Broad View of the Future ; Bigger Picture Once Notorious for Drunken Loutishness, Birmingham's Broad Street Is On the Up. Jo Ind Asks What the City's Westside Could Be Like in Five Years

Summary

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Picture the scene - a tree-lined boulevard into the city twinkling with fairy lights, sparkling gateways at both ends of the avenue, flowers bedecking the lampposts, no litter, no vomit, no trouble in taxis, hotels packed to capacity, a creative array of clubs and bars buzzing with happy people from Five Ways roundabout down to Centenary Square. It is theatre land. It is the banking centre of Britain. It is the meeting place of Europe. It is Birmingham's Broad Street.

It is true that if you take a taxi there today, there are enough boarded-up buildings for the cabbie to tell you Broad Street is going down the pan. The closure of a fistful of venues like the Hard Rock Cafe, Zinc, Brannigans and Mellow Bar are like acne on the face of the city.

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Extract

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Broad View of the Future ; Bigger Picture Once Notorious for Drunken Loutishness, Birmingham's Broad Street Is On the Up. Jo Ind Asks What the City's Westside Could Be Like in Five Years

It is also true that just three years ago Broad Street was famous for all the wrong reasons - cheap beer, vomit in doorways and young people on a one-way trip to police vans and casualty departments.

But at the same time, there is every reason to be optimistic about the future of Broad Street.

The developments under way are such that in five years, the street, while not unrecognisable, will be significantly different to how it is today.

The beauty of a street like Broad Street will alwa...

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