Birmingham once renowned for it's 60's style concrete fashion has transformed it self in to one of the best cities in the UK today.

The Bullring was the jewel in the crown for early 60's Birmingham but by the 1990's it was looking old and somewhat a eye sore on the surroundings. But the year of 2003 saw the opening of the new Bullring or "Europe's new shopping capitol" as it promotes it self. The Bullring is a marvel of glass and design, it covers 3 levels all covered by a wonderous glass ceiling that you can't but help stop and stare at, inside of this enormous construction are 2 large department stores, On the East side you have the very swankey Selfridges&co store which is festooned with 15,000 aluminum disc's on the outside in a sexy curvey kind of shape, on the other side is Debenhams which have taken a very straight line minamilist apporach - both very impressive respectivley. In between these two giant of stores you have a further 140 stores all large in size for a shopping mall. H&M and NEXT both have stores that cover all 3 levels of the Bullring - thats what is so suprising and when you realise the sheer scale of this new shopping area. Gone are the small pokey stores that sell a selection of their products that you ususally get within a shopping mall and hail the large superstores that seem to be present in the Bullring. You have one of the first Dixons XL in the UK a huge 2 level Dixons store selling everything you could imagine, then you have the 2 level Topman/Topshop store which also offer their boutique collection which is not offered in every store, they also have a bar area which is perfect to chill out in whilst your partner is trying on all the clothes from the vast array of rails. For all the people who are loyal fans of sport wear you are also treated to a superb NIKE store plus many other sporting retailers such as: all:sports, soccer Sports, JD Sports and so on. And for all the female fashion concious (thats about 99.9% of the UK female population) you can indulge in stores such as: Karen Millen, Oasis, Warehouse, Mango, All saints, Mikey, Miss Sixty, Dune, Faith, Monsoon and hundreds more. For the men there is FCUK, Bank, Republic, Life, Billabong and lots more.

All in all the Bullring has pumped excitment back in to Birmingham, and with over 30 million visitors that passed through the doors in it's first year proves it has the hearts of shoppers. But Birmingham does not end there, venture outside of the bullring and you will find boutique stores in the Mailbox such as Armani, DKNY, Hugo Boss and a very lovely if somewhat small harvey Nichols. Take a trip to Brindley Place it has a great buzz about the place and is a must to see, we suggest you sit down and grab a drink whilst overlooking the refurbished cannels. And Birminghams proof that it is turning in to a cosmopolitan city with a new following of fashion concious people is the arrival of stores such as the very first stand alone store in England out side of London of Louis Vuitton located on Temple Street. Urban Outfitters have also taken a space on Birmingham's New Street which is due to open early nexy year plus other companies are all looking for prime retail space within Birmingham.

SO You want to Visit - Where to Stay?
For a touch of class and sophistication we suggest the mal maison in the mailBox - located right in the heart of the City its in a great location for you to walk to the shops and all the attractions. Prices start from around £99 per room per night.
Or the Days Inn also located in the mail Box offers the budget traveler accommodation from £59 per night and the rooms are a very good standard.
Other Hotels to try which are all in great locations are: Travel Inn, Burlington Hotel, City inn and the Hyatt.

THINGS TO LOOK OUT FOR
Every year Birmingham plays host to the German Christmas markets which begin around the middle of Novmber time. Starting off at New Street they stretch up to Victoria Sqaure, Each year it becomes larger and is very popular. You can get lots of weird and wonderful things - we love the sugar coated cashew nuts. Yummy!