The Mailbox

The updates to this development are truly stunning. They seem like they have been going on for years but now it is all open again and you can see the many changes that have been made it feels like the wait was justified.

The once outdoor shopping space has been transformed into an indoor mall with new shops and seating areas. The whole space feels super modern and fits in perfectly with the existing parts of the building and canal front restaurants. The walkways and mall area feel almost space age with white light pouring from every wall and ceiling. All of the shop frontages have had an update including the VERY impressive entrance to Harvey Nichols fit with LED screens and even more lighting for a very dramatic effect!

If you are in the area go and take a look at the changes and enjoy not having to make the journey around the building to get to the eateries!

I do really like the mailbox, its fresh and exciting place to be most of the time. The mailbox is currently half open for a £50 million refurbishment which will add a roof to the existing part of the building and more new shops will open alongside its flagship Harvey Nichols. It also has seen new places like the Gas street social, Aluna and Everyman's Cinema which has opened up in the past month.

Restaurants such as Pizza Express, Strada, Punch and bowl, Nandos, Café Rouge, Bar Estilo, Costa coffee are just a few restaurants to name that are on the mailbox complex. It also has a Tesco express and the BBC has a studio there too.

The car park is very expensive but they have plenty of spaces. its safe and secure. But free parking can be a found on the back streets if your lucky after 6pm its free. Great to have drink or have a meal at the canal side on a summers day.

So overall some big changes to come from the mailbox later this year. Hopefully this will give the mailbox a new lease of life which it is crying out for.

I go out a lot in Birmingham, but tend to overlook the Mailbox as a destination. I love the independent bars and shops in Birmingham, and this place is full of chain pubs, stores and restaurants. It does have it's good points however!

Ideally situated 5 min walk from New Street and Victoria Square, many of the venues here have tables and chairs out on the canals. Not maybe the ideal place this time of year, but can still be pleasant if it's a nice day and some have outdoor heaters.

The Water bus picks up and drops off just by the Mailbox, so you can travel in style (fighting the urge to say more Canal's than Venice here) to and from. The Mailbox is currently having an internal refurb so many of the unit's are empty inside; however, the BBC are still operating tours within the venue and there are some of the more pricey stores still open inside (Harvey Nicholls for example).

If you want a nice venue to have a wander or grab some lunch on a weekend, it's a nice place to visit; it does get extremely busy on Friday and Saturday nights though (so book if you want to eat!).

The only good part currently about the mailbox is the variety of restaurants available. You can see they are making some major refurbishments and I anticipate that this place will be even better when it's complete. The parking here feels secure although is a bit pricey compared to other local car parking.

The restaurants here are like taking a trip around the world and it caters for all tastes, occasions. And where would a delight like this be without a Tesco Metro! It's a town just a short walk away from the city. One of my favourite places to go in Birmingham.

Modern shopping, food and offices development right in the middle of the City.

This is where our company's Birmingham offices are, and it was a pleasant place to be based for a couple of days. Interesting shops to browse in, decent lunch options and it's only a few minutes walk along the canal from Broad St or the Bullring.

It's a well designed complex with lots of lot of natural light. I'm envious of our Birmingham colleagues. They should spend a couple of days in our rabbit hutch in LDN.

The Mailbox, before it closed for refurbishment I called it "the empty box" for many years. Most of the retail units were always empty. I do hope the expanded Harvey Nicoles and the new Everyman cinema gives it a fresh start.

Now on to the rest of the complex. It is purely a tourist trap with chain restaurants and bars that you will find in any other city or out of town retail park. Restaurants such as Pizza Express, Zizzi, Strada, Nandos, Café Rouge, GBK, Bar Estilo, Costa. Yawn!

For a destination that is advertised as being high-end, it is far from that in reality.

Oh, it also has a Tesco Express.

I do shop at Harvey Nics and bought a suit from Jaeger (now moved to Great Western Arcade), service is excellent and prices are fairly fair if you can afford those shops.

Plus, don't take out your camera even as a tourist, security have come to me three times and told me they do not allow photos on the site and I have to leave. They didn't care I was with a celebrity friend at the time either.

Not surprisingly, The Mailbox used to be a Royal Mail sorting office. It is now a stylish shopping, dining and living destination. Yes, this urban gentrification at its finest.
There's a compact Harvey Nichols store with an excellent beauty hall and lots of lovely Louboutins lined up for gazing at longingly. There are some other nice shops including All Saints, Jaeger, Thomas Pink and Emporio Armani. The credit crunch has clearly hit The Mailbox with several of its high-end stores closing over the past year or so.
Walking through the central plaza is always pleasant, though the place can sometimes feel a bit dead and empty. The swanky Malmaison hotel and the BBC Birmingham HQ keep things interesting, as do the lively canal side restaurants and bars.

For those of you with deep pockets and good taste, The Mailbox is a fantastic shopping venue and for those of us counting the pennies, it's still pretty good as long as you're not there to shop.


I love just walking through, peering into the designer boutiques, stopping at BBC Birmingham for a peek around their public spaces then emerging onto the canal side leading to Brindley Place. It's never crowded or stuffy and is particularly lovely on a warm sunny day.


The range of food outlets are not bad either. I'm not big on restaurant chains, but the Strada here is very good and Lazeez Signiture (formerly Cafe Lazeez) does some really tasty fusion dishes. There's also a cheese shop on the ground floor which I always intended to go to, but never did.


Also, the toilets are always well kept.

On my trip home to the countryside at Christmas, I decided to stop off in Birmingham to see a friend for drinks (it was Christmas after all) and we wound up in the Mailbox. I haven't been drinking in Birminham since I was about 17, so was actually shocked to discover something other than snakebite and black (sorry Brum).


Instead, I discovered a really impressive bar (tad plasticky in decor, not as swish as it should be). But, we were here for the cocktails, and they were fantastic. I started with a French 75, and then moved onto a Cosmopolitan (one of the best I've had, and goodness knows these are easy to screw up). My friend ended with a Clover Club, which despite my raspberry allergy looked like it was the best of the night. The olives and spiced peppers were a nice touch.


I'd love to give these guys five stars, and I think the cocktails were fantastic. But the staff were a little disengaged. They've rarely read that cocktail menu and if you order something that isn't a martini they get flustered. Not the best thing to do when you're serving two people who blog about cocktails.


I like it here, but I don't know many other options in Birmingham. I'm looking forward to finding them, but I'd be more than happy to wind up here again, it's much nicer than killing an hour in WHSmith waiting for a train.

Not very often that I can afford anything from The Mailbox however its great to look around with the high end shops which require you to have a gold credit card such as Harvey Nichs and Hugo Boss - there are also some very good places to eat in good surroundings.
Worth a visit after payday!