LYD1A KERR

For my birthday, my West Bromwich born boyfriend planned a weekend city break to Birmingham! While it was meant to be a surprise, I worked it all out when I received an email from Ragdale Hall Spa to share my medical history.

Here’s a rundown of everything we done over the December weekend, hopefully it can inspire you to pay one of England’s biggest cities a visit.

Accomodation

We stayed in the IBIS Styles. This had underground parking and was really close to the centre, which made it super convenient. Breakfast was included, with a hot food selection for a fry alongside cereals, yoghurts, fruits, fresh pancake maker & pastries. Great choice Jmo x

Birmingham

Chamberlain Square

We walked along the Congreve Passage and admired the Chamberlain Square. The Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is highly recommended and located here, but unfortunately it is temporarily closed (correct as of January 2024).

Victoria Square

Due to it being December when we visited, the Christmas Markets were out in full force. Although we were still able to appreciate Victoria Square.

New Street

While the iconic New Street was lined with markets, there are plenty of food & drink spots along here, such as the Medicine Bakery.

Bullring & Grand Central

Alas it started raining quite a lot, so we quick stepped it to the Bullring, a funky shaped indoor shopping centre. We spent the majority of the time perusing Selfridges, even stopping to have a cupcake & orange juice (shout out t1d).

St Martin’s Square

There is a viewing platform to the south of the bullring, where you can overlook St Martin’s church.

Digbeth

While it wasn’t raining anymore, we decided to keep on walking down to Digbeth.

This area is known for its young, hip vibe & graffiti filled streets. While this definitely appears to be the case, when we went it felt like a ghost town – everywhere was empty. I can only imagine it comes alive at night.

Cathedral Square

We returned to the hubbub of Birmingham via the Cathedral Square. Here we grabbed some hot chocolate from a market vendor, and admired the buildings here.

Gas Street Basin

After realising we’d been in Birmingham for many hours without seeing any canals, we made our way down to gas street basin. We walked through the Mailbox and wandered down the canal past the many steakhouses & restaurants. We stumbled upon what felt like a party area with Pitcher & Piano, Slug & Lettuce, and the like. After a thorough bag search, we were able to use the toilet here.

International Convention Centre, The Symphony Hall & Centenary Square

We just walked past these but they feel too iconic to leave out of this post.

Dinner at Tamatanga’s

We knew we had to get Indian food on our visit to Birmingham, a place famous for their curries. We chose Tamatanga’s as we had been to one in Leeds, and we loved the food. Service was extremely quick which meant we pretty much got our poppadoms at the same time as our mains. Maybe don’t choose this place if you value a slower paced dinner experience.

Purecraft Bar & Kitchen

We decided to go out for some drinks after dinner, despite being very tempted to call it a night after around 20k steps. But, I was recommended here by my friend and it turned out to be the perfect place for some wine & vodka.

Treetop Golf

Fuelled with a new lease of life after the bar, we headed to Treetop Golf for some rounds. A fun lil activity to round up a busy busy day!

I wouldn’t have wanted to turn 25 any other way, thank you James for planning such a fun trip.

And thank you alll so much for reading!

Lydia x