Two hours in Birmingham on a Sunday afternoon. What would you do?

[Opihr]

Going tomorrow. A friend and I have a couple of hours to amuse ourselves. Arriving on the train. Don’t want to go shopping.

Any ideas?

I'd agree, I lived in Birmingham for years. Still fairly local, but tend not to visit town now as it just feels soulless. Aside from going to gigs at the NIA I don't really enjoy it there at all 😔

I would walk to Victoria Square and see the Floozy and the Iron Man and the town hall.
Walk across and go into the ICC and have a look at Symphony Hall if there’s not a concert on.
You will walk past the library on the way but it’s closed on Sunday.
Leave the ICC onto Brindley Place - walk through and see the cherry blossoms by the Ikon gallery.
Pop into the Ikon and ride up and down in the lift 😜.
Head back towards the station - have a glass of wine in Vagabonds or a chai latte in Damascena or a drink in the Old Joint Stock (lovely building).
Have a quick stop to pay your respects to Nanetta - the smallest woman in the kingdom (grave is outside the front door of St Phillip’s cathedral).

I would hold my nose (bins over-flowing) 🙊

I love Birmingham. I'm sad for you that the library is closed. It's beautiful, particularly the Shakespeare room.

Wandering around the canals will be an easy way to fill 2 hours. I highly recommend Medicine for a coffee and cake.

We were in Edinburgh during the bin strikes a couple of summers ago and my god it was awful. Mountains of rubbish and the smell! Tourists were taking photos, it was a sight to see. Hopefully it’s not like this in Birmingham town centre as we’re there next weekend.

Ikon Gallery (free entry)

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (free entry)

Coffin Works (admission fee but the guided tour is brilliant)

Lunch in Chinatown. If you don't want a sit down meal, go to one of the chinese bakeries to pick up some treats!

Ignore the talk about overflowing bins - the city centre is unaffected by the strikes. Council seem to be prioritising keeping the city centre clear.

The centre is absolutely fine

Totally fine to have that opinion, but the OP has been given plenty of good ideas to spend a happy couple of hours there.

It's not.

Defo walk along the canal, pop into the Gin Vault if it’s still there! Shame it’s a Sunday and the Library is closed, it’s brilliant.
Alternatively, the cathedral and cathedral gardens are lovely and there’s loads of places around the square and along Colmore Row to eat/grab a drink. I really enjoy just wandering around in Birmingham when it’s sunny

I'm glad they have, and it's always interesting to see the suggestions when these kind of threads pop up. I'd never normally comment negatively but definitely see where that poster was coming from. Everywhere can't be everyone's cup of tea though I suppose!

These are fun to do

https://www.treasuretrails.co.uk/pages/trail-search?location=Birmingham

Rude!

Leave!

Just kidding, I love Birmingham. Highlights for me are the proper Indian restaurants (seriously good food near Ladypool road), Brindley place, and Birmingham museum. Really interesting exhibitions there. I do like shopping there too.

I have actually, quite a few times. All of which involved hanging around for several hours while dc did their activity.

Anyway, it was just a joke. I'd say the same if someone had two hours to kill in my home town of a Sunday afternoon.

Treasure Trails or a Mystery Guide.

This! Awful situation here at the moment. 🐀

Not in the centre though, to be fair!

I’d go brindle place or think tank.
From Birmingham and agree it is a shithole these days. Centre not so much, outskirts avoid.

Apologies for the hijack, but could anyone recommend an antique jewellers in Birmingham please? When I search online it’s full of promoted ads for places that are nowhere near Birmingham.

Crawling with rats ??? Where on earth have you seen this yes the bins haven’t been emptied in some areas but it’s hardly crawling with rats and especially not in the city centre when I was there yesterday! Ignore OP

Jewellery Quarter is your best bet. Go in person rather than trying to look online as the shops are all small independent places that won't necessarily have websites.

the city centre is not crawling with rats ffs.

Yeah, this is why I’m struggling online. I’ll be visiting Birmingham in a month or two, so can have a wander around. But I’d appreciate if people had recommendations also.

I don't have any specific recommendations for antiques I'm afraid but the JQ is nice for an explore and there is a lot of variety in the different shops. There are some nice cafes/restaurants in the area too so you can make a lovely half day of it.