Had a great experience catching a train from here to London. Quick drop off by my Uber at the drop…read moreoff and. A quick walk inside the station and they thought of the ones with suitcases and had a non step entrance! Yay! That's what they call it ! We grabbed a quick coffee and found our platform easily and thankfully they have escalators. The train had just pulled in and we were able to get on and get settled and took off right on time . Found a spot for our suitcases as soon as we get on close to our seats which we had reserved and were easy to find. Smooth ride and very efficient. Would go from here again if I need to. Nice central Birmingham location too.

This is a pretty massive station, though to be honest it can be pretty annoying to make your way…read morearound. Like, there are four zones, no doubt matching the platforms where the trains arrive. The thing is that you have to touch off and touch on to move between the zones. However, they happen to have quite a lot of shops here, and pubs, yeah, they have pubs as well, and a place to dump your bags as well, which is pretty cool.

Once again, an English city that has multiple railway termini because, well, privatised railways…read more Then again, when it was built the only people investing in railways were private companies. However, this station is pretty massive. In fact it is so big that it is really quite easy to get lost in it. In fact, there are like four areas where you go to catch a train, and two of them don't meet (which means you have to exit, and then enter again). Anyway, this station isn't bad, and it even has a pub in it, which is cool.

Birmingham Moor Street might be one of the smaller stations in the city centre, and it might not be…read moreas big, bold and modern, while also lacking the number of railway services compared to New Street, but Birmingham Moor Street just has something I like. Its minimalistic style is beautiful and rather nice, it feels like a traditional old British railway station done well, even down to the platform numbers. It is right opposite the Bullring, I would recommend heading to a store inside there, or perhaps Subway to get some food for the train, as other than a few small stores, there isn't much on offer here especially if you are making a long journey. The station is managed by Chiltern Railways and is the terminus of their route into London Marleybone. Services are also offered by West Midlands Railway. Many of the services from this station are mainly local services, into the likes of Birmingham Snow Hill and Solihull, sadly there are no connections into Birmingham International (For the Airport and NEC). I found the staff at the station to be a little rude and unhelpful, which was a sad first interaction with Chiltern Railways. 3* - Traditional old station with a good feel to it, obviously the lack of services and unfriendly staff do let it down and I will always prefer travelling via New Street, but this isn't a bad alternative.

It's hard to review a train station, especially a tiny local one like the JQ. The 3 stars come from…read morethe fact that at times it can be a nightmare to buy a ticket and since the permit to travels were abolished sometimes there is just no way to get one. But it's a small local station so that shouldn't really be a surprise. There are 2 platforms, and a tram stop so JQ station serves the locality reasonably well - you can get straight to Stratford from here so perfect for a nice day out. If you need to get to New Street however, it might be easier to walk (about 15 minutes) as you'll have to get off at either Snow Hill or Moor Street and walk over the New St from there. It's located up Vyse Street close to the Jewellery Quarter Museum and the wealth of shops and bars in the area. It's hard to know what else to say, it's usually clean. The access to the platforms is adequate and it's well lit for the most part. Well done Jewellery Quarter Station you succeed at being what you are. A train station!

Handy, but not ideal - this tiny train station in the Jewellery Quarter may not be the best station…read morein Birmingham but it serves it's purpose. With only two platforms (trains in and trains out of Birmingham) and a tram stop, you can get to many local destinations including Solihull, Malvern and Stratford-Upon-Avon from here. The ticket office seems to be very rarely open these days, but there is a machine which you can purchase from (including railcard tickets). With the bus getting more and more expensive, a local return can be obtained for as little as £2 and can go up to £3 for peak to get in and out of the City. There are no shops in this station, but it's located smack bang in the middle of the Jewellery Quarter, so you can always grab a coffee before you head down. As a point of interest, there is an old Victorian urinal called the "Temple of Relief" situated right outside the station, so be sure to grab a picture of the amazing ironwork before you jump on your train.

