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. Two shopping centres have been built in the area; in the 1960s, and then in 2003; the latter is styled as one word, Bullring.

NOT A GREAT EXPERIENCE

The Bullring attracts thousands of visitors each year so as I live in the Midlands I decided to go along yesterday and see what it has to offer for myself. It was a bank holiday so we had to queue to park and in retrospect possibly not the best day to go as when we got inside it was packed with people.

It is an indoor/outdoor shopping mall with Selfridges, the London department store at one end and in contrast the not so posh Debenhams at the other. Aside from the usual suspects that make up the British highstreet I didn’t really notice anything new in terms of fashion offerings.

Adjacent to the mall accessed via a covered walkway we checked out an enormous TK Maxx in search of a bargain and something a bit different or unique. Unfortunately even though there was loads of stock it was average and uninspiring for the fashionista on a budget, even the Gold Label collection, the high end couture, seemed several seasons old and very expensive.

They do boast a large Zara, next door to the Australian urban outfitter Hollister but it didn’t live up to the brand when it came to presentation. The store was untidy, overstocked and very disorganised; not a great experience.

We stayed for less than 2 hours. Thought the parking was quite expensive at £4.00 for up to 2 hours. There was no entertainment or additional attraction in the mall which was disappointing for a holiday and think the mall could have capitalised more on the large captive audience by offering something more than just shopping and food.

We bought, a bag of licorice, £2.39, some fake tan, £6.99, some shampoo, £4.00 all from TK Maxx. Would I go back? Let’s say I wouldn’t be disappointed if I never repeated the experience.