Chickens - not the best range of beers but is owned by an indian family who make you the best baltis around. I love these guys, always make you feel super welcome.
The Wolf - over the road from Hen and Chickens, lots and lots of good craft beers. I saw an actual wolf in here once.

Digbeth
I love Digbeth so much.
Digbeth Dining Club - get here early from 5.00pm on Friday or Saturday, lots of little secret rooms and find youself a table… good range of street food here.
Ghetto Golf - have a nice beer and play a bit of crazy golf
Clink - then head here to this this bottle shop/bar nearby and try one of the Glasshouse beers.
The Old Crown - built in 1338, amazing old building and incredible its still standing as a pub. Awesome beer garden too.
The Ruin - more people need to know about this place because its amazing. Old school pub but only just opened about a year ago. The back room with all the old 80’s computers needs to be seen.
Digbrew - just next door is one of my favorite places, a superb taproom that do the best beers and really nice pizza’s. The staff are really good here and know their stuff.

There are also the other good areas outside the city centre like Moseley, Kings Heath and Stirchley that have a lot of good things happening there now…but I’ve rambled on for far too long now. I’ll save that for another post.

But Birmingham is a great place to live, it’s all about knowing the places to go to as it can be difficult as a visitor if you just wander round without knowing the little areas. Birmingham residents are used to people telling them how shit it is for so many years now that I think we are happy for those who knock the place leave us be, but at the same time its a very friendly and welcoming city so we’d always say ‘alruyt bab’ and offer you a pint.

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I have another overnight at the end of next month - thanks for this.

Bang on

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