Birmingham New Street Gates

[GoneSouth]

… there's nowhere to put said concourse on the side (of a suitable size and with a decent retail offer) without demolishing half of Birmingham city centre.

Now that’s an excellent idea

Only joking !

But to be fair they’ve done exactly that twice since the war, around the Bullring and Digbeth bits, and they’ve just swept away another huge chunk of city centre for HS2. That’s a lot of remodelling of a city!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Now that’s an excellent idea

Only joking !

But to be fair they’ve done exactly that twice since the war, around the Bullring and Digbeth bits, and they’ve just swept away another huge chunk of city centre for HS2. That’s a lot of remodelling of a city!

I suppose that depends if you consider the mess that is/was Digbeth part of the city centre or not, and quite a lot of the Curzon St footprint was derelict anyway, even the platforms were still there. I guess it's a bit like somewhere like Ardwick in Manchester - it's not the city centre now, but in due course it will be. You'd need to flatten some attractive old buildings if you wanted to put a Manchester Piccadilly style concourse on the Stephenson St side, which is where it'd have to go as that's the side with most demand. You could put one on the other side where the demolition would be of fairly manky buildings, but then it'd be less convenient.

I suppose at a push it could go where TK Maxx is, but it'd be quite small then.

You could certainly, looking at an aerial view, do two bridges under a nice trainshed, but then the retail offer would be significantly downgraded, and to be honest the retail offer is one reason I like to change there. I'd not want to change it into Bristol Temple Meads - a lovely trainshed but hardly any retail at all and nothing near it either.

 

[PsychoMouse]

Anyone lamenting the Shakespeare at the old New St must be off their heads. Was an awful place.

The Shakespeare is still there (Lower Temple Street) and is a reasonably nice Nicholson's pub now.

If you're mixing it up with the pub called The Newt that was under the ramp from New Street into The Pallasades that's long gone. It's an underground car park now for Station, Premier Inn and local restaurant staff.

 

[The Planner]

The Shakespeare is still there (Lower Temple Street) and is a reasonably nice Nicholson's pub now.

If you're mixing it up with the pub called The Newt that was under the ramp from New Street into The Pallasades that's long gone. It's an underground car park now for Station, Premier Inn and local restaurant staff.

No, there was a Shakespeare on the old concourse behind the barriers at New St.

Edit: found a picture of it

The Shakespeare - Birmingham New Street Station

Found a pub in Birmingham New Street Station - The Shakespeare. Had to take it in Natural Light mode. Tried one shot in Aperture, but it went all wrong (think best to leave A or P mode to outside). Anyway the Scene Selection for Natural Light is designed for shots taken indoors. Initially it...

www.flickr.com

The Newt was another dive as well.

 

[PsychoMouse]

No, there was a Shakespeare on the old concourse behind the barriers at New St.

Oooh weird, I don't remember that one. There was a lot of dodgy pubs round there back in the day.

 

[LowLevel]

Oooh weird, I don't remember that one. There was a lot of dodgy pubs round there back in the day.

It was just an SSP establishment much like the Crewe/Derby whatever Heros you used to see around. Staffed by the same unfortunates who ran the Pumpkins etc.

It was, as you'd expect from SSP, rather horrid.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Oooh weird, I don't remember that one. There was a lot of dodgy pubs round there back in the day.

I've drank in it. It was on the right if you turned right into the tunnel. It was basically the same as the one at Preston or the Crewe Hero or something, kind of like a Wetherspoons but expensive and worse. Dowdy, dank, poor drinks selection and sticky tables.

It was the pub that gave rise to the wonderful line "the pub is crap, the loos cost cash and the signage is appalling" in MJ Hibbett's song named after the station, which if you've not heard it is definitely worth a listen! It doesn't seem to be online anywhere but it is on Spotify, alongside the similarly entertaining "Holdalls is the new name for Midland Mainline Lost Property".

 

[Sprinter107]

That was what was the old Bridge Bar. Situated on the dispersal bridge. It had some kind of refurb, and was called the Shakespeare. I never went in it, but it always seemed to be busy when I walked past.

 

[AlterEgo]

It was a pretty crap pub but it was alright for one pint before going home.

 

[DarloRich]

No, there was a Shakespeare on the old concourse behind the barriers at New St.

Edit: found a picture of it

God that was an awful place - only ever went in when waiting for a train home after the match. They didn't seem too fussy about ID's!

 

[Mordac]

The Shakespeare is still there (Lower Temple Street) and is a reasonably nice Nicholson's pub now.

If you're mixing it up with the pub called The Newt that was under the ramp from New Street into The Pallasades that's long gone. It's an underground car park now for Station, Premier Inn and local restaurant staff.

Not nearly as good as the Shakespeare Inn (confusingly, also a Nicholson's pub) on Summer Row, but of course that's much farther away from New Street. At any rate, if you want to avoid the station Spoons, you're much better off walking the fe extra yards to the Post Office Vaults!