Grand Central is my favourite part about Birmingham New Street Station, it is a shopping centre…read morelocated above the train station, which connects into the Bullring (the city's main shopping centre), via a walkway. It can be a great to visit to kill some time before your train, or even to shop while in the city, plus the walkway acts as a cool way of getting to the train station and dogging the rain, of which we get more than our fair share of in the UK! Birmingham New Street Station - https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/birmingham-new-street-station-birmingham-3 Bullring- https://www.yelp.co.uk/biz/bullring-birmingham Grand Central opened in September 2015, it still feels new and modern. The stunning balcony, lighting and architecture are nice to admire, and the perfect welcome into one of the country's greatest cities. I loved admiring the view in the dark autumn nights, while sat enjoying a coffee at Joe and the Juice. Grand Central's only flagship retailer was John Lewis, sadly this store has now closed down but there are still a couple of shops located here, which includes Tesco Express, Foyles and Whittard. The selection of food and beverage options is much better including Nando's, Tapas Revolution and Joe and the Juice. There's plenty of other options, including a Natwest bank! 4* - I do think the loss of John Lewis is going to hit Grand Central hard, it's sad to see such a huge empty unit in such a cool building, but it is a great place in the city which many tourists and locals alike are sure to visit, by choice or by chance.

Although not 100% finished, Grand Central really has the wow factor that Birmingham New Street…read morestation has previously lacked. The highlight for me has to the the huge and beautifully designed skylight, positioned right in the middle of the development. This has changed a formerly dark space, into a vibrant hub of cafes, restaurants and shops. Grand Central can only be a good thing for Birmingham, proving the perfect first impression for people arriving in the city.

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.

Great Western Arcade is truly a highlight of the City. It's full of quirky independent shops,…read morerestaurants and services. The architecture is stunning and it's clearly well maintained and meticulously looked after. Keep an eye out for events being held here too, as it's a great way to experience this location whilst doing something a little different (so far, I have attended a summer garden party and a silent film screening). Some of the highlights of the location are the Handmade Boutique (where you can purchase something totally unique made in the City - great for gifts), Anderson and Hill (full of delicious local and imported foodstuffs) and my favourite shoe shop in the city, Sims Footwear. Loki is also of note, as it's a wine retailer AND a tasting house (an usual concept worth a try). A must for all visitors and locals alike, pop along to the Arcade and lose a couple of hours browsing, eating and (when you're really worn out from all that shopping) grabbing a couple of beauty treatments at the Spa.

If Paradise Forum looked more like this I'd be sadder that it was being knocked down…read more.. This is a beautiful arcade with lots of boutique business spaces. More recently this has become open in the evening with the likes of Bistro 1847 and Loki Wine changing the mixture of shops and shifting it into the evening. It was bombed in the Second World War and the damage must have been pretty shocking. However the visible scars of war have been long since healed and this remains a homage to Victorian values with beautiful floor tiles and historic railway style lighting which I'd only noticed walking around the balcony at night. Next time you are rushing through to Snow Hill station or chasing down to the post office walk a little slower and take a look at how beautiful it all is. Really

Poor old Five Ways Shopping Centre - built in the early 60s this was originally designed as a…read moretraffic-free piazza with ground floor retail spaces, an indoor market area, a car park on the second floor and the 10 storey Auchinleck House - a statue of Claude Auchinleck (a British army commander during World War II) still stands in the square but you won't be able to look at it these days as the whole space is awaiting demolition. To be honest Five Ways Shopping Centre has always had a slightly derelict feel - during the winter the design of the place meant that it acted as a veritable wind tunnel and for years it hosted a weird array of shops that always seemed a bit empty - although I do miss the greasy spoon caff that was here which was all Formica work tops and unknowingly kitschy shaped sauce bottles. The only thing it houses now are a Select n Save (more on that later), a Boots and load of sad looking empty shops - not somewhere I'd recommend spending too much time in as it can get really dark down there but worth a quick peek.

