Birmingham Shopping Centers and Markets

Birmingham Shopping Centers and markets.

Bull Ring

The Bull Ring is a major commercial area of Birmingham, England. It has been an important feature of Birmingham since the Middle Ages, when its market was first held. It has been developed into a shopping centre twice; first in the 1960s, and then in the 2000s. The site is located on the edge of the sandstone city ridge which results in the steep gradient towards Digbeth. The slope drops approximately 15 metres (49.2 ft) from New Street to St Martin’s Church.

The current shopping centre is the busiest in the United Kingdom with 36.5 million visitors in 2004, and is also the twelfth largest. It houses one of only four Selfridges department stores and the largest Debenhams outside of London. Consequently, the centre has been a huge success, attracting custom from all over the world, including New York. The Bull Ring project was a major step in the Redevelopment of Birmingham.

Birmingham Bull Ring Shopping Center

Merry Hill Shopping Center

The Black Country Merry Hill Shopping Center

Birmingham City Centre Skyline the movie

History of Bull Ring

The market legally began in 1154 when Peter de Bermingham, a local landowner, obtained a Charter of Marketing Rights from King Henry II.[6] Initially, a textile trade began developing in the area and it was first mentioned in 1232 in a document, in which one merchant is described as a business partner to William de Bermingham and being in the ownership of four weavers, a smith, a tailor and a purveyor. Seven years later, another document described another mercer in the area. Within the next ten years, the area developed into a leading market town and a major cloth trade was established.

The name, Mercer Street, is first mentioned in the Survey of Birmingham of 1553. This was a result of the prominence of the area in the cloth trade. In the 1500s and 1600s, Mercer Street rapidly developed and became cramped. Mercer Street had become known as Spicer Street in the early 1700s and by the end of the century, had developed into Spiceal Street. The result of this name was due to the growing grocery and meat trade on the street which had begun to take over the cloth trade. Despite being overcrowded and cramped, many houses on the street had gardens as indicated by an advertisement for a residential property in 1798. Houses were constructed close to St Martin’s Church, eventually encircling it. These became known as the Roundabout Houses.

On a map produced by Westley in 1731, other markets had developed nearby including food, cattle and corn markets with other markets located nearby on the High Street. This cornmarket was moved to the Corn Exchange on Carrs Lane in 1848. The Bull Ring developed into the main retail market area for Birmingham as the town grew into a modern industrial city.

The earliest known building for public meetings in the town which has any architectural record is the High Cross which stood within the Bull Ring. The last known construction work completed to it was in 1703 before being demolished in 1784. It was also known as the Old Cross as to disassociate itself from the Welch Cross. As well as this, it was also nicknamed the Butter Cross due to the farmwives selling dairy produce beneath the arches to the building.

A series of events in Birmingham’s political history saw the area become a popular meeting place for demonstrations and speeches from leaders of working class movements during the 1830s and 1840s. In 1839, the Bull Ring became the location of the Bull Ring Riots which resulted in widespread vandalism and destruction of property. It prompted fears amongst the town’s residents at the council’s inability to prevent or control the riots and led to speculation that the council were tolerant of lawlessness. The area, along with Smithfield and Digbeth, became the only place where fairs in the centre of Birmingham could be held in 1861 due to disorderly behaviour witnessed at the fairs. In 1875, all fairs were banned from the town. The area around the market site developed and by the Victorian era, a large number of shops were operating there. Immigrants set up businesses such as flower-sellers and umbrella vendors. The Lord Nelson statue became the location for preaching and political protests. Well known preachers of the time were nicknamed Holy Joe and Jimmy Jesus.

Markets in Bull Ring

In the late 1700s, street commissioners were authorised to buy and demolish houses in the town centre including houses surrounding the Bull Ring and centre all market activity in the area. This was a result of new markets being established across the city in scattered locations creating severe congestion. Demolition of these properties began slowly however after the Act of 1801, the speed of demolition increased and by 1810, all properties in the area had been cleared as according to the 1810 Map of Birmingham by Kempson. During the clearance, small streets such as The Shambles, Cock (or Well) Street and Corn Cheaping, which had existed before the Bull Ring, were removed. The Shambles was originally a row of butcher’s stores, situated close to the road leading from the location where bulls were slaughtered.

There was a wide area fronting St Martin’s Church and this was used as the market place for markets. It was decided by the Street Commissioners that a sheltered market hall was needed. They bought the market rights from the lord of the manor and by 1832, all properties on site had been purchased, with exception of two, the owners of which demanding a higher price. To fund the purchase of these properties, two buildings were constructed either side of the market hall and the leases sold at auction. Construction of the Market Hall, designed by Charles Edge (an architect of Birmingham Town Hall), began in February 1833. It was completed by Dewsbury and Walthews at a cost of £20,000 (£44,800 if the price of acquiring the land is included) and opened in February 12, 1835 and contained 600 market stalls. The building was grand and the façade consisted of stone mined from Bath in Somerset. Two grand Doric columns were used supports for both wide entrances. At the end of the market day, metal gates were pulled in front of the entrances.

In the centre of the 365-foot (111 m) long, 180-foot (55 m) wide and 60-foot (18 m) tall hall was an ornate bronze fountain, given by the Street Commissioners upon their retirement in 1851. The base was made from Yorkshire sandstone and was 460 cm in diameter. It was in the form of a Greek tazza and cost £900. On the inside of the bowl were eight lions’ heads from which water was ejected. The entire fountain was 640 cm tall and in the centre was a 150 cm tall statue called the Messenger and Sons. The statue consisted of four children representative of each of Birmingham’s main four industries; gun making, glass-blowing, bronzing and engineering. The fountain was inaugurated by the Chairman of the Market Committee, John Cadbury on December 24, 1851. The fountain was removed in 1880 with the intention of re-erecting it in Highgate Park later that year but this did not happen and it was destroyed in 1923.

Gas lighting was introduced to the building which extended the business hours for the market. Installations to the market hall included a clock crafted by William Potts and Sons of Leeds which consisted of figures of Guy, Earl of Warwick, the Countess, a retainer and a Saracen. It was moved from the Imperial Arcade at Dale End to the market hall in 1936 however this was destroyed, along with the rest of the Market Hall, on August 25, 1940 by an incendiary attack. Enquiries into the market hall found that pickpocketing was commonplace in the building.

In 1869, the fish market was completed on the site of the Nelson Hotel (formerly the Dog Inn). The Dog Inn was located at the top end of Spiceal Street and the land above was owned by the Cowper family. The fish market was built upon Cowper Street, which was named after the Cowper family, on Summer Lane. In 1884, a sheltered vegetable market in Jamaica Row was also completed.

The trade of horses prospered in the area with over 3,000 horses for sale at its peak during the 1880s. However this fell into rapid decline with the last horse trading fair taking place in 1911 with only eleven horses and one donkey in attendance.

A large amount of the area survived World War II, however, nearby New Street was heavily bombed. Shops sold tax-free products to encourage shoppers to buy them as it was difficult for the public to buy goods even a decade after the end of the war. Woolworths set up on Spiceal Street in the Bull Ring and became a popular shop, becoming the largest store on the street. The old Market Hall remained as an empty shell and was used for small exhibitions and open markets. No repair work was conducted on the building and the arches which housed the windows were bricked up.

read more