Sutton Coldfield (Birmingham, U.K.)
Created | Updated Apr 8, 2002
Moose's Not All That Good, But Better Than Nothing, Guide to Sutton Coldfield.Overview
Sutton Coldfield is my home town. It occupies much of the North of
Birmingham... however it's advisable not to mention this to any locals:
many won't thank you for reminding them that Sutton Coldfield is part of
Birmingham. They feel that we should still be an independent town.
I'm quite into the "Birmingham, being a part of, caper" myself though.
One reason folk are miffed is because Sutton Coldfield used to be to be
a royal borough... and now since it is part of Birmingham it presumably
isn't any more.
Sutton Coldfield has a dead smart park (about ten square miles I'd guess)
to its North West. It is free to pedestrians, though cars are sometimes
charged entry to raise funds for the park, and in anycase most of the
park has been made inaccessable to cars.
The local accent is... well there isn't much of a one really...
it's quite an ambient English accent.
Districts
There are a number of main districts including:-
Wylde Green and Boldmere to the South of the town centre and,
Mere Green and Four Oaks to the North.
Walmley's to the South East.
Pubs
As far as I know the most happening pubs/clubs are in the town centre and
in Mere Green. Head further North if your into countrified pubs. Most
pubs fall into two categories:- either they are quite good and have a
dress code, or they are a grotty dive...sadly there seems to be no happy
medium. Well I suppose that's not strictly true -- there are one or two
grotty dives with a dress code, but that wasn't quite what I meant.
The only real night club as such, that I know of, is Rosie's in the town
centre, which I've heard good things about (I've never been
appropriately enough dressed to get in to see it for myself though - doh!).
Drinking after 11pm
At the time of writing this you could goto to O'Neil's or Rosie's in the
town centre to drink past 11pm. On Sunday, except at those places with
the special licence, the last orders are at 10:30pm, but if you are near
a less strict neighbouring town (Erdington for example) you can hop
accross the border for an extra half hour of drinking.
Affairs of the Heart
The greatest threats to the sanity of local young men are sometimes
to be found in Mere Green pubs:- au pairs. There are some well-to-do
private estates there abouts, where au-pairs tend to be employed, or
err lodge or however it's termed. Au pairs, bless them, they are lovely,
but they will break your heart: for one day they have to return home to
Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Turkey or wherever...but not
absolutely always I should add, I know a couple that stayed, but one
should prepare for the worst whilst hoping for the best.
History
Bah! I was urged by a friend to put something in this about the town's
history... but on thinking about it for many seconds I conclude I
don't really know any, I know there are big boat loads of the stuff in
this old town, but ...err...I just don't know what it is that's all,
dispite living here since I was about two days old. It's just not my
scene... but I assure you there is some if that's what you're after!
"This was all fields when I was young", and: "Henry VIII gave us
Sutton Park", blah, blah, blah... you get the picture, huh?
By Rail
You can get to Sutton Coldfield by rail directly from Birmingham
New Street Staion in about 20 minutes, the stops that are in Sutton
Coldfield are (in South to North order):-
Chester Road Station:
for Wylde Green, The Yenton and Little Boldmere.
Wylde Green Station:
for Wylde Green, Boldmere and
Sutton Park's Boldmere Gate.
Sutton Coldfield Station:
for the town centre and Sutton Park's Town Gate;
Four Oaks Station:
for Mere Green, and Four Oaks,
and Sutton Park's Foar Oaks Gate.
Butler's Lane Station
for Four Oaks.
Blake Street Station,
for the far North: Hill Hook and Watford Gap. It's also
right next to the Blake's Barn Pub.
...the railway then continues Northward beyond the boundries of the known
universe (to which I've heard intrepid travellers refer:
"Lichfield via Shenstone").
By Road
The A5127 (called the 'Birmingham Road' in the South and the 'Lichfield
Road' in the North) more or less follows the railway as described above.
You can get onto the A5127 straight from good ol' Spaghetti Junction
which is a few miles South of Sutton Coldfield.
Sumary
In Short Sutton Coldfield is:-
Not half bad generally;
Leafy;
Not particulary exciting, not particulary unexciting;
Reasonably relaxed;
Reasonably friendly.
