Hollywood is a large village predominantly located in the
Bromsgrove district
Bromsgrove is a non-metropolitan district, local government district in north-east Worcestershire, England. It is named after its only town, Bromsgrove, where its council is based, but also includes several villages and surrounding rural areas ...
of
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
, England, almost contiguous with and to the south of the city of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
. Hollywood was formerly part of
Kings Norton, but when Birmingham expanded in 1911, Hollywood remained in
Worcestershire
Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...
. The village now lies across the wards of Hollywood, most of Drakes Cross, the Trueman's Heath polling district area of Trueman's Heath parish ward and, following a 1966 border change, the southern portion of the Birmingham
Highter's Heath ward, with all but the latter being located within the civil parish of
Wythall. The southern part of the village is also known as Drakes Cross, whilst the eastern part is sometimes referred to as Trueman's Heath. Hollywood is situated in the extreme northeastern corner of Worcestershire, 8.5mi/13km south of Birmingham city centre, 6mi/9.5km west of
Solihull
Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...
and 8mi/12.5km northeast of
Redditch.
History
Until the 1950s, Hollywood was a rural area with many fields and farms. Extensive postwar development saw these fields and farms give way to housing estates, shops and schools. The majority of the development that took place was non-contiguous with the Birmingham conurbation: Hollywood Golf Course in particular ensured a break existed, as well as the retention of open fields directly south of the
Maypole. However, in 1966, the city boundary moved from Maypole Lane to incorporate the latest contiguous developments on and directly off Maypole Lane, Alcester Road South and Highters Heath Lane, including the at the time recently built Hollywood Primary School. The naming of the school has primarily contributed to this part of Birmingham's Highter's Heath ward continuing to be associated with Hollywood.
Geography
Hollywood is served by the Alcester Road, although the
A435 road itself which formerly ran through the village now bypasses it, and is adjacent to
Highter's Heath to the north and
Wythall to the south. Other settlements close by include
Kings Heath
Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435 road, A435 Alces ...
,
Kings Norton,
Shirley,
Maypole,
Tidbury Green,
Earlswood,
Major's Green,
Whitlocks End and
Dickens Heath.
Amenities
Hollywood is home to the 18-hole Hollywood Golf Club, formerly known as Gay Hill Golf Club since 1913, a family owned and managed packaging company, Kilby Packaging, which has existed since 1946, and a timber and hardware supplier, Davies Timber, established over 100 years ago. Most of the village's community buildings are centred around
Woodrush High School and the adjacent Coppice Primary School on Shawhurst Lane. These include the Woodrush Sports Centre, Community Hub and Wythall (parish) Library, whilst
St Mary's CoE Church, originally located on Chapel Lane in Wythall, now occupies a new building adjoining the Coppice School. Hollywood Primary School is located just over the county border within the Highter's Heath ward of the city of Birmingham, and Meadow Green Primary School to the south, in Wythall village, on Meadow Lane. The Packhorse public house is located on Packhorse Lane, at the junction with Alcester Road, and The White Swan public house on Alcester Road, at the junction with Houndsfield Lane.
Transport
Hollywood is served by multiple bus routes.
Diamond
Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...
run the 150 (between
Redditch and
Kings Heath
Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435 road, A435 Alces ...
), the 50A (between
Redditch and
Birmingham City Centre) and the 502 (a school service between
Kings Heath
Kings Heath (historically, and still occasionally King's Heath) is a suburb of south Birmingham, England, four miles south of the city centre. Historically in Worcestershire, it is the next suburb south from Moseley on the A435 road, A435 Alces ...
and
Alcester Academy), and LandFlight run the 664/665 (circular, through
Wythall,
Maypole,
Dickens Heath,
Shirley, and
Solihull
Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...
). The village is served by two railway stations, being in close proximity to
Wythall station and
Whitlocks End station, providing half-hourly and hourly trains to
Stratford-Upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon ( ), commonly known as Stratford, is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon (district), Stratford-on-Avon district, in the county of Warwickshire, in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands region of Engl ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...
,
Kidderminster
Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...
, and
Worcester.
Notable residents
*
Steve Ashley, former motor racing champion (Class 4 Kart,
Formula Ford, F3).
*
Alan Dedicoat, former presenter at
BBC Radio WM and now 'Voice of the Balls' on ''
The National Lottery Draws'', born in the village.
*Chris Dunn (bass guitarist) from the band
City Boy
*Leslie Dunn (actor, compere, TV news journalist), known for playing Paul Johnson in ''
The Archers
''The Archers'' is a British radio soap opera currently broadcast on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word Radio broadcasting, channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now pr ...
''
*
Parry Glasspool
Parry Glasspool (born 5 March 1992) is a British actor. He played Harry Thompson in the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'' and was nominated for Best Newcomer at the 21st National Television Awards in 2016. The character was killed off in 2019 ...
, ''
Hollyoaks
''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...
'' actor.
*
Alan Smith, former
Arsenal and
Leicester City striker.
*
John Taylor from the band
Duran Duran
Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...
.
References
{{authority control
Villages in Worcestershire