Travelodge Carrs Lane | City Centre | 7 fl | Comp.

[SimonTheSoundMan]

You forget there is a large Tesco on Broad Street.

[woodhousen]

these are convenience supermarkets, they are their to provide a local convience with the extinction of local corner shops... and in placing these types of store all around the city centre, they are satisfying this role well!

[paul_kimber]

Originally Posted by U475 Foxtrot

nope, that's Ramada Encore. etap is the one that looks like a prison

image hosted on flickr

Spent many of nights in the Etap lol

[ReissOmari]

Tesco's in and around Town

-Corporation St.
-New St.
-Pallasades
-Hurst St.
-Five Ways
-Bath Row
-Mailbox

And there opening one on Colmore Row to arn't they?
We'll i supose its okay, all the main Tesco's are on the outer city e.g Beggers Bush. I'v noticed we hardley have any Morrisons in this city, there mainly in Walsall

[rob_right]

Have to say I don't have any objections to the supermarkets opening up all over Birmingham City centre (...apart from that terrible Morrisons they are proposing at Five Ways!) - I remember 10-15 years ago when it was impossible to get even a loaf of bread or pint of milk in the UK's second biggest city without having to travel to the suburbs. People living and working in the city want convenience and small stores such as this will help add life to an area.

[hammerb24]

There's almost as many Travelodge's around town either in operation or proposed, including the monstrosity that is Broad St Travelodge....

[Brummyboy92]

To be fair these hotels need to stop being built within the city centre, we need more upper class hotels to establish themselves within the city.

[Erebus555]

I think hotels like this are fine. For example, this is probably the best possible proposal for a site like this. There are plenty of sites for luxury hotels and budget hotels. And to be honest, in times like this, we can't pick and choose who can and can't invest in the city...

[Brummyboy92]

I understand that but poorly designed buildings are a no, otherwise in thirty years time these buildings will be deserted and we will have the problem that we have now with concrete builds.

[Erebus555]

A lot of the time, our problems with buildings are their aesthetics. That's why postwar buildings appear to be the target of so much redevelopment - the general public opinion is that they're ugly.

Give it 30 years, and Regal Tower could be considered just as hideous as this.

Every architectural style will fall out of favour with the people at some point. Who's to say that in 30 years, modernist and brutalist buildings won't be in vogue?

And budget hotels don't necessarily have to be poorly designed. Yeah, Etap's shit. But this and Ramada Encore on Holloway Head for example are not...

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by SimonTheSoundMan

You forget there is a large Tesco on Broad Street.

The Fiveways one I was on about. However, this not a large store at all for a town/city centre.. far, far from it. Plus it's dominated by the middleway, the roundabout, enclosed on a corner so unless you know what you're looking for you wouldn't automatically know it's there. It's tiny.

Given the the fact they failed to get planning permission at Bristol Street, I wouldn't be so surprised to see an application to expand the Fiveways site they have now.

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by woodhousen

these are convenience supermarkets, they are their to provide a local convience with the extinction of local corner shops... and in placing these types of store all around the city centre, they are satisfying this role well!

Yes, too right.. I do remember when those old shops seemed like daylight robbery, and then some. If cornershop owners were serious about the business they are in they need to stop seeing these as a threat but an opportunity to raise their standards, and look at other opportunities to maximise their business potential, ie collaborative cooperatives to help with bulk buying, look into franchise style agreements, start looking at the quality of what they sell - eg, a Tesco is a jack of all trades but a master of none.. differentiate etc etc.

Originally Posted by Brummyboy92

To be fair these hotels need to stop being built within the city centre, we need more upper class hotels to establish themselves within the city.

In terms hotels, wouldn't it be a bit more difficult to set up an all new site in the centre of town as a premium hotel? I get the feeling that you really would have to knockout a few buildings to create something distinctive enough to place a big Hilton in town etc. Just like the Hyatt did.

Having said that it would help if the Snowhill Phases were being built to time. With Evergreen 3 coming on stream and the Tram route running around this area it's definietly going to be white hot as a commuting/business destination. Good quality hotels are needed around this site.

