6 sensational things to do in Birmingham
In celebration of the Commonwealth Games, here are my unmissable activities in the Midlands’ city
Welcome to the very first The British Travel List, where every week I share my favourite places to visit and stay around the country. To kick things off, we are heading to Birmingham.
Earlier this year, I visited Birmingham to write a couple of travel features on the city ahead of the Commonwealth Games. I wrote a gourmet guide for Delicious Australia – read here – and a guide to the city for Escape.com.au.
I hadn’t been to Birmingham for many years and was blown away by the vibrant, happy, city. It’s packed with fabulous food, from a frankly crazy amount of Michelin-starred restaurants, to hip cafes and bars and is super-easy to walk around. I honestly loved it. So, here’s my guide to the best things to do in Brilliant Brum.
1. Enjoy some fine-dining
Birmingham is home to five Michelin-starred restaurants - Purnell’s, Carters of Moseley, Adam’s, Simpsons and Opheem. I ate in three of them in one weekend (yes, my job is tough) and highlights include the famous burnt English egg custard surprise at Purnell’s (which pleasingly sounds like my name pronounced with a Brummie accent), the superb Birmingham Soup at cool Carters of Moseley and the sublime Aloo Tuk at Opheem.
2. Stay in The Grand Hotel
I checked into the heritage The Grand Hotel, on the prestigious Colmore Row overlooking Cathedral Square. This former Grand Dame of the city, which has hosted everyone from Charlie Chaplin to Winston Churchill, lay derelict for years and has now been brought back to life with beautiful art deco interiors, especially the staircase. It’s surprisingly good value and I’d recommend it to anyone visiting, as it’s so central.
3. Take a walking tour with Mary
I walked all over the city, mainly to work off all the food I was eating, but I found it the best way to get my bearings and see much more in a short time. I met up with local guide Mary Moore and would recommend booking a tour with her, as she took me on a fascinating walk through time, from the workshops of the Jewellery Quarter, to the city’s modern masterpieces of architecture like the Birmingham Library. She also told me a fascinating story about flamboyant 18th century printer John Baskerville – who lives on as a font, but met an ignominious end.
4. Visit the Pre-Raphaelites
The Pre-Raphaelites are my favourite artists, so I was delighted to discover the finest collection of Pre-Raphaelite artwork in the world at the Birmingham Museum and some beautiful stained-glass windows by Edward Burne-Jones, in Birmingham Cathedral.
5. Have a curry
Look, you can’t come to Birmingham and not have a curry. The Balti Triangle is still the place to be if you want to sample a balti, invented in the city in the late 1970s. I ate at Shababs, then sampled something more modern at the burgeoning chain, Mowgli Street Food, as well as the other end of the scale, at Opheem. Proof how much I enjoyed the latter, I’ve been ordering Opheem’s curry boxes Aktar at Home ever since.
6. Go shopping
While the British High Street is collapsing around the country, the shopping is still really good in Birmingham – with its famous Bullring shopping centre and gleaming Selfridges building. With everything from Harvey Nichols, to the world’s largest Primark, you can shop until you drop, then fortify yourself with a cronut or three, from Medicine Bakery.
P.S. About Peaky Blinders
Anyone looking for Cillian Murphy won’t actually find him in Birmingham, but if you want some Peaky Blinder experiences, there’s a tour of Digbeth and you can see where some of it was filmed at the great fun The Black Country Living Museum. Or, you could try your hand at a Peaky Blinders Escape Room. You’re welcome.
* Special thanks to VisitBritain and West Midlands Growth Company for hosting me.
The British Travel List is the sister newsletter to The Royal List. It is a weekly guide to Kerry Parnell’s favourite places to visit and stay around the country. Kerry is an experienced travel and lifestyle journalist who writes for British and Australian newspapers and magazines. She is passionate about British travel and excited to share her work and insider tips, here.
For more of Kerry’s work, visit kerryparnell.com