England’s second largest city tells a story about jewelry history, a celebration of its colorful mix of architectural styles, legendary novels that found inspiration here, curries, and party events that just keep on growing! Unjustifiably in the shade of a famous London city, this place recently started to gain the so deserved fame and tales from satisfied visitors that left the city are so many that the great chance is that you will soon hear from your friends that they too want to conquer the city of Birmingham. Open your eyes and ears and hear the story of the beating heart of industrial England.
Reflection of The Victorian Past and Amazing Party Venues
It is the festival hub that never stopped growing with its famous Christmas party nights in Birmingham and all the worldwide rock and roll fame. Next to the creations of modern time shaped in the form of fun that you will not soon forget, stand the reminders of the glorious past. Imagine, an architect loses his nerve and builds all the designs he has ever made side by side.
It does not look much different in the city center. Interestingly enough, this jumble of architectural styles in England’s second-largest city not only adds charm but also leads through its eventful history in a small space. Travelers arrive in the future. Like a three-wheeled UFO, the main train station appears outside London – New Street Station, with its gigantic shopping complex.
From here the city of Birmingham will unfold below your legs in dictation directly from Queen Victoria. The act will start with the touch of the industrial revolution and back to the future with modern architecture as a reminder of today’s advancement.
Reputation and Experience
The geographic heart is the magnificent Victoria Square. Flanked by Romanesque buildings that house the Town Hall and Birmingham Town Hall Concert Hall. Victorian-flowered square is a favorite place to pause before shopping on the adjoining New Street.
Almost as beautiful is the Chamberlain Square. The Birmingham Museum, Art Gallery and Library of Birmingham are all waiting for at this spot. The library is for many Brummies (As the inhabitants of Birmingham are called) a symbol of the transformation of their city because it was built in 2013 from a once mouse-gray concrete building.
The building, with its striking black and gold ornamental façade, holds over 400,000 books and important collections, including the first complete edition of William Shakespeare’s plays. Considered the largest cultural public space in Europe, it has an amphitheater and a rooftop garden with great views over the city.
It takes about 15 minutes to walk from here to Europe’s most important jewelry factory. The Jewelry Quarter is a mosaic of former workers’ houses and small jewelry shops. Around 30,000 people were employed here at the beginning of the 20th century, and 40 percent of British jewelry still exists here. The quarter is a so-called anchor point of the European industrial path.
For entertaining and informative tours, check out the small Museum of the Jewelry Quarter in the former jewelry smithy of Smith & Pepper. Everything is like the last employees left in 1981. Handwritten orders pile up on the table, and the boss’s work shoes are in the corner. A similar concept pursues 2014 opened Coffin Works on the factory grounds of the Newman Brothers.
Until the 1990s, they made handles, plaques, and fabrics for coffins – including the one for Winston Churchill. The interactive tour takes visitors back to the time when Birmingham was still the genuine industrial heart of England
Don’t Forget to Enjoy the Canals
The canals of Birmingham are remnants of the industrial era in England’s north and are now used mainly for various leisure activities. Just outside the door is the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, another witness to the smoggy times. The Canal System (Old main lane) was once established to connect the city with surrounding factory towns such as Dudley or Walsall.
Today, more than 160 kilometers are used for leisure activities. The area around the old Gas Street Basin is popular with anglers, walkers and visitors to the Tap & Spile pub, which has overlooked the canal since 1821. Again, the mix of old and new rules. The former warehouses, bridges, and piers have been restored, as well as the flat canal boats, with which visitors can discover the water network.
Still, they did not shy away from putting a colossus of steel plates in between with the National Sea Life Center. Before this gentrification, the young creatives fled to the other end of the city. In the courtyards and streets between Digbeth and Irish Quarter, you will find independent fashion labels, media start-ups and a lot of street art. It’s worth a foray through the Custard Factory, the center of the young Brummie movement can be the ideal end for the first day of exploration through Birmingham’s past and present.
But there is so much more to this city then you can hope for in one day of adventure. Be prepared to get amazed by the attractiveness of the second largest city in England and before you know it, you will wish to come again and further explore all the sides of this Victorian hub that all your friends and family would love to get in touch with.