Birmingham Entertainment Guide

With its reputation as a cosmopolitan haven, it’s hardly surprising that Birmingham offers a very wide and fairly comprehensive range of eateries to the traveller. There are smart restaurants, fast-food joints and pubs scattered across the city, where you can find virtually any type of food- and to suit any budget!

Brindley Place, at the Water’s Edge, is one of the best localities to go to if you’re looking for choices to eat out- there are lots of restaurants and pubs in the area. Alternatively, for those interested in international cuisine, Chinatown is great for oriental food, and the `Balti Mile’, close to the center of the city, is good for Kashmiri-Balti cuisine: it has more than 40 Balti restaurants spread over about one mile- which surely must be some sort of record!

Birmingham is one of England’s most lively places- with a lot of cultural activity and recreational facilities that can keep most tourists quite occupied for the time they spend in the city. Probably the most popular- both with visitors and locals- are Birmingham’s many bars, pubs, discos and dance clubs, which offer good- and often excellent- music and entertainment (the most well known clubs and discos include Ronnie Scott’s, Bakers and Branston’s, and Bobby Brown’s).

For the more culturally-inclined, there are lots of entertainment options, including theatre and music, with venues like the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, the Alexandra Theatre and the Arena Theatre holding performance virtually 365 days a year- keep an eye on local dailies for listings. The National Indoor Arena and the NEC (National exhibition Centre) hold rock and pop concerts, and there are regular ballet, opera and classical music concerts too. The Birmingham Orchestra and the Birmingham Royal ballet are justly renowned, so if you’re keen on ballet or classical music, try and get a ticket to a performance.