This is the same as my other review for the Solihull branch. Good store, with a variety of toys and…read morehelpful staff. The difference between this branch and Solihull is the size. This is much bigger and therefore does stock more toys. Has same offers as the other branch in. The reason children prefer this branch is the crawl through tunnel at the entrance, which goes behind the tills down turns into a slide! Great for kids but when its busy its difficult to keep your eye on them!

My daughter had some money for Christmas and was keen to spend it, so I took her into Birmingham…read moreCity Centre to The Entertainer. We've been in here loads of times as she loves the selection of toys and games, she's a Barbie and Bratz fanatic so loves the fact that The Entertainer has a good range of these to choose from. I love how well the shop is laid out because it is so straight forward and the same type of toys are all grouped together, this means we can easily bypass the parts of the shop which my daughter isn't interested in (Action Men) and go straight to the girly toys. Once she's spent a while browsing the dolls and teddies we always have a look around the arts and crafts section which is excellent. They sell such child friendly items as paint-by-numbers sets, paint your own statues and things like that. These are always extremely reasonably priced and very often on BOGOF offer, last week my daughter bought two good quality paint-by-numbers sets which cost just £3 each and when she got to the till the lady told her she could choose another two completely free! The Entertainer always seems to have a sale on and the prices on sale items are drastically reduced, a tenner off a £25 item and offers like that which can cut your shopping bill big time. Here you can also buy items such as toy cars, train sets and other traditional toys which is a bonus as these days even toys seem geared towards technology and it's lovely to find a shop where I can buy a good old fashioned 'brum-brum' for my nephew. The staff in The Entertainer are always excellent and obviously chosen for their rapport with children. I've never had a problem with anyone in here and love the way that my daughter can go and ask for advice without being made to feel like she is a nuisance or, worse, 'just a kid'. I always get the feeling that staff in here want the children to be as happy as their parents and this makes for a very nice shopping experience.

Blackheath represent. Did you see the photo I added of the train station? Do you wish you were…read morethere? Well you should. Rowley Regis is my local train station so it's a good job it's so nice to be in. I judge a train station on how quickly my server can get those tickets out the machine, under that little window and into my hand. Rowley staff are insanely fast, they know I'm already late and the trains pulling off and BAM like a magician it's in my hands! and because of this I sometimes make the train.. Thanks guys. In terms of other things, no toilet, no shop. But if you need to pee remember where you are and the grass is always an option. Another good thing is that no matter what time you get there, there's always a metro waiting. No one in Blackheath reads so your always sorted for a bit of metro action.

Rowley Regis is my local station. Trains every 10 minutes to Birmingham and Warwickshire and in the…read moreother direction to Stourbridge with some trains going on to Kidderminster and Worcester. And Surprise Surprise for such a station to the west of Birmingham there are three trains each morning to London with return trains in the evening.

Birmingham International Railway Station is a pretty cool station, considering it isn't…read moreBirmingham's main station, infact it is around a 10-15 minute journey into the city centre (New Street), with this station serving the NEC and Airport, it is in the Solihull borough of the city and should not be confused with New Street (Some of the photos on Yelp appear to be from Birmingham New Street). The station is managed by Avanti West Coast, with five platforms, as far as I'm aware all services call via Birmingham New Street however services also go to major cities such as Manchester, Bournemouth, London, Glasgow and Reading with services provided by Avanti West Coast, CrossCountry, Transport for Wales and West Midlands Trains. The station seemed pretty clean, it is easy to get around the station and access the AirTrain which takes you directly to the Airport, and the walkway which takes you to the NEC and Resorts World. You can continue your journey via the many bus routes which stop right outside, or the Airtrain. There is also a small WHSmith and Subway before the ticket gates which is handy. The staff at the station are friendly and happy to call out, and I look forward to using this station again, it might not be as glamorous as St Pancras / Birmingham New Street but certainly does the job. 4*

A dated train station that could do with an upgrade. Good service to the city centre.read more

The Bullring was built around a Church, St Martin's in the Bullring…read more It's named after Martin Lewis who is the patron Saint of shoppers, He used to show shoppers how to make great savings on their purchases in Medieval times. Ok so that might not be true. But with recent facts about Birmingham being confused by Fox News. The bullring opened in September 2003 (I know I was working there!) It's mainly a high street fashion shopping destination but there are lots of little food units to explore round the three floors. Built into what was a sloping hill each of the floors have street level exits which can cause lots of confusion on your first visit. But fear not. There are touch screen maps around the centre to help you explore. It's huge glass roofs help natural light flow through each of the floors and you can walk from here to Birmingham New Street Station without going outside if you follow the walkways. Mornings are usually quieter than the rest of the day so if you are in a rush get there for 10am on a week day!

