Ikon Gallery in Brindleyplace: free entry, Tuesday to Sunday
Free, in a Victorian school on Oozells Square, B1, and shut on Mondays: how to do Ikon Gallery properly.
Drink
Pubs, taprooms, cocktail bars and late spots, and which ones still have the tiles.
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The Wellington on Bennetts Hill: what to order and when to go
A real ale institution at the top of Bennetts Hill, open 10am to midnight daily, with no kitchen and a very good roof terrace.
The best wine bars in Birmingham
A wine shop in the Great Western Arcade with a tasting room downstairs, self-pour machines on Colmore Row, natural bottles on York Road in Kings Heath and a cellar in an old eye hospital on Church Street. Where to drink wine in Birmingham.
Birmingham's Victorian pubs, tiles and all
Minton tiles, snob screens, terracotta and copper ceilings. Birmingham built some of the finest pubs in the country around 1900, and a good number still pour a pint. Where to find them, from Curzon Street to Stirchley.
The Cut
Canals, towpaths, walks and the waterside: 35 miles of it, more than Venice.
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Edgbaston Reservoir walk: the loop, the clubs and where to eat
A flat loop of about 1.75 miles round Telford's 1827 reservoir in Ladywood, with sailing, rowing and a no-nonsense café just outside the gates.
Gas Street Basin and Brindleyplace: a guide
Where the Birmingham Canal meets the Worcester and Birmingham, with the Mailbox on one side and 17 acres of Brindleyplace on the other. A short history, the free gallery in an old school, and a bench with Ozzy on it.
Christmas in Birmingham 2026: the market, the rink, panto and carols
The Frankfurt market on Victoria Square and New Street from Thursday 5 November, skating under the big wheel in Centenary Square, Rylan and Matt Slack in the Hippodrome panto and a CBSO Christmas Party at Symphony Hall. Your Birmingham Christmas, with dates.
Live music venues in Birmingham, from the arena to the back room
An arena for 15,800, a 2,262-seat concert hall the Queen opened, the Town Hall where Elijah had its premiere and the Kings Heath pub where UB40 played their first gig. Birmingham's live music venues, biggest to smallest.
Eight corners, one city
B1 · B5 · B9 · B13 · B18Where we’d go
The directory →
Opheem
Jewellery Quarter · B3The Wellington
Colmore Business District · B2
Museum of the Jewellery Quarter
Jewellery Quarter · B18
The Craven Arms
City Centre · B1
Ikon Gallery
Brindleyplace · B1
The Old Joint Stock
Colmore Business District · B2More from Brum
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Where to stay in Birmingham: hotels by neighbourhood
Colmore Row for Victorian grandeur, the Mailbox for the cut, the Rotunda for the view and Edgbaston for a quiet night with a pub downstairs. Where to stay in Birmingham, street by street.
The best rooftop bars in Birmingham
A cocktail bar 24 storeys up on Colmore Row, real ale under a retractable roof on Bennett's Hill, a first-come terrace on Great Hampton Street and a fourth-floor bar on Broad Street. Where to drink above Birmingham, and how to get a seat.
Moseley: a guide
Three miles south of the city on the Alcester Road: a Victorian village, a farmers' market on the last Saturday of the month, the bog that inspired Tolkien and a park that turns into a festival every summer. How to spend a day in Moseley.
Kings Heath: a guide
Four miles south on the Alcester Road: a long High Street of bakers, butchers and cafes, the pub where UB40 played their first gig, an independent bookshop, a park with a horticultural school and a farmers' market on the first Saturday of the month.
The Jewellery Quarter: a guide
Around 700 jewellery businesses in 264 acres of B18 and B3, and still about 40% of the UK's jewellery. Where to buy a ring, three museums that are factories frozen in time, two Victorian cemeteries and a Georgian square.
Independent shops in Birmingham
A route through Birmingham's best independent shopping: the Victorian Great Western Arcade, jewellers in the Quarter, vintage in the Rag Market and Red Brick Market, a bookshop in Kings Heath and the independents of Stirchley.
Your Birmingham weekend, planned.
One email every Thursday evening: where to eat, drink and go this weekend in Birmingham. Free. Leave any time.