Grim. The fact that from above it looks like a giant coffin pretty much sums it up. The Five Ways…read moreShopping Centre is now almost completely abandoned, waiting for a natural disaster to come and wipe it off the earth. It sits sadly on a corner, a run down miserable old concrete block acting as a full stop to the overbearing neon and orange spray tan smell of Broad Street. I can't imagine a reason, that anyone would want to visit. There might be a little nostalgia, maybe your favourite newsagent was there... you was a massive fan of that particular Braggs bakery that was there in the late 80's? There was an urban legend that the architect who designed it made it in the shape of a coffin then jumped off the top, providing a suicide/funeral all in one. Maybe they could turn it into some kind of spooky theme park.

I think Piccadilly Arcade is the prettiest of the arcades in Birmingham city centre. Whilst the…read moreothers have their fair share of attractive architecture, this one has too but all the retail units are occupied. More on the upmarket side, most of these are independent or at least have an independent look about them. Smithsonia is lovely looking gift store that is the 'go to' place if you have exhausted everywhere else for gifts. There is also a florist, cobblers, a take away cafe, vintage boutique, jewellers, opticians and a beautician to name not all of them. A good place to walk through if you're showing anyone coming into Brum around! On the rare occasion I'm catching a train New Street station during opening hours, a little walk through this quite arcade sure puts a spring in my step.

I mean there are huge murals of people parachuting above your head.....how can you not give 5*…read morebased on that alone..... This pretty little arcade gives the very chain heavy new street area a nice bit of independant charm. Inside you can find shops selling jewellery, flowers, homeware and coffee (faculty). I can't say I have ever purchased anything from here other than many coffees and flowers for a friends housewarming but I have walked through 10000000's of times. I like this place as it gives smaller retailers space in a prime location that im sure is much more affordable than the high street. Everyone who I have ever been served by has alwasy been amazingly friendly and helpful and generally passionate about what they do......and oh yeah there are murals of people parachuting.....did I mention how much I like those haha....

My three-star rating here is neutral for a reason; I wasn't even aware this adult-only…read moreestablishment existed until two weeks ago but, hunting down new places to review with a friend for the purposes of reviewing on Yelp, the two of us - for the purposes of 'research', you understand - entered the premises on Hurst Street , which sticks out like a sore thumb with its 'hello, we're seedy here' red-and-black exterior. So, I don't frequent places like this and, besides trips to the actual Amsterdam where shops like this feel quite quaint amongst all the brothels and sex show venues, I have no experience to compare it to. The shop itself is an eye-opening plethora of skin vids, phallus-shaped playthings and all sorts of other (sometimes scary-looking) sex aids. The member of staff manning the till was quiet and discreet, which I imagine visitors to places like this appreciate, and he didn't bat an eye lid when my mate and I giggled at a nightmarish-looking rubber fist. A back door in the main shop leads through to a cinema, as advertised outside on the shopfront. I wasn't that committed to my research for this review to test out the cinema and discuss whether its seats were sticky or not, although I'm sure other more specialist sites may give those looking for an erotic cinema-going experience more of an idea of what to expect. So, yes - three stars as I wouldn't want to mark this place down purely for the fact that I'm not its intended audience. Avid sex shop fans may think it's good or bad but that's for them to judge - I'm just here to give the opinion of one curious, very baffled young man who feels really vanilla after my trip here.

Great little vintage shop hidden away in the Jewellery Quarter of Birmingham. This one's a little…read morebit out of the way and there are no other shops like this in the area so I don't find myself here too often, however there is a great selection of vintage on offer and I always end up leaving with something when I do make a visit. Everything is pretty reasonably priced and always in excellent condition. The staff seem to know what they have in stock are happy to find pieces that they think you will like. If vintage is your thing this is well worth a visit, it is not very well by vintage lovers in Brum and it really should be!

