Distance - 4.5 Miles
Walk Inspiration - AZ Birmingham Hidden Walks - Walk 1 and 2
Pubs - 2, Good Beer Guide Tick #770
Continued rail strikes and an appalling service from Avanti West Coast has rendered getting to the Smoke a near impossibility in 2022.
Time to take my urban exploring elsewhere and closer to home. A wonderful new series of City walking books from AZ will provide the inspiration for a Birmingham City Centre Walk. The guides do a great job of highlighting quirky facts that are hidden in plain sight.
St Chads tram stop is the best place for Snow Hill and in no time, I am looking in the Cathedral grounds for the grave of a 33" woman. How do you spend your weekends?
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| Into the Xmas Markets at Birmingham Cathedral |
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| Nanette Stocker - 33" Freak Show exhibit d.1819 |
A mixture of Xmas markets and bad planning on my part thwarts my next curiosity items. The paw print at the foot of Queen Victoria's Statue is inaccessible - surrounded by wooden shacks selling mulled wines and bratwursts. The library does not open till 11am, so level 7's secret garden and the Shakespeare room will need to wait for another visit.
Down to Gas Street Basin for possibly the finest view in the City. I learn about the Worcester Bar and how an act of parliament forced two rival canal companies to join the network together.
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| Canal Street Basin |
Back to more cultural observations.... I pass under the Black Sabbath Bridge, and after a successful (first ever) transit of New Street Station, find the dilapidated Crown. Seemingly closed for as long as I can remember, this is the music venue that Black Sabbath made their live debut in 1968. Fittingly, it's rumoured to be coming back to live as a arts and music venue.
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| Black Sabbath Bridge from Below |
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| The Crown, where Ozzies presence is still felt |
The rag market, bull ring and a circuit of the law courts bring me to the planned refreshment stops.
The North Brewing Company are bucking the hospitality trend of mass closures by opening more venues. Birmingham Snow Hill didnt last long as their newest outlet. A mere three months later and Manchester is getting one in Jan 23.
Tucked just around the corner from Colmore Row, it occupies the ground floor of a glass and steel office complex. Plenty of outside seating for when the temperatures get above zero and inside, its the usual craft beer modus operandi of rows and rows of high bench seating.
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| North Bar, Snow Hill |
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| Stools aplenty |
An electronic board details their wares, and ordering is akin to staring at the the board in a chipper, cricked neck, working out what to select. Alas, there is no default fish and chips to fall back on. The stout has coconut in it.The kegs are collaborations which sound like the current top 20 - "David Guetta featuring bebe rexha" kind of vibe.
I settle on (the only?) cask North X Five Points English IPA.
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| North Bar |
Almost certainly a pre-emptive tick. A shoe-in for the 2024 Good Beer Guide.
The current GBG has a couple of new entries for me to track down and nearby, in the very pretty Great Western Arcade, is the Good Intent. My second Craddocks GBG Tick in a week but very different to the Droitwich's Talbot.
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| Festive Birmingham Brewing Company Brummie Gold |
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| The Good Intent |
It's a gorgeous little place, with an interesting business model. All profits donated to local charities.
Just dont have too many.... its 3 near neighbour shops are a specialist craft beer, a fine wine and a whisky outlet.
Trust me, it's easy to get carried away. But our Xmas will only be enhanced by inviting along Deya, Pol Roger and Yamazaki.
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