Five Ways is an area of
Central Birmingham
Birmingham City Centre, also known as Central Birmingham and often known locally as town, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, the city centre is now defined as being the area w ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
. It takes its name from a major road junction, now a busy
roundabout
A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...
(with pedestrian
subways through a traffic island) to the south-west of the city centre which lies at the outward end of
Broad Street, where the
Birmingham Middle ring road
The A4540 is a ring road in Birmingham, England, also known as the Middle Ring Road, or the Middleway. It runs around the centre ( St Philip's Cathedral) of the city at a distance of approximately . Birmingham City Centre is the area within t ...
crosses the start of the
A456 (
Hagley
Hagley is a large village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated population was 7,162 in 20 ...
Road).
History
The name of Five Ways dates back to 1565, when roads leading to
Harborne
Harborne is an area of south-west Birmingham, England. It is one of the most affluent areas of the Midlands, southwest from Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in ...
and
Halesowen
Halesowen ( ) is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the county of West Midlands, England.
Historically an exclave of Shropshire and, from 1844, in Worcestershire, the town is around from Birmingham city centre, and from ...
were recorded as being located there.
[British History Online: Communications]
/ref> Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, who lived at Five Ways until 1785, describes the origins of its name as a result of the location being the junction of five roadways.
Five Ways was disturnpiked in 1841, after disputes over the repair of the roadways in the area. It was the former home of King Edward VI Five Ways School
King Edward VI Five Ways (KEFW) is a highly selective co-educational state grammar school for ages 11–18 in Bartley Green, Birmingham, England. One of the seven establishments of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI, it is a volunt ...
, before it relocated to its present site in Bartley Green
Bartley Green is a residential suburban area and electoral ward in Birmingham, England, south west of the city centre. The ward is part of the Birmingham Edgbaston constituency and is represented in parliament by Labour Co-operative MP Preet Gil ...
. Five Ways railway station
Five Ways railway station is a railway station serving the Five Ways and Lee Bank areas of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the Cross-City Line.
The original Five Ways station operated between 1885 and 1944. The station was reopened in 19 ...
is located on the Cross-City Line
The Cross-City Line is a commuter rail line in the West Midlands region of England. It runs for from Redditch and Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, its two southern termini, to Lichfield, Staffordshire, its northern terminus, via Birmingham New Str ...
. It opened in 1884 to replace the Granville Street station and closed in 1944, reopening in 1978. The old station building survives as offices on Islington Row. The West Midlands Metro
The West Midlands Metro (originally named Midland Metro) is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. Opened on 30 May 1999, it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmin ...
light rail system from the city centre along Broad Street, passes through the Five Ways underpass and into Hagley Road.
On 4 June 1862, a memorial to Joseph Sturge (which originally incorporated drinking fountains) was unveiled in front of a crowd of 12,000. The sculptor was John Thomas, whom Sir Charles Barry had employed as stone and wood carver on the former King Edward's Grammar School at Five Ways. In 2006/7, a partnership of the Birmingham Civic Society
Birmingham Civic Society is a voluntary body in Birmingham, England, and is registered with the Civic Trust.
History
The society was founded at an inaugural meeting on 10 June 1918 in the Birmingham Council House. The first president of the ...
, Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...
and the Sturge family saw the statue restored in time for the 200th anniversary of the Slave Trade Act of 1807
The Slave Trade Act 1807, officially An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not abolish the practice of slavery, it ...
. A civic ceremony that formally rededicated the statue was held on 24 March 2007; and an interpretation board, giving details of Sturge's life, was unveiled by the Lord Mayor of Birmingham. The statue is grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
Architecture
Buildings also located at Five Ways include Philip Chatwin's Lloyds Bank
Lloyds Bank plc is a British retail banking, retail and commercial bank with branches across England and Wales. It has traditionally been considered one of the "Big Four (banking), Big Four" clearing house (finance), clearing banks. Lloyds B ...
(1908-9) and the Marriott Hotel (formerly the Swallow Hotel, and before that Tube Investments
TI Group plc (formerly "Tube Investments") was a holding company for specialised engineering companies. It was based in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. It was registered as ''Tube Investments'' in 1919, combining the seamless steel tube businesses of Tu ...
House), which was expected to receive a five-star rating when opened to rival the Hyatt Regency Hotel
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, commonly known as Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, is an American multinational hospitality company headquartered in the Riverside Plaza area of Chicago that manages and franchises luxury and business hotels, resorts, and vaca ...
on Broad Street; however, it was unable to achieve this. The building was built in 1957 to a design by Cotton, Ballard & Blow. It is now a Grade B locally listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
Five Ways is a major commercial area of Birmingham city centre. The area began to develop in the early 1960s when Birmingham's business centre expanded westwards towards Edgbaston
Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre.
In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...
, along Broad Street and Hagley Road. Calthorpe Estates, the landowners, started various schemes to encourage highrise construction in the area and to develop it into a business centre. One of the first developments here was Five Ways Shopping Centre, with Auchinleck House above it. It consists of a traffic-free piazza with ground floor retail, an indoor market area, a car park on the second floor and the 10-storey Auchinleck House, which is named after Claude Auchinleck
Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck, (21 June 1884 – 23 March 1981), was a British Army commander during the Second World War. He was a career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, where he rose to become Commande ...
