A Bit more of Brum.

 It looked a bit murky when I poked my head outside this morning but it soon perked up. Our Indian was very good. We seems to have developed a tradition of going to the Baragee restaurant when ever we stop in Birmingham. It is situated on the bridge that can look down to the Worcester Bar or Brindley Place. It is so sad for these places as we were the only ones in the place. There was one takeaway order and three turned up as we left. How do they keep them open! I suppose one crumb of comfort is that the disruption on Broad Street from the running of the tram tracks down it is happening at the same time as the COVID 19 so will not be affected twice.

We were so full that we didn't have breakfast this morning and after a cup of tea went off to do so more Christmas shopping etc.

This is the view of the new building One Chamberlain Square that has been handed over to the new tenant PwC (Price, Waterhouse, Cooper.) to most of us. They have taken on 172000 sq ft of office space over 7 storeys. It is the first building of ten new flagship buildings in the Paradise Enterprise area. There will be more office, leisure and retail space, 2 million sq ft in total. Obviously coming just at the right time to cater for the shortage of office and retail space!!? I hope it all goes well.

This is the inconspicuous entrance to Medicine at the top of New Street. They were queuing to get into Nando's next door, but no queue here. We had been recommended this place by a friend so had booked to give it a try. The building had been erected in 1829 for the use of the Society of Birmingham Artists. The Society had been set up in 1821 and was actually given the title Royal Society in 1868. They left the building in 1950/51 after some sort of dispute with the Society of Arts who they shared the building with. They were back in 1958 and the dispute was sorted and the Artists took over the whole lot with February blocked out doe the Society of Arts.

Once upstairs and seated we were the youngest in there by 30 years. You can see the space was an artists space with the skylights giving plenty of light. It did bill itself as a gallery space too, but there wasn't a picture anywhere. It was started up by a bloke who started a place at Digbeth that helped revitalise that area. That closed and he concentrated on their place in Wolverhampton. Here opened in 2017. It is pricey but the food was really nice and a very special treat. Check it out.

Built at the start of the 20th century on the corner of Bennets Hill and New Street. Above the main entrance is a lion and a griffin supporting the company shield with the motto Service and Security. On the next tow floors are lions heads, floralities, shields etc. And each side of the pediment with the dome behind are two female figures. The one on the left is quite masculine in shape carrying a sword and a shield. On the left is a more feminine figure gathering her skirts with a rich harvest of fruits revealed. These are again said to represent  Service and Security. The figures and decorations are supposed to be by Robert Bridgeman and Sons of Lichfield. The building was for the Lancashire and London Fire Insurance Co.

Piccadilly Arcade further down New Street did not actually start life as such. It was built in 1910 as one of the first purpose built cinemas in Birmingham, and was called The Picture House! It was designed by Nicol and Nicol with fantastic plasterwork. It seated 750 seats in the stalls and a circle and had two cafes, the Wedgewood and the Oak. It closed in 1926 and it was then that it was converted into an arcade. The slope in the arcade is said to be the slope of the seating down to the screen. There are painted murals on the ceilings.

Old photographs of this building show that it wasn't as clean as this, being cleaned recently. The block was built towards the end of the 1800's. Where Starbucks is now was once H.R. Pope Ltd, and gave its name to Pope's Corner. They were stationers, printers, sellers of office furniture, typewriters etc, and were long time agents of many well known fountain pens. 

The very futuristic new frontage of New Street Station and Grand Central Shopping. There are some nice shops that we don't have at home so Helen was able to indulge herself.

The Bull outside the Bull Ring was installed just before the opening of the new shopping centre in 2003. It was created by Laurence Broderick and is twice the size of a live bull and weighs 6 tonnes, made of bronze. It is said to be one of the ten best pieces of public art in the world! Today it dressed for Breast Awareness week it seems. We were here to meet an old scout friend and his wife that we look up each time we are in the city. We had a good natter to catch up and after saying goodbye headed back to the boat.