I have been shopping here for many years, and it has changed a lot. It has many of the big names…read moresuch as Boots, Beatties, M&S, Argos, Woolworths, WHSmith etc, and there are places to eat and drink like McDonalds, Costa coffee and Subway. The main parade area is pedestrianised, and they often have a farmers market and arts & crafts stalls on the main shopping street. At Christmas there is an impressive Santa`s grotto! New additions to Sutton are Aldi & Poundland. At the top of the parade is the historic old Town School building, which is now home to Sutton Baptist church, where on some days you can pop in and get a coffee and baked potatoe!

The Gracechurch Centre or, to give it it's ungrammatical and Americanised modern name: Mall…read moreGracechurch (I know, horrible innit?) is generally unloved among the locals. Built in 1974 by basically wiping out the middle of Sutton and starting again, the Gracechurch has been modified several times but still has the same basic shape. Beneath a sizeable multi-storey car-park, the shopping area is mostly covered and is clean and plenty spacious. A lot of shops come and go but the long-serving stalwarts are House of Fraser (formerly Beatties), WHSmiths, Marks & Spencers and Boots. The other shops are mostly filled with (women's) clothes. Locals often moan that the Gracechurch is full of rubbish shops and not enough local, independent traders. Ironically, whenever a local trader does try their luck, they soon shut down due to lack of custom. Compared to somewhere modern like Touchwood, the Gracechurch isn't great; compared to somewhere like the Saddlers Centre in Walsall, it's great. You can pretty much find everything you need up there or very nearby on the Parade. Back in the day the spaces in the Gracechurch were filled with oversize chess pieces, now there's a more helpful Information Kiosk, lots of benches and a jacket potato stand which has been there for as long as I can remember (and probably longer) and so can't be too bad.

This place used to be known as the Sainsburys Centre until Sainsburys buggered off and left the…read moreplace to be renamed the Red Rose Centre. That was okay because at least the library was still there. Then the library 'temporarily' closed in 2009 and its bookshelves have been gathering dust ever since. With the only proper supermarket in the town centre long gone and the prospect of the library ever re-opening growing smaller everyday all that's left to prop up this now tired old thoroughfare is the admittedly very good Wilkinsons, a new Greggs and hairdressers, a charity shop and a couple of other outlets which change from time to time. The presence of the multi-storey car park is a bonus and there are some great views from the top floor. However, if you try and take advantage of them, you'll find yourself shooed away by wardens who presume you want to jump or hotwire someone's car. For ages the Red Rose Centre (for some reason that cries out to be said in a Geordie accent) had its own security guard too, although he did very little other than chat with the people dressed as penguins collecting for charity and walk up and down.

Should you not know central Sutton Coldfield particularly well, then from time to time the large…read morelogo displaying the name of this centre may have caught your eye and had you wondering what's there. The truth is, not an awful lot. The name - with that rather grand-sounding 'centre' - really just denotes a shared area overseen by a single stakeholder which exists independently of stores nearby. This is not the equivalent of The Mall on the other side of Lower Parade, rather a small collection of stores paying rent to the same body, nominally brought together thanks to a roof. Tenants include a newsagent/tobacconist, a large charity shop (British Heart Foundation), a barber, an independent craft shop, a large branch of Wilkinsons and a budget-priced frozen food vendor. Here you'll also find what may quite possibly be the world's largest branch of Greggs. The centre, in addition, is home to Sutton Coldfield's main library - Greggs has plenty of seating so there is no need to hide a sausage roll behind The Da Vinci Code. After a dingy corridor, the library also marks the point at which you'll see daylight again. It's this that may recommend the centre, the outdoors seating here making for a spacious respite from crowds. Sutton can suddenly spike in footfall without warning thanks to surrounding schools and colleges. If you felt less kind, though, you'd say the centre's real purpose was providing largely-covered access to a multi-storey car park, plus cover from the rain if the bus shelters were busy.

I recommen going to Hobbycraft if ur a therian they have felt, paint, masks, feathers, brushes,…read moreeverything you need!

Ventura park although I frequent on occasion is really just a clone of other business parks , it…read morebacks the traffic up completely on a weekend I once got trapped in the Sainsburys car park side for over two hours on a Saturday...with added nandos and pizza express its got a lot of shops to choose from if your an avid spender notice didnt say shopper !

The Currys is very small and theres not alot of choice or staff to be honest, but I suppose if you…read moreknow what you want and they have it in stock then all is good. Staff are friendly tho which goes a long way! The is a new 99p store sandwiched in between Curry's and Marks & Spencers! Its large and airy and has a large stock choice.