Cute little shop next to The Eight Foot Grocer on Caroline Street, just off St Pauls square. Mostly…read morethey sell shirts and tshirts, I would say mostly more for men than women, but they do have a large table at the back where they seem to do alterations, so I guess you can have it made to fit:) they also have some cool jewellery made from old buttons and beads and old vintage brick a brac-reminds me of home;)

Mailbox Birmingham might not have the fame or crowds of the Bullring, but still, it is a pretty…read morenice and cool addition to the Birmingham skyline, which opened at the end of 2000. The big red building which lights up at night is also pretty cool as it is also home to BBC Birmingham. Many of the retailers here include designer brands such as Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Harvey Nichols so the shopping here has a selection of high-end brands, with the Harvey Nichols store being a new concept store which is probably my favourite branch in their network of stores. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal passes along the back with a number of restaurants overlooking - this means many of the hotels have fantastic views of the canal, including outside restaurants including the likes of Caffe Rouge providing great views of the city in a nice relaxing environment, making it a great place to sit with a drink or some food. It is actually quite nice to wander off Holiday Street across the bridge to get into the mall, taking in the view of the canal where you can then turn right for The Cube or left for the Mailbox, as they are meters apart and do interlink. (The Cube does have better views of the city as a whole though with a 25th floor Marco Pierre White restauraunt!) They also have a big screen here with seats, which they were using to broadcast tennis and I presume they use it for other big sporting events... if Birmingham ever had a football team who have the capability to play in a major game in the future that is. The layout from the main mall into the outside part could be improved, it involves a series of steps or a curved ramp which is actually so close together, I wouldn't feel safe using either in the dark as it looks like an accident waiting to happen. Also home to an independent cinema, this is a pretty cool place - not without its flaws including the lift situation where the Royal Mail lifts are all through a huge heavy door, not making them accessible to disabled people to the point where you come out of the lift, expecting to be going through a service entrance - the fact they still label restaurants which have been closed, some for a considerable length of time on their maps also adds confusion, frustration and disappointment which includes Gourmet Burger Kitchen which closed towards the end of 2018. 3*

The stretch maybe uncalled for but we can never get enough c-span. Do yourself some justice and…read morestretch your imagination.

Debenhams is one of your typical lower-end department stores, which certainly isn't as high-end as…read moreSelfridges, Harrods and House of Fraser for example, but still slightly nicer and more higher-end than TKmaxx, as I'm aware other than Harrods they all have stores in Birmingham city center. Debenhams are still a large store with 178 stores in The UK, Ireland and Denmark and were founded back in 1778. This branch of Debenhams is located in the Bullring mall, with enterences from both street and mall level, it is a decent sized store too. The lifts here were pretty slow, and they didn't show much signal of it working, and although it was, I didn't know it was in use, so I nearly just walked away, which was disappointing It is quite a large store with a Brow Bar, Salon and Cafe and quite a few floors as well. I didn't have any close encounters with staff to comment on, they seemed okay, just average. The signposts for what is on which floor in the store could be better advertised, this store is okay but it is nothing more than that, the building its-self isn't as nice as other department stores mentioned, and in a way it has a less high-end feel, which makes it a little less special in a way, especially to tourists and potential shoppers.

Debenhams used to be one of my favourite stores as it houses everything but lately I haven't really…read moreour purchased many things as often as I used to. Last month I came in as I had a 5% off voucher on multiple purchases so I bought underwear on one floor, then on another day some clothes for a wedding. When I got home I inspected the receipt and worked out though it said 5% off, nothing was actually deducted! I took one dress back as I didn't wear it for a wedding and mentioned there was nothing deducted! She said it's not on all concessions ... Something the other two cashiers didn't say when scanning the clothes! I've given them four stars as I do go to the beauty department to buy skin and hair care. I do ask for samples and majority will give them .., more so with a purchase! I like to walk away with something extra!! Lol They have a beauty points card which is useful and worth collecting points. You get money off when you earn enough.

I am always a big fan of places where the items on sale feel like a random collection of things…read morethat someone has collected over the years......If you are a fan of one offs and items with charm this little place in the Custard Factory is well worth a visit. You can pick up furniture and household items right through to clothes and accessories if you are not afraid to have a bit of a rummage. The things on sale here change all the time so it's not the kind of place I go looking for something specific. This is more a curiosity shop type vibe to browse through and discover what it is you went in there for along the way.