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The New Bull Ring (mixed feelings)

And now they're knocking the old tower around a bit. In fact the other day most of the Bull Ring area had to be cordoned off because of falling debris.

RotundaRefurbishment03.jpg

RotundaRefurbishment02.jpg

Don't worry folks, it's only part of the redevelopment of the old lady.​
 
Sakura lovely photo got anymore? ^-^

Oisin Thanks for keeping us adventurers in far off places up to date about the old lady O0
 
Thanks everyone for the glimpses into the present I too am a world away now. You are right Sakura the trees were only around the church but they played a part in softening the landscape. Hey I did not mind the aroma of the fish market but there were aromas that you could do without. That being said this section has realy brought to mind things that I have not thought about for many years.

Regards.
 
A broad band of opinion on this one, as might be expected. "You can please some of the people, some of the time" ........... etc. As a fairly young Brummie aged 52 - (well thats young compared to some of us on here !! :) ) - I of course identify more with the last Bull Ring, although I do remember the old one - the old market hall where as a child I was fascinated by all the pets and animals on sale. I have to say I don't like the new one really, but then thats because it just represents the modern world and a society so far removed from the one I remember as a child. As we age we naturally tend to feel out of place as thing change around us and familiar, comfortable things are eroded to be replaced with new and sometimes bewildering ideas and concepts - thats natural I guess. I do mourn the passing of the old things though - can't have a nice cuppa in J Lyons's now and somehow an overpriced, lukewarm milky 'latte' in Starbucks or one of the myriad other coffe shops just doesn't ring my bell. Thats what the city seems to be now - designer clothes and coffee shops !!!

Well now I've had my moan, heres a pic of the fondly remembered and much mourned past
 
Great Sil,
A view looking up the hill from the side of St. Martins on the right. As I thought tha buildings further up on the right were indeed demolished after a bombing raid so that the other older picture here is valuable. If only they could be stitched together some way we would be able to see it all as it used to be before the war. I had remembered it as being a bigger area maybe that happens to memory. Or maybe some foreshortening of the camera lens has this effect. Anyway I have really enjoyed this thread. Thanks.
Regards.

P.S. How about a pen and ink Di. with the old shops stitched in.
 
Hi. Alf,
Forgot to mention that I looked at your Midland red site. Thanks it was good. But was distressed to see that some of the busses that came after I left the country are considered to be antique. aagh. Wish they went further back to the time when the front of the bus above the driver had a little outward curve and the door and stairs were at the front. The seat upstairs at the front was the full width of the bus except for an opening at the left side facing forward to allow access. At the bottom of the stairs and underneath there was a luggage rack about knee high to put your fishing creals and rods on. About 1930s era I suppose. Wish I could see a picture.
You know, most of those old retired busses look better than the ones we use here. Thanks.
Regards.
 
Thanks Alf, I do have more of the City take last year.. We took 600 pictures while we were in GB, so we have many memories of our holiday. :smitten:

Sil, I thought the same as Rupert, it seemed a lot bigger when I was small. Mind you, having walked from Snow Hll where we got off the #70 bus I was probably tired. ???

Is my memory playing tricks or was this rebuilt and then pulled down and the new one built. So that makes the present Bull Ring the third one, is that correct? Only I don't think anyone has come up with a picture of the stalls with the umbrellas. I am sure that was what it was like when we moved in 1977. :idiot2:

Where are you living now Rupert?
 
Hi, Sakura.
Yes I believe you are right. This is the second rebuild of the original in modern times. I live in Ajax just east of Toronto.
Regards.
 
Nice photos everyone...Modern day shopping trips seemed more hurried but I do like the outdoor eating areas where people are more relaxed in the latest Bull Ring. My first encounter with the Bull Ring (still like the old way of spelling) was with my Mum like many of us and that would be in the mid-l940's for me...so the Bull Ring was very much like the older photos then. The Market Hall was roofless,of course, the barrows were all in place at the kerb and the friendly atmosphere was always there with so many characters always around.

Later on I went to school in 1953, for a couple of years, at Martineau Street and Corporation Street, so that meant going to the Bull Ring on lunch hours during the week some days. It was a great magnet I have to admit...more looking around than anything else though. I then went to work at Francis Nicholls on Upper Dean Street off Edgbaston Street in 1959. It was always magic to walk up to High Street from Edgbaston Street in what was a still unchanged area. The man who wrestled out of his chains was always a big draw. Got drawn in by a seller of "gold" rings one Friday pay day and watched my finger slowly turn green:eek:) The Midland Red bus destination labels sounded like places I wanted to go to and I eventually visited some of them. Outside Woolworth's, a gypsy caravan appeared on the weekends and sometimes there was a man with a placard or sandwich board with religious messages that spelled foreboding in many people judging by their reactions to the words written all over them.

