Cute, quaint, quirky, cosy and homely little bookstore-come-cafe (:…read more It's average opening hours are 11-6 during which time you can grab a slice of cake, tea, coffee etc, have a peruse through some books, and chill on their big comfy sofa! I find a lot of coffee places just don't really want you stay and they have hard, uncomfy furniture to reflect that. But not here! This place often has events that extend its opening hours, too. My favourite is the 'big comfy folk club' which are folk and acoustic sessions hosted on the 1st and 3rd Friday of the month. Next one is on 4th March and tickets are only a fiver! Brilliant intimate venue, and the performers usually stick around for a while afterwards which is nice (: OH ALSO, WINE! The big comfy book shop serves alcohol! Live music + book shop + cake + red wine = total winner. See you on the 4th!

I really like The Big Comfy Bookshop!…read more It is a quant used book shop that is family owned. The owner spent over a year compiling books to open his shop, and ever since has kept a good variety of books that are unique to customers, or a popular search result of a used book. There is always fresh coffee, tea options, beer and wine, and some sort of snacks like crisps or cake for sale. Seating is available to hang out with friends for a little while or to start tucking into your future purchase. Also I noticed that live folk music nights and game nights regularly occur here too! Great place!

This tiny place is a bit of a hidden gem if you are looking for gift inspiration…read more The entire shop is packed up to the roof with amazingly cheap books starting from £1-£2! Even the hardback books that you would expect to pay more for start at £3-£4. This is an outlet store so don't do expecting the newest releases, but there are some seriously good discounts available for those willing to spend the time looking through the shelves.

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.

WHSmith in Birmingham New Street Station is a fairly strange store down to the construction of New…read moreStreet Station as it basically is two stores in one back to back, mainly down to the ticket gates being past the stores so the store had to compromise through having a larger store and then a small store round of the back. For me this does affect the overall store as the stock is less, the store is more cramped and smaller in both sides as the average travel store would be. I came in here to grab a quick drink to take onto my train, the prices were higher than normal with it down to being a travel store. The manned till was empty and the store was really understaffed which meant a long wait time to redeem and sort out my coupon, which was frustrating as for me a travel store especially should be quick with a staff member on hand to help and there should always be at least one manned till for people who might struggle with one of the two self-service machines or wanting to buy something age restricted such as an energy drink. WHSmith is in pretty much every Railway Station, and although the stock is slight, size, service and overall feel is worse than other travel locations and price is perhaps nearer than nearby locations (remember Grand Central with a Tesco and many other retailers is right above New Street and this store) it still deserves at least two-stars for location and having a satisfactory beverage selection.

This shop is a lifesaver! They carry magazines, paperback books, candy and travel essentials…read more Ladies, this shop seems to be the only place at New Street aside from Boots that sells feminine hygiene products. Boots always seems to have a queue but its really easy to zip in and out of here.

Waterstones on High Street, just outside the Bullring is the largest location of Waterstones I've…read moreseen, this one is in Birmingham city centre. The store has six floors including two cafes and multiple floors with toilets - Click and Collect (online orders) is conveniently on the ground floor in case you're in a hurry and don't want to navigate throughout the whole store, which can be a little awkward as this isn't something you'd expect to do from a book shop. The staff seemed disinterested which is a shame, and not too willing to help and with a book store as big as this one - it is something you'd often need to enhance the experience from book recommendations to finding a book if you already have one in mind - they do have writing on "recommended" books but unlike other stores these are newspaper quotes which every book seems to have which are easily found online or even on the book its-self once you pick it up - I mean come on, are the staff literate with a passion for books and customer service? PERSONALISATION. Other than the size of the store, it doesn't really stand out - the store seems to follow the newer and more modern layout Waterstones are slowly rolling out (sadly this hasn't arrived in my home town of Manchester yet!) 3* based on a great central location in Birmingham and huge size over multiple floors, the layout and slightly cramped nature of the ground floor and disinterested staff really is a shame because without it the store could even warrant a high four-star rating.

