Just admit it, The Bullring is the worst place to shop in Birmingham

If you Google the Bullring,  one of the very first reviews you see is: “one of the best shopping centres in Britain” but I think quite the opposite. The not-so-glamorous heart of Birmingham is totally overhyped.

You imagine 1.3 million square feet of a retail place to be huge, but in reality, it doesn’t house as many shops as you would imagine.

All major shopping malls have ridiculous crowds but at the Bullring, things can get super crazy at times. During weekends it gets so crowded that there isn’t any place to breathe let alone walk. There’s honestly no point shopping if you’re spending 30 minutes walking from one store to another.

Madness

Not only do you have to wait in line for an absolute age to pay for your purchase, but even the escalators have a queue – ridiculous! Accidents are just waiting to happen with all these people people pushing and shoving you – and there are millions of families with little kids who you have to make sure you don’t kill in your fight for survival.

Someone has to say something about the huge metal bull. I get how it’s suppose to represent the Bullring concept and all but seriously, that bull is creepy as hell. It looks like it’s about to come alive at any time and chase after everyone who has something red on, and dressing it up as an elf for Christmas makes things that little bit worse.

Worst of all? People actually take turns to take selfies and pictures with the bull. Are you kidding me people?!

You would expect that such a big shopping centre would have more unique shops besides the same mainstream brands…

Do we really need two H&Ms?

It’s even more frustrating when everything is always out of stock – some shops are huge but literally there are so many items displayed for sale that are either limited in size or sold out. This isn’t good enough.

And the queues for food are a joke. Whether it’s a cheeky Nando’s or even a quick burger to go from Burger King, chances are you’ll be waiting 45 minutes in line or for a table. The waiting times for tables are crazy at places like Handmade Burger Company which takes an average of an hour on weekends.

If you’re planning to grab a quick dinner before you start shopping or after, forget about it. You’re better off grabbing something far, far away from the Bullring.

As ’empty’ as it gets

Lastly, and probably most controversially, the Bullring itself isn’t very pretty. Compare it with the classic architecture of shops on Carnaby or Regent Street in London, the Bullring basically looks likes any other average shopping mall around the world. While the Selfridge’s portion of it may be ‘futuristic’, I think it just looks a huge piece of bubble wrap.

You call this architecture?

In short, the pride of Birmingham definitely isn’t the Bullring. Let’s stop claiming that it’s a great place to shop and admit that we’re far away from it. The Bullring just hasn’t got it all.