I left the country in 1963 and came back to a completely rebuilt Bull Ring in 1965, my parents had sent me postcards but I was amazed at the changes, some of which I liked. Really, the Bull Ring as I first knew it had completely disappeared. However, the magic spirit did not seem to have totally gone thank goodness.

I came back in l972 for several months and worked quite high up in the Rotunda for
a time. I thought that the Rotunda was a super big plus for Brum, it's somewhat majestic position at the top of the Bull Ring gave the city a true modern landmark and now even the Rotunda is going through a big change.

Move forward to the late l990's when I walked through the market behind a group of architects with large plans and surmised the next phase for the Bull Ring was in the nearish future. I made one more trip approximately one year before the reopening and walked through all the gantries put in by the contractors so that the public could look at the buildings as they went up. It was quite overwhelming even then. The shape and size of the project. I visited the markets and enjoyed that very much I remember.

In 2004 on another visit, I came up from London to Brum. My train door wouldn't open at Bham International where my brother was to meet me and I ended up at Birmingham New Street Station. I had a quick and unexpected glimpse especially at Selfridges. Eyes on stalks time, as we drove by. I had lots of time to visit over the next few weeks and take photos. Mixed feelings overall...walking down was great but I never realized the hill was so steep going back up! Birmingham has lived up to it's motto "Forward"..inasmuch as when the main manufacturing works were closing down in the city and a new direction had to be found for the future in the late l970's early 1980's. The development from the "Floozie in the Jacuzzi" area right over to Brindley Place and including the Convention Centre and the Rep was reborn into what I think is a very exciting area. Therefore, it wasn't surprising to me when I saw the new Bull Ring for the first time overall. Birmingham is moving forward with what is turning out to be the most popular shopping centre in Europe..

I like The Bull Ring in it's latest redo....St.Martin's dominates like it never did before. You feel drawn to go and gaze at it, all cleaned up both inside and out. Birmingham citizens have always loved this church. It truly is magnificent. I would like to have seen more greenery around the complex and hopefully that could still happen in the future.

I am glad I have experienced the Bull Ring through it's changes in my lifetime and that I have the excellent memories of the Bull Ring to keep.
 
Jenny. I agree whole heartedly, as I said before we were so impressed with the city. Maybe being used to North American cities our expectations have changed. We were told when we were there that many of the improvements in the city have been funded with money from the EEC. I don't remember Birmingham being a tourist area when I was young but it certainly is now. And this is one person who hopes to be back one day, lets hope all the other visitors feel the same. :smitten: :smitten:
 
Silho its not a moan its a great Photo, because it brought back memories of my Aunt Doris who had a Vegetable Barrow for years just below Woolworths, who sadly past away just 2 years ago aged 90 and was the eldest member of the Family Buckley at the time.
 
That is amazing Rupert, we have lived in Ajax since 1977

Unless you have moved, I assume you live south of the 401.

We love living in Ajax although it has changed as you know, but mostly to the north with the Durham Centre and houses.

Cheers from one of your neighbours. :)
 
I worked in the Tyburn Road Workshops and used to Shunt the Buses around the place ie Paintshop and on to the Pits for mechanical work and then deliver to all the depots each evening about 4pm nice little job. T :)here were 6 of us as they completed 6 Buses per Day
 
Sounds fun Alf, at least you did not have to drive in the fog.

I can remember walking home from Snow Hill to Uplands Road, it was so bad we would miss the turnings and almost miss our gate. How things have improved. O0
 
I Did when we worked over time I almost got stuck under a Railway Bridge in Quinton :2funny: Not at the time I had to reverse in the Fog not funny ???
 
I think that as long as they leave St Martin's alone, everything will be fine. After all, it's not the buildings that make a city, it's people, I firmly believe, and there's none like us Brummies.

:D 8)

ChrisB
 
I agree that the views take your breath away, I was conscious of how many people were able to wander or sit in the area overlooking the views quite freely. It certainly brings in the tourists isn't that want we want? Selfridges is out of my league too but I love browsing the food department its amazing what delicacies you can find including edible insects in one department Mmmmmmm.
 
I haven't been back to Birmingham in over 20 years, suppose I wouldn't recognise most of the changes, I do remember in the late 50's I suppose it would have been, walking on the cobbled street by the side of St Martins where they had barrows selling various goods, then walking through the market area with the roof missing since the war - or am I going back TOO far, think I would like to remember places as they were. Does anyone remember a store close to Lewis's called GREY's ? :smitten: :smitten: :smitten::D
 
Yes Jive we used to get the late night Bus outside Grey's and a pie outside Snowhill Station and the Sunday Mercury O0
 
It's difficult to pass an opinion when I have only seen pictures of "THE" Bullring. (stuff the planners), but it conjures up an image for me of a huge Martian spaceship, having dropped a big box of ball bearings out of it's cargo hold and the captain saying " Oh Stuff it!....leave them where they are!!".
 
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