[brum2003]

Originally Posted by Typhoon2000

Yes, too right.. I do remember when those old shops seemed like daylight robbery, and then some. If cornershop owners were serious about the business they are in they need to stop seeing these as a threat but an opportunity to raise their standards, and look at other opportunities to maximise their business potential, ie collaborative cooperatives to help with bulk buying, look into franchise style agreements, start looking at the quality of what they sell - eg, a Tesco is a jack of all trades but a master of none.. differentiate etc etc.



In terms hotels, wouldn't it be a bit more difficult to set up an all new site in the centre of town as a premium hotel? I get the feeling that you really would have to knockout a few buildings to create something distinctive enough to place a big Hilton in town etc. Just like the Hyatt did.

Having said that it would help if the Snowhill Phases were being built to time. With Evergreen 3 coming on stream and the Tram route running around this area it's definietly going to be white hot as a commuting/business destination. Good quality hotels are needed around this site.

hey - hust out of interest - whats Evergreen 3 ?

[WintrySarcasm]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilter...ys#Evergreen_3

[nigeman]

Originally Posted by ReissOmari

Tesco's in and around Town

-Corporation St.
-New St.
-Pallasades
-Hurst St.
-Five Ways
-Bath Row
-Mailbox

And there opening one on Colmore Row to arn't they?
We'll i supose its okay, all the main Tesco's are on the outer city e.g Beggers Bush. I'v noticed we hardley have any Morrisons in this city, there mainly in Walsall

There's aso one opposite the Big Peg in the jewellry quarter.

[nigeman]

Originally Posted by Typhoon2000

Given the the fact they failed to get planning permission at Bristol Street, I wouldn't be so surprised to see an application to expand the Fiveways site they have now.

I think this will happen after they have completed the large new store half a mile away at Springhill. If they are really going to improve the Five Ways store they need to close it and gut it, it is so dated, and the petrol station is incredibly small also but the store is very popular.

[brum2003]

Originally Posted by WintrySarcasm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilter...ys#Evergreen_3

Cheers

[Typhoon2000]

Originally Posted by nigeman

I think this will happen after they have completed the large new store half a mile away at Springhill. If they are really going to improve the Five Ways store they need to close it and gut it, it is so dated, and the petrol station is incredibly small also but the store is very popular.

Well there is a lot of unused space around that area. I'm not entirely sure I'd like something that was too similar to Morrisons- If they do expand to fill out the voids then they really need to be pushed to create something of some architectural merit instead of the bland box white box. that is proposed for the Edgbaston Galleries by Morrisons/Calthorpe. The building given a larger footprint would be quite prominent at the corner of the road. I'd happily object to any proposal they make that doesn't push the use of this site properly.

Spring hill's an interesting one.. quite a rough area and one that is totally under utilised. Should start to bring some developers in, although I haven't seen the plans for this one yet.

[Bureau des etrangers]

Originally Posted by Brummyboy92

To be fair these hotels need to stop being built within the city centre, we need more upper class hotels to establish themselves within the city.

Your not going to attract any sort of business into the city if you can turn others away because you deem them "not classy enough". They will simply go to a place that welcomes them with open arms.

And i think in this climate we should be welcoming this sort of development

[Smileyface]

Originally Posted by Bureau des etrangers

Your not going to attract any sort of business into the city if you can turn others away because you deem them "not classy enough". They will simply go to a place that welcomes them with open arms.

And i think in this climate we should be welcoming this sort of development

I agree. Travelodge serves a purpose and also a certain type of customer who far outnumber those who want to stay in the higher bracket hotels. I've gone for a weekend away, to certain locations before, just because there's a travelodge there. They have great deals and everyone's for saving money and - hotel wise - the more the merrier, I say, if they bring folk into the city - the more they save on their hotel the more they'll spend. That's how I looked at it anyway when we got cheap deals in Bath, Caernarfon, Chester and Liverpool: more beer money!