, with office accommodation. Designed by J. Seymour Harris & Partners, it was completed in 1962. On the side of Auchinleck House was a mural by Trewin Copplestone
Trewin may refer to:
*Dennis Trewin AO (born 1946), Australian former public servant, head of the Australian Bureau of Statistics
*Ion Trewin (1943–2015), British editor, publisher and author
*J. C. Trewin OBE (1908–1990), British journalist, ...
which was illuminated at night. This was removed, though another mural by that artist remains in the courtyard. Other developments in the near vicinity of Five Ways include Five Ways House on Islington Row, designed by Cotton, Ballard & Blow, and the Birmingham Chamber of Commerce building, by John Madin.[British History Online: Secular Architecture]
/ref> Five Ways House was the location of the Ministry of Public Building and Works
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian mi ...
' library.
Other highrise buildings that were constructed later on include:
* Five Ways Tower (off Islington Row)
* Tricorn House (an office building adjacent to 1 Hagley Road)
* Metropolitan House
Metropolitan House, also known as 1 Hagley Road, is a commercial building that has been developed into apartments in Birmingham, England. It is situated on the A456 Hagley Road at Five Ways. It was designed by John Madin.
Radio transmitters
Th ...
(also known as 1 Hagley Road after its address; design by John Madin
John Hardcastle Dalton Madin (23 March 1924 – 8 January 2012) was an English architect. His company, known as John H D Madin & Partners from 1962 and the John Madin Design Group from 1968, was active in Birmingham for over 30 years.
Bio ...
)
Recent developments
The Department for Work and Pensions
, type = Department
, seal =
, logo = Department for Work and Pensions logo.svg
, logo_width = 166px
, formed =
, preceding1 =
, jurisdiction = Government of the United Kingdom
, headquarters = Caxton House7th Floor6–12 Tothill Stree ...
has branches at Five Ways. The former Birmingham Children's Hospital
Birmingham Children's Hospital is a specialist children's hospital located in Birmingham, England. The hospital provides a range of specialist services and operates the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) for the city. The serv ...
site is now the Broadway Plaza entertainment complex. Completed in the early 2000s, it cost £80 million and consists of leisure, retail and residential space. Nearby is a 12-screen Cineworld
Cineworld Group plc is a British cinema operator headquartered in London, England. It is the world's second-largest cinema chain (after AMC Theatres), with 9,518 screens across 790 sites in 10 countries: Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Irela ...
cinema complex, which also contains restaurants, clubs and a casino
A casino is a facility for certain types of gambling. Casinos are often built near or combined with hotels, resorts, restaurants, retail shopping, cruise ships, and other tourist attractions. Some casinos are also known for hosting live entertai ...
(Grosvenor Casino). The recent development was managed by Richardson Developments (responsible for the nearby Broad Street Tower) and cost £50 million. The listed public house
A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...
on the corner of Bishopsgate Street and Tennant Street, currently known as 'The Bull's Head', was fully restored as part of the development. It has an approximate total area of 200,000 square feet (18,580 sq. m.).
In 2012, it was announced that property developer SevenCapital, along with Australian hospitality chain StayWell Group, would be transforming empty office building Auchinleck House into a 253-bedroom Park Regis Hotel, making it the brand's first Park Regis hotel in Europe. Work commenced on the 2.3-acre site in 2014, with contractor Colmore Tang Construction appointed to complete the £50 million scheme which was to include the addition of a steel-and-glass sky bar and restaurant to the roof of the existing building. The four-star hotel opened its doors to guests on Tuesday 29 March 2016. In March 2016, it was announced that former Ivy
''Hedera'', commonly called ivy (plural ivies), is a genus of 12–15 species of evergreen climbing or ground-creeping woody plants in the family Araliaceae, native to western, central and southern Europe, Macaronesia, northwestern Africa and ...
head chef Des McDonald would be opening a £3 million Japanese restaurant on the 16th floor of the Park Regis Hotel called Rofuto, the Japanese word for 'loft'. This was to sit alongside a sake
Sake, also spelled saké ( ; also referred to as Japanese rice wine), is an alcoholic beverage of Japanese origin made by fermenting rice that has been polished to remove the bran. Despite the name ''Japanese rice wine'', sake, and indee ...
and cocktail lounge named Kurabu.
In October 2017 SevenCapital was granted permission to build a 17-storey, 228 bedroom luxury apartment development, named St Martin's Place adjacent to the Park Regis hotel. Completed in 2021, the development is Birmingham's first residence to offer residents hotel services.
In 2014, developer SevenCapital announced that it had purchased No.1 Hagley Road, also known as Metropolitan House
Metropolitan House, also known as 1 Hagley Road, is a commercial building that has been developed into apartments in Birmingham, England. It is situated on the A456 Hagley Road at Five Ways. It was designed by John Madin.
Radio transmitters
Th ...
, with the intention to transform the John Madin-designed building into 271 apartments under the Government's permitted development rights. All of the apartments sold within five months of the developer purchasing the building. Construction was completed on the site in March 2016. In 2014, SevenCapital also purchased the Broadway building at Five Ways from the Glanmore Property Fund for £15 million, and has since redeveloped parts of the building into 250 apartments.
References
External links
1890 Ordnance Survey map of Five Ways
{{coord, 52.4729, N, 1.9183, W, region:GB-BIR_type:landmark, display=title
Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands
Five Ways
Road junctions in England