This small Post Office / convenience store is usually quiet with no queues, and being only a ten…read moreminute walk from my house is great when I want to drop off a parcel without waiting around. The lady who runs the Post Office is always friendly, deals with requests efficiently and with a smile, and is generally a pleasure to deal with. The Post Office also sells greetings cards, stationary and other bits and bobs. The convenience store had everything you might need in a pinch, and is usually well stocked. A throw back to the traditional days of a local friendly Post Office. What more do you need?

The University Medical Practise is a group practise of doctors on the Edgbaston side of the…read moreBirmingham University campus. As you have probably guessed by the name, it mainly caters for the students and staff of the nearby university, but also operates as a fully independent general practise of which anyone who lives within the area can join. As a service, I really can't find much to criticise about the practise. The staff are friendly and efficient, and I include the reception staff and the doctors in this. From the second you reach the drive and you look at the building in it's lush, green surroundings it's clear that this is a very nice doctor's surgery, and the pleasant atmosphere continues into the reception area. In fact, it's so nice that some more cynical observers may comment that this is an example of students receiving preferential treatment. If you're a student looking for a GP then this is the place to come.

Weoley Castle Square (or simply 'the square' if you live near here) is according to reliable…read moresources the worlds biggest traffic island. Yep, you read that right the worlds BIGGEST traffic island - isn't that amazing? So it isn't really a square - it's more of an oblong and it sits in the middle of a load of shops, the library and a couple of social clubs and churches. It also near to the Weoley Castle estate - which consists of nearly 3,000 homes some of which are looked after by Bournville Village Trust. Interesting fact - in 1935 the 10,000th council house in Birmingham was officially opened in Hopstone Road by the then Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. This made Birmingham the first local authority in Britain to build 10,000 council properties - isn't that also pretty amazing? Weoley Castle has a bit of a dodgy reputation which I think is unfair. There are some surprisingly green places on the estate and whilst the shops here aren't ever going to sell artisan cheeses or 100s of varieties of avocado but they're cheap and mostly run by friendly staff and they sell useful things.

Hmmmm, the Castle Square... how can I put it... politely!…read more I grew up in Weoley Castle and the Square was smack bang in the middle of my walk to school so I had to pass through there every day, and I still sometimes go over there to visit old friends. It is a GIANT traffic island surrounded by shops, the shops are all cheap places ranging from car parts to grocery stores. It's not the prettiest of places but it's a good one-stop place if you live locally. Now, Weoley Castle has kind of a bad reputation and it is fairly well deserved if slightly exaggerated. It's not exactly the 'don't go out after dark' kind of place but I have had more than my fair share of trouble there. This might be because I was a youngster or because I was out there every day and night, but it's definitely not the place I would take a visitor to or that I would choose to go to if I wasn't visiting people I know. I have a soft spot for the Square purely out of nostalgia but it's not the sort of place I would recommend to anyone who wasn't a local.

The Citizens Advice Bureau plays an importnat part in helping people get vital information about…read moretheir rights, and it is a shame that they are not getting as much funding and resourcing as they have done in the past. This office is a good place to get honest and free advice face to face with an experienced advisor. The website is good too but sometimes it is better to talk an issue through with someone who has been trained to lend a listening ear, and point you in the right direction. The Citizens Advice service helps people resolve their legal, money and other problems by providing free information and advice from over 3,200 locations, and by influencing policymakers. Citizens Advice and each Citizens Advice Bureau are registered charities reliant on over 20,000 volunteers and need to raise funds to provide these vital services. The majority of our advisers are trained volunteers, helping people to resolve over 5.5 million problems every year. All Citizens Advice Bureaux in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are members of Citizens Advice, the national charity which sets standards for advice and equal opportunities and supports bureaux with an information system, training and other services. Citizens Advice also co-ordinates social policy, media, publicity and parliamentary work and maintains an information and advice website at http://www.adviceguide.org.uk which receives over 7.3 million visits a year.

Great for free legal advice, be prepared for crowds though. It's best to go early in the morning if…read moreyou want to get seen to quickly. The people working here are extremely friendly and will do their best to help you in any way they can.