Moose.
[email protected]
Sutton Coldfield is my home town. It occupies much of the North of
Birmingham... however it's advisable not to mention this to any locals:
many won't thank you for reminding them that Sutton Coldfield is part of
Birmingham. They feel that we should still be an independent town.
I'm quite into the "Birmingham, being a part of, caper" myself though.
One reason folk are miffed is because Sutton Coldfield used to be to be
a royal borough... and now since it is part of Birmingham it presumably
isn't any more.
Sutton Coldfield has a dead smart park (about ten square miles I'd guess)
to its North West. It is free to pedestrians, though cars are sometimes
charged entry to raise funds for the park, and in anycase most of the
park has been made inaccessable to cars.
The local accent is... well there isn't much of a one really...
it's quite an ambient English accent.
Districts
There are a number of main districts including:-
Wylde Green and Boldmere to the South of the town centre and,
Mere Green and Four Oaks to the North.
Walmley's to the South East.
Pubs
As far as I know the most happening pubs/clubs are in the town centre and
in Mere Green. Head further North if your into countrified pubs. Most
pubs fall into two categories:- either they are quite good and have a
dress code, or they are a grotty dive...sadly there seems to be no happy
medium. Well I suppose that's not strictly true -- there are one or two
grotty dives with a dress code, but that wasn't quite what I meant.
The only real night club as such, that I know of, is Rosie's in the town
centre, which I've heard good things about (I've never been
appropriately enough dressed to get in to see it for myself though - doh!).
Drinking after 11pm
At the time of writing this you could goto to O'Neil's or Rosie's in the
town centre to drink past 11pm. On Sunday, except at those places with
the special licence, the last orders are at 10:30pm, but if you are near
a less strict neighbouring town (Erdington for example) you can hop
accross the border for an extra half hour of drinking.
Affairs of the Heart
The greatest threats to the sanity of local young men are sometimes
to be found in Mere Green pubs:- au pairs. There are some well-to-do
private estates there abouts, where au-pairs tend to be employed, or
err lodge or however it's termed. Au pairs, bless them, they are lovely,
but they will break your heart: for one day they have to return home to
Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Turkey or wherever...but not
absolutely always I should add, I know a couple that stayed, but one
should prepare for the worst whilst hoping for the best.
History
Bah! I was urged by a friend to put something in this about the town's
history... but on thinking about it for many seconds I conclude I
don't really know any, I know there are big boat loads of the stuff in
this old town, but ...err...I just don't know what it is that's all,
dispite living here since I was about two days old. It's just not my
scene... but I assure you there is some if that's what you're after!
"This was all fields when I was young", and: "Henry VIII gave us
Sutton Park", blah, blah, blah... you get the picture, huh?
By Rail
You can get to Sutton Coldfield by rail directly from Birmingham
New Street Staion in about 20 minutes, the stops that are in Sutton
Coldfield are (in South to North order):-
Chester Road Station:
for Wylde Green, The Yenton and Little Boldmere.
Wylde Green Station:
for Wylde Green, Boldmere and
Sutton Park's Boldmere Gate.
Sutton Coldfield Station:
for the town centre and Sutton Park's Town Gate;
Four Oaks Station:
for Mere Green, and Four Oaks,
and Sutton Park's Foar Oaks Gate.
Butler's Lane Station
for Four Oaks.
Blake Street Station,
for the far North: Hill Hook and Watford Gap. It's also
right next to the Blake's Barn Pub.
...the railway then continues Northward beyond the boundries of the known
universe (to which I've heard intrepid travellers refer:
"Lichfield via Shenstone").
By Road
The A5127 (called the 'Birmingham Road' in the South and the 'Lichfield
Road' in the North) more or less follows the railway as described above.
You can get onto the A5127 straight from good ol' Spaghetti Junction
which is a few miles South of Sutton Coldfield.
Sumary
In Short Sutton Coldfield is:-
Not half bad generally;
Leafy;
Not particulary exciting, not particulary unexciting;
Reasonably relaxed;
Reasonably friendly.
Moose.
[email protected]