As you vigorously scratch your head in confusion having never heard of it before, note that what…read morethe Brum City Council's planning documents call the Boldmere Shopping Centre is known colloquially as 'Boldmere High Street'. This busy commercial district is differentiated name wise to distinguish itself from the other commercial hub located in the south end of Boldmere Rd., known as 'Little Boldmere' that contains the Boldmere tap et al. Boldmere is a diverse middle class neighbourhood that borders Erdington to the south, Wylde Green to the east, and Sutton Park to the north. The Boldmere Shopping Centre, or high street, reflects the diversity of the area with an array of local shops and chains for the community to explore. The commercial district starts at the intersection of Antrobus Rd/Highbridge Rd. and Boldmere Rd, and continues north until you reach Jockey Rd. Businesses have traded here since the railroad laid out the initial criss-crossed roads in the late 1800's. Victorian buildings are mixed in with structures from all periods up to the present, giving the street an organic, hodge-podge feel. Recently many high street banks and other chains have been abandoning commercial districts like this en masse, however this has created opportunity for small local businesses to swoop in to take up the real estate. A recent example is the closed HSBC branch, currently being converted into a Mexican themed restaurant. Other than a proper bank branch, the Boldmere high street area has virtually every kind of shop you may need for daily purchases. There are dozens upon dozens of stores in the area, but some of my favourites include: - An official Post Office, located at the back of WH Smith. - The Boldmere Library, which has faced off against closure by the council only to remain open and provide a small, but cozy space for borrowing books and using the internet. - Three grocery stores in the form of Tesco Express, Sainsbury's, and Nisa Local. - Numerous Indian and Balti restaurants, making Boldmere the Balti Triangle of Sutton Coldfield (aka Boldmere Balti Row). - Two independent butchers, and a really good deli. - Green Grocer, who stocks the best in produce. - Two chain pubs and a Harvester, for those that like that sort of thing (The Bishop Vesey does a good chain job at stocking real ale and craft beer). - A plethora of hair dressers and barber shops, if you need your hair cut, you'll likely find a good shop here. - Charity shops and bric a brack stores. Too many to list! - Two chippies. - Several lounge and cafe style restaurants and coffee shops. - An upscale, professional florist. - One bike shop, one used car dealer, and two running stores. We love multi-modal transport! These are just some of the highlights, with many others not listed including an industrial estate for your construction etc. related needs. While Boldmere's high street may not be as posh as Harborne's, it contains a proud collection of independent traders working their craft and building a real community in Boldmere.

Great little shopping centre.. Has all the big brands and some high end high street brands too…read more Such as river island, h&m ,primary, etc... Good ample cark parking, its free to park after 6pm most evening. Has pub's. Bars, restaurants also has a Cinema. Free parking voucher when u spend £5 or more on shopping in Tesco.

Newly built shopping complex. 1st time I've been here and to sides to the shopping centre. Good for…read moreparking and wide range of shops all big sizes. Deffo check it out and you can waste hours here also just looking around and eating...

It is long overdue that I write this review. The Heart of the Country is simply a potpourri of fun…read morethings to do for folks of all ages. In terms of value - unless you decide to buy a meal, drinks or goods from the various stores and restaurants it is free! Even the parking is free. Everyone seems to be friendly and welcoming. There are walks too, especially nice for the kids. And yes all the eating and drinking places are good to excellent!

The pear tree creperie is a small French restaurant specialising in you got it crepes. It is…read morelocated in a small crafts place which is called the heart of the country village. Now me and my sister are obsessed with pancakes anyway so when we heard about this place we decided we had to go and find it. So Saturday off we went in the car and found it. Mouths watering at just the thought of pancakes they had a lot to live up to but they managed it and this creperie is such a little find I think I will go there more often now I know where it is. The address is as follows; Heart of the country village Swinfen Near Lichfield Staffordshire WS14 6QR Now in terms of location it is a great place as it is right by Lichfield city centre which is a great place and as it is practically just off a main road it is quite easy to find. I can't really tell you much about the actual craft village as we didn't go around as this was purely a pancake hunting trip only. It did look very sweet though with lots of furniture, garden and even a bridal shop. The actual creperie is tucked away and has an inside and an outdoor area. Outdoors the wooden tables and trellising around is very pretty. Inside and you get a very French feel about the place. The tables have plastic covers which looks very sweet and the decoration is very nice with antique looking things which is nice. The furniture is all a nice wood and everything just looks nice. The menu is lovely with lots of sweet and savoury crepes on offer. I went for a sweet maple syrup one because I really fancied it but they do so many different ones such as cheese and ham ones, pear and chocolate sauce and ones with alcohol which they light at the table which looked great. The prices are not to bad with the cheapest being about £2 and the most expensive being around £6. Drinks were around £1.20 each. The pancakes did not take long to come out and when they did they were massive and they gave us a lot of maple syrup so they do make sure you get full from them. I noticed people having savoury ones with salads and they looked yummy and definitely filling enough to have for lunch or for tea. The crepes were cooked to perfection and I have to say I couldn't have done any better. They taste so nice that when you have eaten one you always want another. Even though I felt quite sick when I had eaten it I still would have had another if my sister would have let me but she dragged me out of there which I am glad of. The craft village is very sweet and the car park is quite big so you will always be ok to park. I think the creperie is lovely and well worth the visit especially if you do take a look around and then maybe go visit Lichfield to finish off your day. I am going to visit again as it was nice and the food is cooked to a high standard. There are plenty of staff there who are all very friendly and I think that you will have a good time. It might be worth mentioning as well that you can reserve tables there as it does get quite busy and as we left there was only 1 table left. What a little find in the middle of the country. Wonderful! Thanks for reading. xxx P.S .Thsi has been posted on other sites but always by me katygriff

Nike factory outlet.. The have great stuff here its all Nike branded and it very very reasonable…read moreprices. Its not the latest designs or styles but its like last season or ex stock they can't sell. Mens Trainers average in from £20-40 a pair depending on discount amount. Good if u wanna by a few pairs in one go. Good for gym clothing men's shorts £5-10 tops £10-20. Stock is limited so go grab yourself a bargain. Parking outside costs £1.60 for two hours and cheaper for 30 minutes.