Neighbourhood Watch: Brindleyplace

As published on Birmingham Favourites.

With its opulent pillars holding up relatively low office blocks, the canal-side area has had a fantastic transformation in the last couple of decades. This is one area of Birmingham that has not been filled with glass towers.It does have an abundance of eateries and squares so you won’t necessarily notice the eleven office blocks housing the likes of Lloyds Bank, Deloitte, BT, Royal Bank of Scotland and Free Radio and their 8500 employees.Amid the big names such as Costa and Eat that bring comfort to the many tourists, especially due to the Symphony Hall, ICC and NIA located around here, there are some wonderful local businesses too.One of Birmingham’s finest restaurants, Loves, is situated just outside, a pretty canal bridge away on Canal Square. Run by husband and wife, Steve & Claire Love and their excellent team, the place takes you away from the hustle and transports you into a blissful space of amazing food, five-star hospitality and tranquillity, with zero pretentiousness.If you’re after a more casual experience, JusJus is right there too or back into Brindleyplace, try Opus Café on the ground floor of Ikon Gallery. A little sister to the long-established Opus in the Colmore Business District. Another pre-theatre option is Edmunds, situated right in the heart of Brindleyplace and it's just a few minutes’ walk to get you to your performance at ICC, NIA or Symphony Hall or even the nearby Birmingham Rep.Brindleyplace houses the purpose-built Sea Life centre and the wonder that is the Crescent Theatre. This charity venue run partly by volunteers puts on its own productions in the mix and has its very own cinema showing classics.There is decent sized Hilton Garden Inn hotel but there are thousands of beds in hotels nearby as you are just on the edge of the Convention Quarter here.In the summer, take in the outside events including cinema, live music, the Chilli Festival and the food market. There are plenty of places to sit on the grass, along the fountain water feature or underneath the pillared walkways. There are car parks plus convenience stores include Spar, Sainsbury’s and Boots as well as Ethos Flowers for when you’ve forgotten your colleague’s birthday. There really is no excuse!Finally, if you spend a lot of time in the area, it’s worth picking up a free discount card here. The offers varies but there are plenty of options to make it worth adding to the bulge of your loyalty cards in your wallet.By Rickie, founder of Birmingham Favourites who can be reached on @BrumFaves or @RickieWrites or add your comments below.