I see this place as more of a necessity, I don't really like going here but you have to so you can…read moreget to the majority of the shops in Birmingham city centre. Don't get me wrong, the place in comparison to other shopping centres is almost beautiful, big open skylight, actually quite clean and toilets on almost every level. But half the time the escalators are broken, the last one being a total of nearly 4 months (and having to fight through H&M if you wanted to go down to the ground level). The elevators are ridiculously slow, and usually monopolized by the owners of tiny humans in prams... which is fair enough as they would struggle with the stairs. The morale of this story is - take the stairs. Other than that gripe its generally not a bad place, just really busy. You can cut through the bullring to quickly get to any other part of town and because the whole building is sheltered its convenient for shopping in the bad weather.

Tame Bridge Parkway is a useful little station on the main Walsall to Birmingham line. It lies on…read morea convenient commuter route half way between West Bromwich and Walsall and well connected by the legendary 404 bus route. Parking is free. Places can be at a premium after about 8.15am in the morning and overspill often takes in the road to the car park itself. There is an automatic machine to buy tickets and a ticket office to duck out of the rain from or if you just want to grab today's copy of the Metro. There are no toilet facilities or snack machines though. Due to the location of Tame Bridge Parkway, if trains are cancelled, you would be forced to take the 404 to West Bromwich and get the metro or the 74/75 (the former taking 15 mins, the latter taking as long as it needs to to clear Handsworth).

A convenient train station with trains pulling into Birmingham New Street 20 minutes later…read more There is a free car park which gets full during the week days with commuters, but I have been known to arrive here at 11am or later and there has been the odd space despite the cars parking on the road. There is one self serve ticket machine outside, and a ticket counter inside the waiting area which is always manned. There is no toilet here which would be a nice addition as would a little coffee hatch. All in all a good station that is always kept clean and tidy.

Located between Rowley Regis and Cradley Heath, Old Hill is a fairly unpopular station, with the…read moremajority of trains on the Moor St - Kidderminster line shooting straight past, not stopping at the small station. Two of my best friends jumped on the train at Old Hill, when we attended High School in Hagley, but a lot of the time the train went straight past and stopped at Cradley Heath after Rowley.. Ignoring Old Hill. The station itself is fairly low key, with two platforms and a extremely basic ticket office, Old Hill really isn't one of my favourite train stations, but for a lot of people who know the time table inside out, I'm sure it works out just fine.... With one train on either platform every hour..

Old Hill Station is tucked well away from Old Hill itself. It is hidden practically on an…read moreindustrial estate, nowhere near anywhere remotely useful (for me that is!). It isn't very easy to find. Like many stations on the Moor Street-Kidderminster line, Old Hill is fairly basic. There are two platforms, a small car park and a waiting room/ticket office. Wikipedia reliably informs me that the current ticket office was built in 1968 after the old timber building was destroyed by fire in 1967. Get a load of THAT, fact fans! Platform 2 is reached by crossing a rather rickety bridge. It is a very quiet station and can feel a bit isolated late at night. Trains tend to run every 30 minutes or so, with only selected trains stopping at Old Hill.

Never flown out of Birmingham airport before (and hopefully never again!!). A complete disorganised…read morechaotic checkin and security system. Makes the whole experience a nightmare.

Mmmmmm ..... not bad. I've been in worse airports than BHX. but improvements can be made…read more A bit confusing to get around and find things. You have to be "on your toes" to make your way around BHX. Some better signage would be great. Now that I've been through this airport, I feel I can get around better. At this time, there is some construction. So it may take a little longer to get around. Overall this is a reasonably decent airport.