Market trading has taken place on this spot since 1154, when Peter de Bermingham was granted a charter of marketing rights by King Henry II. The name derives from the sixteenth-century practice of bull-baiting in the market square, a spectacle long since abandoned but preserved in the six-tonne bronze bull sculpture that now presides over Rotunda Square, one of the most photographed public artworks in the city. In 1964 the site became home to the United Kingdom's first indoor city-centre shopping complex, opened by Prince Philip. That brutalist concrete structure grew increasingly unpopular over the following decades, and its demolition in 2000 made way for the current development. The new Bullring opened on 4 September 2003 after a transformation costing 500 million pounds, with nearly 300,000 visitors on its first day. The architectural centrepiece is the Selfridges building designed by Future Systems, its biomorphic form clad in 15,000 spun aluminium discs inspired by a Paco Rabanne chainmail dress. The building won a RIBA Award in 2004 and has become Birmingham's most recognisable piece of contemporary architecture. Inside, it houses one of only four Selfridges department stores in the country. Connected to the Bullring via a pedestrian overpass, Grand Central sits above New Street station and adds further retail and dining capacity, making the combined complex the United Kingdom's largest city-centre-based shopping destination. Together they attract over 40 million visitors annually and serve as the retail heart of the West Midlands, anchoring a wider regeneration of Birmingham's commercial core that has continued through subsequent phases of development. The open-air market tradition continues alongside the modern retail units. An outdoor market operates on the lower level, maintaining a direct link to the medieval trading heritage of the site. St Martin's Church, one of Birmingham's oldest buildings, sits in a small green space at the market's edge, providing an incongruous medieval counterpoint to the sweeping contemporary architecture that surrounds it. New Street station below Grand Central connects the complex to the national rail network.

Type: Market / Mall

Address: Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom, B5 4BU

Website: https://www.bullring.co.uk/

Opening Date: 04/09/2003