Restaurants on Broad Street Birmingham and Brindleyplace, by Setting
Restaurants on Broad Street Birmingham divide cleanly in two, and knowing which half you are booking in matters more than the menu.
The eastern end is the city's main run of bars and stays loud late. The western half, around Brindleyplace and the canal behind it, is a very much quieter proposition entirely.
What ties the two halves together is the venues. Symphony Hall and the International Convention Centre both sit on the street itself, and the city-centre arena stands immediately behind it, so a very large share of the tables along this street are filled by people who have a start time to keep.
Eating before a Symphony Hall concert
Pre-theatre timing is the one thing worth arranging in advance. Kitchens along this stretch handle the request constantly, so saying when the performance begins is usually enough to have the courses paced properly.
The doors at Symphony Hall are only a few minutes away from almost every table on the street.
The same applies before an arena show, though the scale is different: a full house there is around fifteen thousand people, and they all want to eat in the same ninety minutes.
Booking is not optional on those evenings, and arriving early is worth rather more than choosing the restaurant carefully.
After the performance the pattern repeats in reverse. The halls and the arena all empty within a few minutes of each other, and the nearest tables fill again for a late drink. Walking the short towpath stretch to Brindleyplace or Gas Street Basin generally finds a calmer room, and New Street is the same short walk back.
Brindleyplace and the canalside tables
Behind the road, Brindleyplace is built around squares rather than a main street, and the restaurants there face out onto the water instead of onto the traffic.
On a warm evening the terraces along the canal here are the most obviously pleasant place to eat anywhere in the whole city centre.
Gas Street Basin sits a few minutes south, where the narrowboats moor and the towpath runs under the bridges.
The pubs and dining rooms around the basin trade on that setting rather than on being near anything, and the walk between the basin and Brindleyplace is traffic-free along the towpath the whole way.
Getting there and when to book
New Street station is about twelve minutes on foot through Centenary Square, past the Library of Birmingham. The route is level and lit, and the towpath gives an alternative approach for the last stretch. Driving means the Clean Air Zone, which covers everything inside the A4540 Middleway around the clock.
Book a table whenever the venue calendars are busy, and treat a concert night, a Hippodrome run and a large NEC show in the same weekend as a single event: they compete for the same restaurants.
The wider city-centre picture, district by district, is set out on restaurants in Birmingham.
Staying nearby is covered on hotels on Broad Street, and the pub side of the same district on the restaurants, bars and pubs of Birmingham, which sets this street in the context of the rest of the city centre. The halls that fill these tables are listed by size on venues in Birmingham.
Questions about restaurants on Broad Street Birmingham
Where should I eat before a Symphony Hall concert?
Anywhere in Brindleyplace or on Broad Street itself, because both are within five minutes of the doors. The practical constraint is timing rather than distance: tell the restaurant when the performance starts, since kitchens along this stretch are thoroughly used to the request and will pace the courses accordingly without being asked twice.
Are the canalside restaurants better than the Broad Street ones?
They are quieter, which is usually what people mean. Brindleyplace and Gas Street Basin sit off the road around the water, so conversation is easier and the terraces work on a warm evening. The road itself has more choice and more noise, and it fills up faster on event nights.
Do I need to book on Broad Street?
On any evening with a concert at the arena, a performance at Symphony Hall or a large conference at the ICC, yes. All three stand within a few minutes of each other, so a busy night in one of them fills the tables in all directions. Midweek without an event is easier.
How far is Broad Street from New Street station?
About twelve minutes on foot through Centenary Square, past the Library of Birmingham. The route is level and well lit the whole way, and the canal towpath from Gas Street Basin offers a traffic-free alternative for the final stretch of that walk if you would rather avoid the main road entirely.
Is Broad Street just bars?
The eastern end largely is, and it is loud late at weekends. The western half towards Brindleyplace is a different proposition: restaurants set around squares and along the canal, aimed at people going on to a concert or arriving for a conference rather than at a night out on the strip itself.