This Waterstones is accessible from the High Street and also from the top floor of the Pavillions…read moreshopping mall. This store is large, spacious and airy with a huge selection of books. Anything you can think of you will find and if they dont stock it they will search to see if its at the New Street branch (the other large store) or order it in for you. There is a Costa Coffee on the first floor and the 4th floor has a large floor space dedicated to travel and the world. As you walk across to pay for your purchase you get a nice view of inside the Pavillions and as you take the glass elevator back down you get a whirl wind view of New Street :-)

Now, I am a lover of all things Comic booky, board gamey and generally a bit geektastic (if you…read moredidn't already know that). A trip to Forbidden Planet is a pretty rare occasion for me as I know my wallet will be angry at me every time I even begin to look at the dusty shelves filled with pretties... I popped in yesterday for the first time in a while. I got a £10 gift voucher for my birthday and desperately want a copy of "Takenoko" after playing it for the first time at SciFi Weekender in Wales (it's a board game where you have to grow bamboo - much more fun than it sounds). After the distributor telling me that Forbidden Planet could easily order this in for me, I hastily nipped down on my lunch to enquire about this. Now, service has always been mixed at this branch of Forbidden Planet. The staff are very informed about their products, but sometimes it can seem a little Elitist. The gent which served me yesterday was friendly and helpful, but seemed a little put out that I wanted to order something in and wasn't sure he could. Needless to say, I have given them my details - so will have to update the review later if it can be achieved and the transaction completed. The product range in this store is pretty vast. Stocking everything from themed boardgames (they stock "Adventuretime" Monopoly!) to Graphic Novels and various merch (again, a huge range featuring a selection from "Twilight" to "Minecraft"); you will normally find your particular kink catered too. We are lucky to have Nostalgia and Forbidden Planet in quite close proximity. If you can't find what you are looking for in one, you can always pop down and try the other! This place really is an "Aladdin's Cave" of geeky treasures.

From the moment I queued what seemed like a mile around the corner to meet Amber Benson aka Tara…read morefrom 'Buffy' (yes, this is how positively cool I am), I was in love with Forbidden Planet in Birmingham. A haven for all those grown-up boys and girls who still find pleasure in playing with toys and secretly wish they were superheroes, the store in Birmingham is a little out of the way from the main shopping drag - but that has kept its inherent charm intact. If you fancy checking out the latest comic book issues and memorabilia, this has always been the #1 destination in the city. It's not massive and it feels a bit like a cave in there thanks to the dingy light, but again this helps set the scene for what should be a bit of a secret geek den. The staff are always helpful and clued-in (a must for any place like this, where the customers are sure to come loaded with really specific questions) and, for a pretty small space, there's so much to see and wish you could afford to take home with you that you could spend a good hour in there just having a nose.

This book shop is located on Gosford street as the name would suggest and is in the heart of the…read moreUniversity campus. The shop stocks lots of second hand books. The range of books in there is huge and you can often find that little gem of a book! The books are usually very reasonably priced.

Old fashioned book shop with a wide range of fiction and non-fiction books which specailises in…read morerare/old editions, etc. Great shop although it keeps very odd, inconsistent opening times.

This is a historians dream, stocked wall-to-wall with books and models from every conceivable…read moreperiod in history. That's not to suggest Ian Allan's is stuck in the past, despite its reassuringly retro feel, this place moves with the times, giving prominence to the hottest history at a given moment in time. For instance, Titanic is pretty big in there at the moment. This place gives you total history though. You can not only read an account of the history of the tank on the battle fields, you can also get your history hands dirty and make a model to back things up. This is the place to bring a kid who's just developing historical interests of their own. Talking of kids, my husband drools longingly over the Apollo missions models in the window whenever we walk past this place, but isn't allowed one! Maybe if he's good...how far away is Christmas?

My father would just love this place and I believe good part of boys probably do! I…read more Ian Allan Book and Model Shop is a business for transport enthusiasts and as there are only four shops of this fine publisher in UK, Birmingham is certainly privileged to be in the route of the transporter spotters. Their range of books, magazines and models include publications about trains, buses, ships, lorries and all kind of transport you came across. Even this shop is placed right in the city centre, next to one of the entrances of Birmingham New Street station and other businesses in the area, this bookshop seems to be a bit hidden from the eyes of people who pass by in this area weekly. Even if this shop has its certainly public, you should visit it once to find out that they have really interesting maps and books that can be very useful for the next trip in this country and if you are also interested in History, There are fine publications about Medieval, World Wars and 17th to 20th centuries in this place.