Mere Green is a small commercial centre in Four Oaks,

Sutton Coldfield Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Facilities

Mere Green includes a mixture of independent shops, bars and restaurants and some national chain stores located around the junction of Lichfield Road, Belwell Lane, Hill Village Road and Mere Green Road. Supermarkets include

Marks and Spencer Marks and Spencer plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks & Sparks or simply Marks) is a major British multinational retailer based in London, England, that specialises in selling clothing, beauty products, home produc ...

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company was the largest UK r ...

Lidl Lidl ( ) is a trademark, used by two Germany, German international discount supermarket, discount retailer chain store, chains that operates over 12,600 stores. The ''LD Stiftung'' operates the stores in Germany and the ''Lidl Stiftung & Co. K ...

and

Aldi Aldi (German pronunciation: ), stylised as ALDI, is the common company brand name of two German multinational family-owned discount supermarket chains operating over 12,000 stores in 18 countries. The chain was founded by brothers Karl and ...

. There are several pubs in the area including the Mare Pool (

Wetherspoons J D Wetherspoon (branded variously as Wetherspoon or Wetherspoons, and colloquially known as Spoons) is a British pub company operating in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The company was founded in 1979 by Tim ...

), Renato Lounge, Old School House (now closed) and the Fox and Dogs. Mere Green was also home to Flints which was a bar that was very popular in the 1970s and 1980s. It underwent various changes in ownership and name before resorting back to its original name in 2018. By 2022 it had ceased trading and in 2024 (along with the adjacent former

Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...

building) it was demolished to make way for the construction of an

store. Aldi opened in October 2024. Mere Green Library and Community Centre offers classes in such subjects as yoga and art, free internet access and facilities for tennis and lawn green bowls as well as hosting reading groups for adults and children and occasional exhibitions. The area made the news in 1983 when Italian Renato Pagliari, then co-owner of the La Gondola restaurant in Mere Green, scored a No 1 hit single in the UK as one half of the singing duo '

Renée and Renato Renée and Renato were a female/male vocal duo, who had a UK number-one hit in December 1982 with " Save Your Love". The follow-up single " Just One More Kiss" peaked at No. 48. Their third single, "Jesus Loves Us All", failed to reach the UK ...

' with the song ' Save Your Love'. The restaurant no longer exists.

Redevelopment

Plans were outlined for a major redevelopment of the Mere Green shopping area, which would involve the demolition of many of the smaller shops. The scheme, led by Spring Urban, was approved in August 2007. The development was however delayed by the recession and again when Spring Urban's parent company, Castlemore Securities, went into administration in February 2009. Work finally began on the £15 million "Mulberry Walk" scheme in September 2015. The first new store on the development that opened was

Boots A boot is a type of footwear. Most boots mainly cover the foot and the ankle, while some also cover some part of the lower calf. Some boots extend up the leg, sometimes as far as the knee or even the hip. Most boots have a heel that is clearl ...

, which opened on 17 August 2016. Warrens Bakery moved in in February 2017, making the development home to their first store outside the West Country. This store closed in 2019.

Public Transport

Bus is the main public transport to and from Mere Green. Most services are operated by

National Express West Midlands National Express West Midlands (NXWM) is bus operator in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands of England. It is a subsidiary of Mobico Group (formerly National Express Group) and is the largest bus operator in the region, as well as one of ...

(NXWM) with service 78 operated by Diamond Bus and service 604 operated by Claribel Coaches. Service 604 will be operated by National Express from 25th April 2022. Until 2019,

Midland Classic Diamond East Midlands, formerly Midland Classic, is a bus company from Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England. Since August 2022, the company is a subsidiary of Rotala. History Midland Classic Midland Classic was founded in July 2005 by Ja ...

operated service X12 between Sutton Coldfield and Burton-upon-Trent which partly replaced the former Stevensons (later

Arriva Midlands Arriva Midlands is a bus operator providing services in the East Midlands and West Midlands areas of England. It is a subsidiary of Arriva UK Bus. Arriva Midlands North Operations In September 1981 Midland Red North was formed with 230 bu ...

) service 112. Routes include: *6

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

*78

Queslett Queslett is an area of Great Barr, on the border of Birmingham, and Aldridge, England. The name (originally Quieslade) has been in use since the 16th century. The first part, from "Queest", means a wood pigeon, the second comes from the Anglo-S ...

. Part replaced by 78 (see below). *604

Kingstanding Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes. The other part of Kingstanding falls under the Oscott ...

- Mere Green This service has now been replaced by service 78A operating between Kingstanding and

, also replacing part of the 78. *X3

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 ...

- Hill Hook. This service was extended to serve Lichfield in 2019 partially replacing Midland Classic service X12. *X5

Roughley Roughley is an electoral ward within the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield, and is the most northerly part of the administrative area covered by the Royal Sutton Coldfield Town Council and the City of Birmingham. Over half of Roughley Ward is at ...

Mere Green centre is approximately 2/3 of a mile from Four Oaks railway station on the

Cross-City Line The Cross-City Line is a suburban 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 , connecting the ...

which provides a frequent rail service to

Redditch Redditch is a town and non-metropolitan district with borough status in Worcestershire, England. It is located south of Birmingham, east of Bromsgrove, north-west of Alcester and north-east of Worcester. In 2021, the town had a population of ...

and

Bromsgrove Bromsgrove is a town in Worcestershire, England, about north-east of Worcester and south-west of Birmingham city centre. It had a population of 34,755 in at the 2021 census. It gives its name to the wider Bromsgrove District, of which it is ...

via

Birmingham New Street Birmingham New Street, also known as New Street station, is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, England, and a central hub of the British railway system. It is a major destination for Avanti ...

and to

Lichfield Lichfield () is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated south-east of the county town of Stafford, north-east of Walsall, north-west of ...

References

{{Coord, 52.587589, -1.830125, region:GB-BIR, display=title Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands Sutton Coldfield