Squares and public spaces
17 Oct 2022 - Elliott Brown
Gallery
Cathedral Square from above: Views from 103 Colmore Row
Key to the City gave you the chance to see Cathedral Square from above, from the 18th floor balcony at 103 Colmore Row, between June and August 2022. From October 2022, you can go up to the 24th floor, at Orelle Restaurant for an even higher view! Best to go during the day, and not at night. Photography by Elliott Brown.
Cathedral Square from above: Views from 103 Colmore Row
Key to the City gave you the chance to see Cathedral Square from above, from the 18th floor balcony at 103 Colmore Row, between June and August 2022. From October 2022, you can go up to the 24th floor, at Orelle Restaurant for an even higher view! Best to go during the day, and not at night. Photography by Elliott Brown.
Key to the City - June to August 2022
View from the 18th floor balcony at 103 Colmore Row
11th June 2022
The first opportunity to see Birmingham Cathedral (The Cathedral Church of St Philip) and Cathedral Square, along with the Colmore BID from this vantage point.
The House of Fraser and 43 Temple Row. Sadly, Lloyds Bank closed down in this building in September 2022. The nearby NatWest branch also closed down at the opposite corner. Horatio Nelson once stayed in a hotel on this site back in 1802, it is marked by a Birmingham Civic Society blue plaque on the former NatWest building (1 St Philip's Place).
The last weekend of Key to the City, so one last opportunity to see Cathedral Square from the 18th floor balcony of 103 Colmore Row. The grass was a bit dry at the time, due to the summer heatwave.
Much higher vantage point here, but as was inside of Orelle Restaurant, there was glass windows in the way, so sometimes a bit of glare from the lights inside and out. This is a month after the death of the late Queen Elizabeth II. And around a month befor the return of the Christmas Market here.
Environment & green action
04 Apr 2022 - Elliott Brown
Inspiration
Blossom Watch from the National Trust on Edgbaston Street and at Cathedral Square
The National Trust has installed benches with blossom trees on Edgbaston Street (near the Bullring Rag and Indoor Market's) and in Cathedral Square. Installed in late March 2022, they are expected to be there for at least 6 weeks. But at the beginning of April 2022, the blossom seems to have finished flowering already. Was a mural but couldn't find it in Cathedral Square.
Blossom Watch from the National Trust on Edgbaston Street and at Cathedral Square
The National Trust has installed benches with blossom trees on Edgbaston Street (near the Bullring Rag and Indoor Market's) and in Cathedral Square. Installed in late March 2022, they are expected to be there for at least 6 weeks. But at the beginning of April 2022, the blossom seems to have finished flowering already. Was a mural but couldn't find it in Cathedral Square.
Edgbaston Street - Bullring Rag and Indoor Market's
A series of pink benches with flower plants and new blossom trees on Edgbaston Street. Where some of the outdoor market traders sometimes set up outside of the Rag Market.
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The blossom trees have been here for a few weeks, and there wasn't much blossom left on them.
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This view below from the bridge on Smallbrook Queensway, looking down Edgbaston Street towards the Rag Market.
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Cathedral Square
In Cathedral Square, there is two paths of benches with the pink benches and flower planters with blossom trees.
The second path of pink benches and blossom trees goes from Birmingham Cathedral towards Colmore Row and Snow Hill Station Square. Daffodil cross and Grand Hotel Birmingham on the left. Even here, the blossom seems to have finished.
If you want to see more blossom, I recommend you head to the suburbs, and check out the roads around the Outer Ring Road, A4040. A mixture of mature and young trees.