Eastside City Park

Park

Explorer Tom

Eastside City Park gives Birmingham a green pause between busy streets, university buildings and Millennium Point. The long, narrow layout seems to invite you to keep moving, but the lawns and seats are quite capable of stealing your lunch break. Even the city has to draw a breath somewhere. Opened in 2013, the park was Birmingham's first new city-centre park in more than a century. It runs from Park Street Gardens past Masshouse towards Birmingham City University's Parkside campus. Formal lawns and public squares sit beside planted Himalayan birches, while steel details and a water feature refer to the area's industrial character and nearby Digbeth Branch Canal. The council says the scheme cost £11.75 million. It was planned as a useful route through the district as well as a place to stop. Walk its length rather than settling for the first bench. The changing edges show the transition from older streets to newer learning spaces. The Thinktank Science Garden nearby has a huge clanging machine called Terminus and a giant hamster wheel, though that attraction has its own entry arrangements. Back in the public park, the water and planting offer a simpler experiment: can you sit for ten minutes without checking the time? The park is freely entered from Curzon Street and Cardigan Street. Birmingham Moor Street station is about an eight-minute walk away, and several bus routes pass nearby. There are benches and cycle racks, but no toilets within the park; Millennium Point has facilities subject to its opening. Events and works can affect parts of the space. The open route is best enjoyed at an unhurried pace.