Great Western Arcade

Birmingham


Topped with a glass roof, this tile-floored Victorian-era arcade is a jewel filled with mostly independent shops.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Birmingham attractions

1. Birmingham Cathedral

0.1 MILES

Dedicated to St Philip, this small but perfectly formed cathedral was constructed in a neoclassical style between 1709 and 1715. Pre-Raphaelite artist…

2. Council House

0.26 MILES

Built in 1879 in classical style, the dome-topped Council House – the seat of local government – forms the northeastern face of the city centre.

3. The River

0.27 MILES

Public art in Victoria Sq includes modernist sphinxes and artist Dhruva Mistry's 1994-installed fountain, The River. Topped by a naked female figure, it's…

4. Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery

0.28 MILES

Major Pre-Raphaelite works by Rossetti, Edward Burne-Jones and others are among the highlights of the delightful Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery's…

5. Statue of Queen Victoria

0.29 MILES

Victoria Sq's 1993 fountain The River, aka 'the floozie in the Jacuzzi', is overlooked by this disapproving statue of Queen Victoria.

6. Town Hall

0.32 MILES

Constructed in 1834 and styled after the Temple of Castor and Pollux in Rome, Birmingham's neoclassical Town Hall is now used as a venue for classical…

7. St Paul's Church

0.39 MILES

St Paul's Sq is dominated by this beautiful 18th-century Georgian church, where 'Birmingham Brains' Matthew Boulton and James Watt came to pray. Details…

8. St Martin's Church

0.41 MILES

Birmingham architect Alfred Chatwin designed this Victorian Gothic church in the Bullring. The 1873-completed structure occupies a site where a church has…