Meet ‘The Guardian’ at The Bullring & Grand Central
If you have been to Birmingham, but haven’t been shopping at the Bullring & Grand Central, then you have missed one of the top shopping destinations in the UK. Along with Westgate in Oxford, the Bullring in Birmingham has to be one of my favourite regenerated shopping centres in the UK! After hearing about exciting regeneration projects taking place here a few years ago, I finally decided to go before Easter 2019 with some friends. This regeneration also includes the renovation of the Bullring & Grand Central, Birmingham New Street Station, and The Library of Birmingham. Furthermore, major companies including PwC and HSBC will be home to new offices being constructed.
The location of The Bullring
The shopping centre is conveniently located near Birmingham New Street Station and Moor Street Station, with a tram service to Wolverhampton too. St Martin’s Church is located on Edgbaston St, which you can get to through Ratunda Square. Furthermore, The Library of Birmingham, Victoria Square which is home to Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery, and Town Hall are a 10- 15 minute walk away. As you can tell, there is a lot to do here. The Library of Birmingham is another incredible building too, which I strongly recommend going to as well.
The futuristic architecture of Birmingham
One thing I instantly loved about this area of Birmingham was how futuristic the architecture was. The screen on the station was shaped like a massive steel eye that played different adverts, including one featuring a dancing bull. You can also get good views of the station from inside the mall too.
Part of Grand Central is connected above the station, so as you can imagine, it gets extremely busy during rush hour. In this part of the centre, you will find a large selection of restaurants aka the foodie hub. Perfect, if you are a commuter or want to grab a quick snack before you leave here.
As we walked up to The Bullring from the station, we could only see the glass art on the entrance with the Debenhams and Gap stores on either side of it. We were amazed at how massive this place was as soon as we walked inside… Go to places here include Selfridges, Volkswagen, the LEGO store, and OMEGA.
Clothes shopping at The Bullring
For clothes shopping, there is an abundance of shops to choose from here! Several designer brands have made their home in the Bullring including Diesel, Tommy Hilfiger, and Michael Kors to name a few. However, if designer clothes aren’t for you, then there’s shops such as H&M, NEXT, and GAP.
The best shops for clothes shopping are Selfridges and Debenhams. The Bullring is home to one of four Selfridges, and the fourth largest Debenhams in the UK. We didn’t go to Debenhams, but we did go to Selfridges. Here, I felt like I was in some sort of film studio or prop room because of the black ceiling. There were loads of different brands here. But my favourite had to be the Louis Vuitton section. But we ended up window shopping, as Louis Vuitton is very very expensive.
For watch enthusiasts including myself, there were the usual jewellers including Goldsmiths and Ernest Jones. But, the winner had to be the OMEGA store when it comes to watch boutiques. It was really small but had a strong luxury feel inside, and I loved seeing all the different Omega watches here including their new Olympic Collection and Seamaster 300m’s.
The design of The Bullring
The design of the inside was very similar to The Malls in Basingstoke, and Westfields in London. I found it easy to get lost among the many different entrances and walkways here. But luckily, there are lots of maps around to help you find your way round. As there were so many shops to visit here, we came back several times during the day so we could make the most of our time here.
‘The Guardian’ of The Bullring
One of the other attractions here was the massive bronze bull sculpture in Ratunda Square. which is named The Guardian. First unveiled in 2003, it has now become a symbol of Birmingham, and is very popular amongst outsiders and locals alike. In 2015, the sculpture was recognised as one of the top ten work of arts in public.
The Selfridges Building is like a big blue blob covered in silver paperweights
The Selfridges Building is an example of blobitecture (blob architecture), with the term first being coined in 2002. This term is usually used to describe rounded buildings. The Selfridges Building is located on the corner of Moor St and Park St. Aesthetically, it is my favourite section of The Bullring. It is covered in silver disks, which reminds me of a cabasa when you look at it from afar. Up close, each disk looks like a large silver paperweight. I can’t begin to imagine how much effort must have gone into constructing and designing this remarkable piece of architecture.
In March 2019, The Bullring Estate hosted the Festival of Light, which you can find out about here: https://www.across-magazine.com/bright-lights-big-city-the-bullring-estate-shines-a-light-on-birmingham-with-spectacular-festival/.
Verdict
Overall, as one of the UK’s top shopping destinations situated in the UK’s second largest city, this is one place you should consider visiting soon. Although Birmingham gets a lot of bad rep in the media, this city is rapidly improving with their successful regeneration projects such as Bullring & Grand Central.
There is something here for everyone with the large number of shops and restaurants here. Therefore, if you ever plan on coming to Birmingham, join the 35 million people who come to the Bullring each year to have a great time and find great deals…
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