Just for a day trip but Tate Mod Blogger Tom likes what he finds. (Which is unsurprising as he’s a native.) After praising Spag Junction and Selfridges he heads down our way…

Wander a bit further down through Digbeth, past the Chinese supermarkets and Irish pubs, and you’ll find the Custard Factory. Nestling in the shadow of St Martins and the Bullring, the old Bird’s custard factory is a revelation. It’s the antithesis of the wipe clean, plate glass Brum. It’s a mix of everything, old buildings and new design, brick walls and sleek concrete; a place where ultra cool record labels rub up against the National Trust and RIBA. This kind of design seems perfect to me, innovative and yet not too slick. Not over designed, not preening or exclusive. The Custard Factory is just right.

In fact, the most successful design elements of Birmingham are where the old and the new come together, creating a sense of somewhere that shouldn’t work, but does. Battered old pubs and markets squashed next to new civic icons; the weight of Dickensian industry alongside relics of the Sixties. This is what I think of when I think of Birmingham, and it warms the heart.

This Birmingham exists despite the planners best efforts. It seems the most inspirational spaces are there by happy accident. Maybe the best way to design the best spaces is to let it all happen naturally? To re-use buildings that already exist, rather than always ripping them out and starting again.

I’d have to agree.