About Brum

This is something I’ve had in my bookmarks for a while waiting for a purpose:

I know this may well have slipped many people by (it almost slipped me by when it was first published) but the BBC ran a feature about a film made to promote Birmingham in the 1970s. Called “Telly Savalas looks at Birmingham”, it was narrated by… Yeah, you’ve guessed it: Telly Savalas (yes, Kojak)… Ironically however, during his narration he refers to several things he’d seen and done in the film – in the first person – when he’d never actually visited Birmingham at all.

It’s a real piece of history now, showing Birmingham as it was – back when the concrete had just set and everything was shiny and new. Of course, it looks a lot different now. The ‘Brummies on film’ article on the BBC Birmingham website has a full rundown of the film, some backstory and (of course) an excerpt from the film itself can be found on the BiNS site – it’s a real eye-opener.

More recently, a new short film was made to celebrate Birmingham and promote its better features for the wider world – sharing some of its locations with the 70s short film. However, it’s much more upbeat, and was shown to property developers in Cannes (apparently) to, I guess, promote spending in the area. As promotional short films go, it’s not bad at all, and the soundtrack (by a local band) is pretty good at that. You can watch the entire thing via the above Brummies on film link.

(Or, alternatively, if you’re after something a little more modern (and a little more humorous), go take a look at this little masterpiece: Birmingham: City Of The Future.)

Two big items of news to cover really: the Town Hall reopening soon, and the company which owns the Mailbox (one of the most recognisable landmarks in Brum centre) has put both the Mailbox and the Cube up for sale.

Obviously nobody told the Mailbox’s developers to hold back on an asking price, because they’ve set the figure at the princely sum of… wait for it… £300 million! From their blog article, it appears that the owners, Birmingham Development Company, are selling up because…

 …[the sale] will allow BDC to focus on new projects both within Birmingham and elsewhere. First and foremost, it will complete the construction of The Cube, The Mailbox final phase which will include a boutique hotel, waterside cafés, rooftop restaurant, designer retail stores, offices and apartments. BDC is also actively looking at a number of new developments to bring forward over the next few years.

Rrrright. Well, their loss, someone else’s gain. Companies like Harvey Nicks and the BBC (who have their regional headquarters in the back half of the building) must’ve been paying a FORTUNE in rent to them!

In other news, the newly-revamped Town Hall is due to reopen soon (October!) and some have already had a chance to see inside (not me, unfortunately, but I’m looking forward to the launch in October). I’ve taken loads of photos of the outside already, it really does look great – restored to how it looked before (literally, just how it looked before) but so much cleaner! It’s taken long enough… The Town Hall will also be run in conjunction with Symphony Hall, which means that there’ll be a much wider ranger of artists and events held there. The URL for the new site isn’t the best though – THSH.co.uk. And as bounder of B:iNS fame ponders, should it be pronounced th-ishh?

More stuff soon! Time to get this site up and running already.