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.
By Only Birmingham Editorial
Kings Heath is four miles south of the city centre on the Alcester Road, B14, just past Moseley, and it is all about the High Street: a long, busy run of independent bakers and butchers, cafes, charity shops and pubs, with a square at the top for the monthly farmers' market. Add a park with a horticultural school, a pub where UB40 played their first gig, a bookshop worth the trip, and a railway station that reopened this spring. This is the south side's everyday high street, and it is a good one.
A short history
For a long time this was mostly heath, as the name says. A village grew up in the 18th century once road improvements linked Alcester and Birmingham, and the High Street followed. About 18,868 people live here. The area's most dramatic recent day was 28 July 2005, when a tornado tore through, damaging All Saints' Church and several shops on the High Street. The churchyard was later redeveloped into All Saints Square, which is now the village's meeting point.
The High Street
The High Street and the Alcester Road are where everything happens. It is a mix: the chains you need, and among them the independent bakeries, butchers, cafes and charity shops that make Kings Heath feel like a proper town centre rather than a retail park. Walk the full length from All Saints Square southwards and you will have done most of the shopping in the south of the city. Do it on a Saturday, when it is at its liveliest.
The Hare and Hounds
The Hare and Hounds on the High Street is a pub with history in its walls. It was rebuilt in 1907, is Grade II listed, and on 9 February 1979 it hosted UB40's first ever concert, which is marked with a PRS for Music plaque. It is still a music pub first, with a busy What's On list. Check it before you go; the good nights sell out.
The Heath Bookshop
Also on the High Street, in Kings Court, is The Heath Bookshop, which opened in September 2022 and has made itself part of the village quickly. It sells new books and audiobooks, does book subscriptions and gift vouchers, and serves hot and cold drinks so you can sit and read. There are author events, a book club and an Album Club, and each April it puts on a Literature and Music Festival.
Kings Heath Farmers' Market
On the first Saturday of every month, from 9am to 2pm, the Village Square at the top of the High Street hosts Kings Heath Farmers' Market. The Kings Heath Business Association started it in May 2006, and by its tenth anniversary it had over 25 stallholders a month. Money raised has gone to the All Saints Centre. Expect bread, cakes, eggs, cheese, fruit and veg from local producers. Then head to Moseley on the last Saturday of the month for its market, and you have two markets a month a short hop apart.
Kings Heath Park
Off the High Street, Kings Heath Park is the green lung of the area. At its centre is a house built in 1832 for the MP William Congreve Russell, later bought by the Cartland family in 1880. In 1908 the Priory Trust sold the house and half the land to the local council, which opened it as a public park. Since 1953 the house has been a horticultural training school, which is why the borders are so good, and the park was once the setting for the ATV series Gardening Today. It has Green Flag status, a Victorian style tea room, and hosts the Royal Horticultural Society's annual Gardeners' Weekend show. Bring a flask and walk the gardens.
Highbury Park
To the north, between Kings Heath and Moseley, is Highbury Park, which Joseph Chamberlain left to the people of Birmingham in his will. His house, Highbury Hall, is on its northern edge, and the park opened to the public in 1930. It is the obvious Sunday walk.
Getting there
- Train: the Camp Hill line reopened to passengers on 7 April 2026 with a new Kings Heath station, plus Pineapple Road and Moseley Village. Trains run twice an hour each way between Kings Norton and Birmingham New Street.
- Bus: regular buses run out from the city centre along the Alcester Road corridor.
- Walk: Moseley Village is just to the north, so it is easy to do both.
Living here
Kings Heath is the practical one of the southern suburbs: you can do a full weekly shop on the High Street, walk to two parks, and now get a train into town. It has the busier feel of a small town rather than the leafy hush of Moseley, and that is the point. It is the sort of place that people describe as a village, and mean it.
Our advice
Come on the first Saturday of the month. Market on the square, the High Street for bread and a browse in the bookshop, Kings Heath Park in the afternoon, then the Hare and Hounds for whatever is on that night. That is the full Kings Heath, and it is hard to beat.
