What Birmingham city centre will look like when office workers return in June
| Published date | 07 March 2021 |
| Date | 07 March 2021 |
| Publication title | Birmingham Mail: Web Edition Articles (England) |
What will Birmingham look like on this auspicious day -especially to anyone who hasn't been into town since before the first national lockdown on March 23, 2020
Gazing into our crystal ball, we can see clearly how Birmingham will seem like a city reborn just at the time when the country will be trying to come out of hibernation once and for all.
As Boris Johnson put it during his on February 22: "The crocus of hope is poking through the frost... Spring is coming."
Hopefully the weather will be as good as it famously was in Spring 2020 to encourage more social distancing opportunities.
And for office workers to enjoy getting back together outdoors in leading hospitality areas like Brindleyplace, Broad Street, Paradise and Southside -even if it means putting a coat on in some of the windier spots.
As for shoppers, will they still be coming out in force if High Street names like Dorothy Perkins, Wallis, Burton, Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and Debenhams in the Bullring all join Grand Central's John Lewis and Bullring's Gap and Forever 21 in the history books
Or will the likes of the world's biggest Primark, the Bullring's Selfridges and perhaps a revived M&S still help to pull in the crowds
Colmore Row
Threre's an old saying about streets 'being paved with gold' -and since early September the start of Colmore Row has been undergoing a £10 million facelift to its public realm with that in mind.
As the city aims to recover from more than a year of economic disruption, commuters returning to the city via Snow Hill Station in June will find the first phase of a new golden pavement has arrived ready to put a spring in their steps.
The multi-coloured, granite-style paving is of a far higher standard than what was there before -there will be no flagstones tipping water into your shoes here!
And so, if first impressions count, then this work should help to send spirits soaring -especially when people then go on to see similar massive public realm improvements to the top of New Street and all around Paradise, with Broad Street's on-going paving work looking swish by June, too.
Preparatory work in Colmore Row began just before the first lockdown almost a year ago when the business district's gateway central reservation Columbia Plane tree was cut down on March 18, 2020.
The pavement outside of the shops either side of the entrance to the Great Western Arcade's array of brilliant independent shops is being completely transformed.
It is still surrounded by barriers, but the work at this end of town will hopefully encourage everyone to be suited and booted in June.
Grand Hotel
Just up the road, and opposite Birmingham Cathedral, which has seen everything for more than 300 years, the Grand Hotel should have come back to life by June 21.
The 1834 Birmingham Town Hall had been closed for a decade when it reopened in 2007 after £35 million worth of restoration work.
Similarly, work to conserve, protect and rebuild the Grand Hotel from the inside out has also taken far longer than expected but it's another irreplaceable building the city could not afford to lose at any price.
When work began in October 2012, the target date for reopening was spring 2014 with preservation of the facade projected to be £2.5 million.
Eight-and-half years later, the total £45 million restoration will deliver 185 rooms and suites with a fascinating mix of French Renaissance, Victorian and Art Deco features all combining to show off a building with 142 years of history.
The builders who have been working on it will tell you how magnificent everything now looks on the inside as well as outside where the facade has always been one of the city's greatest features, especially when it both soaks up and reflects the morning sunshine.
Visitors' jaws will drop when they see the ballroom.
Given that the hotel has been closed for the best part of two decades since 2002, if you are under 40 you've probably never been inside it all -but prepare to be amazed by a building now being so splendidly reborn after it originally opened on February 1, 1879.
Symphony...
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