History and Development
In 1837, The Grand Junction Railway opened, connecting Birmingham to Liverpool and Manchester Railway, and later introducing London Euston which connected from Birmingham Curzon Street. Designed and engineered by Robert Stephenson, it took 20,000 men five years to complete. In 1846, the London and Birmingham Grand Junction Railway companies merged to form the London and North-western Railway, and this is where the construction of Birmingham New Street Station began.
After multiple constructions and reconstructions, in 2010 the redevelopment of New Street Station began where the new platform was refurbished and in 2013, 12 refurbished platforms opened to the public.
Grand Central
As part of the Birmingham New Street station Gateway Plus redevelopment, Grand Central also underwent a major overhaul. Grand Central is a shopping centre located above New Street railway station in Birmingham, that opened on 24 September 2015. Currently owned by Hammerson and CPPIB in January 2016, it cost £335m.
The mall has been redesigned with an atrium roof as centrepiece and contains over 60 stores across 500,000 square feet with John Lewis as main anchor tenant. Many of them consisting of shops, restaurants, and cafes.
During the last decade, Grand Central and New Street Station had undergone some major changes, which increased the chance of the returning customer/traveller to get lost or struggle finding their way around. Alongside this, many of the shops found here can also be found in many towns nowadays which meant that people visiting from neighbouring cities decreased.
All 12 platforms were recently refurbished. Reconfiguration and redevelopment of the concourse enhanced passenger movement and experience including better facilities. This means additional retail space was introduced. Additionally, the creation of a new central atrium above the concourse and within the Palisades Shopping Centre, along with a new 250,000 square foot extension for the John Lewis store was also included in its development.
Facilities such as shopping, to dining and more recently, activities such as indoor golf mean that Grand Central is constantly improving and expanding. You can get all things from one place without the hassle of constantly travelling from one shop or shopping centre to the next, which adds to its convenience.
Grand Central includes shops to meet a customers every need. Shopping centres like the Bullring means you are not having to travel from place to place to find what you’re looking for. From your tech needs such as ‘3’ to ensuring you have your Christmas cards at ‘The Card factory’. Other shops include Accessorize, Holland and Barret, H&M, Next, New Look, Sports Direct, JD, The North Face, Pandora, Office, O2, Peloton, The Perfume Shop, Paperchase, Reiss, Rituals, River Island, Savers and many more!
Since opening and due to COVID, a few shops have had to shut down including one of its popular and biggest stores: John Lewis.
New Street Station
With the Ticket Office located in the middle of the concourse, it is accessible for customers to purchase a ticket with ease. New Street Station has opening and closing times from Monday to Saturday 05:15-23:00 and on Sunday 07:30 – 23:00. Other facilities in New Street Station include toilets and baby changing facilities, cash dispensers, trollies, photo booths and free Wi-Fi for public use.
Parking facilities are also available for long stay and short stay visitors and parking for bicycles is also available and is listed on the NetworkRail site.
Food, drink, and shopping facilities are also available such as Café Nero, Greggs, Costa, Hotel Chocolat, M&S, Starbucks, The Body Shop, WHSmith and many more.
Travel SOS – Minibus & Coach Hire
If you are arriving into New Street as large group or require minibus transfer to New Street Station TravelSOS offer minibus and coach hire of all sizes with driver and can take care of simple single journeys to multi day tours. The needs and requirements of our customers always come first. The importance of customer satisfaction is crucial to us. One of our most recent jobs consisted of providing a multi-day tour for our guests from Singapore, who were delighted to book with us and extremely satisfied with our service and ensured they would book with us again!
No matter the event or occasion, we are sure not to disappoint!
