mjmooney Posted December 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 13, 2012 Never been to the Jewellery Quarter. There's a similar situation here in Leeds, where they tried to regenerate the river/canalside area. They put the Royal Armouries Museum there - and it's very good - and chucked in some yuppie flats and restaurants, but it just refuses to "take off". It's partly the whole recession thing, but also because it's just a bit far to walk from the city centre. Disconnection. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 St Pauls square (Jewellery Quarter) is lovely, a real gem in central Birmingham that not many people visit because it was cut off by the inner ring road/Queensway in the sixties. The council are doing their best to include it back in the city though, the Metro extension is another welcome thing to work towards this. Leeds is another place I should know more about really, after Birmingham and London it is the city I have visited most in this country (although it is in third place by quite a distance) and I have probably been there on ten separate occasions this year including several overnight stays but I havent spent a second of that in the city centre! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted December 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 13, 2012 Where were you staying, Rev? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted December 13, 2012 Author Share Posted December 13, 2012 (edited) Chapel Allerton Moortown/Roundhay. Really nice area actually. Edited December 14, 2012 by The_Rev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted December 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 13, 2012 Chapel Allerton/ Roundhay. Really nice area actually. Gotcha. Yeah, it's quite pleasant around there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted December 13, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 13, 2012 I can confirm that both the JQ and the Armouries/canalside in Leeds are lovely areas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itdoesntmatterwhatthissay Posted December 13, 2012 Share Posted December 13, 2012 You need an account to read that article unless I am missing something. As for the lack of green? Well, you may have noticed that it is currently December. There isnt much green anywhere in December! It does look a bit grey at the moment, but once leaves start to appear on the trees it will look much better. It will look even better in a few years when the trees have grown from saplings into full sized trees too. I think this is definitely why the council have decided to go with a 'soft launch' and just leave it there for people to discover for the time being, though I would hope they have a few big events on there next summer to put it firmly on the map. The Metro is an oddity, I've been in and out of Snow Hill station several times a week for more than ten years so it's always been there in my mind even though I have had no real cause to ever use it (I live east of Birmingham and even though I have worked in Brum for ages it has only ever been in the city centre or Tyseley so the Metro doesnt serve my needs) but I do wonder how many people it does serve reject it because it's just not a visible presence in the city centre. So many more people will see it when it goes down Corporation Street that it should become a thing that isnt just stored at the back of a lot of peoples minds. It might put the Jewellery Quarter back into the city centre for a lot of people too, the JQ is lovely but so few people ever go there it is a hell of a shame. My thoughts exactly, if you look at Digbeth its a bit forlorn, whereas the JQ is doing well to sustain interest, a better transportation model would see it part of a better plan and I think it would work well, it would also attract interest from other places such as Walsall and Wolverhampton...we might even have a night line one day! Hopefully manufacturing in Wolves will improve use. What I do like about the Metro is the potential for future renewable power sources, cheap to run might mean cheap to use....might... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted February 18, 2013 Author Share Posted February 18, 2013 After driving past it another fifty times since I last posted in this thread, I made it into the park today. Took the family to the Thinktank (always excellent, I have to add) and I have to say they have done a really good job with the place. It looks beautiful even in February and half finished. There is a lot of greenery on the Meriden St side of the park and a huge plaza in the middle which looks like it is going to attract a ton of skateboarders. There are a hundred nice places to sit and you get some real nice views of the city skyline and Curzon Street from anywhere in the park. At the Millennium Point end there are two gardens, one is open to the public and one is part of the Thinktank which you will need a ticket to get into. They are both amazing, the Thinktank garden has an absolute ton of hands on science stuff in it like giant hamster wheels, winches and pulleys, water experiments and a rather cool solar panel which powers a big machine. The other garden is more of a soft outdoor play area, no swings or slides but plenty of room to run about and some more science based toy type things. My 18 month old thought he had died and gone to heaven when he set foot in the place. I've never seen a kid so happy to be outdoors on a February afternoon in Birmingham. I highly recommend checking it out. It's nice now, it will be gorgeous in the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted February 19, 2013 Share Posted February 19, 2013 Didn't even know it existed. Thanks for giving us the review & the pics Rev Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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