Grand Central, Birmingham facts for kids
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| Location | Birmingham, England |
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| Coordinates | 52°28′39.98″N 1°53′55.86″W / 52.4777722°N 1.8988500°W |
| Opening date | 24 September 2015 |
| Developer | Network Rail |
| Management | Jonathan Cheetham |
| Owner |
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| Architect | Haskoll |
| No. of stores and services | 62 |
| No. of anchor tenants | 1 (John Lewis and Partners) (formerly) |
| Total retail floor area | c. 500,000 sq ft (46,000 m2) |
| No. of floors | 1 |
| Parking | 450 Spaces, including 23 Disabled spaces, and 13 Parent & Child spaces |
Grand Central is a big shopping centre in Birmingham, England. It sits right above the New Street train station. This centre first opened in 1971. It has had a few names over the years. It was first called Birmingham Shopping Centre. Later, it became The Pallasades Shopping Centre. In 2015, it reopened as Grand Central after a huge makeover.
Today, Grand Central is owned by two companies, Hammerson and CPPIB. They bought it in 2016. Grand Central is connected to another large shopping centre, the Bullring. They are linked by a special bridge called "LinkStreet". Together, they form one of the biggest city centre shopping areas in the United Kingdom. It's often called Bullring & Grand Central.
Contents
A Look Back: Grand Central's Story
How It All Started
The shopping centre you see today first opened in 1971. It was built as part of a big project. This project was to rebuild the New Street train station below it. When it first opened, it was known as the Birmingham Shopping Centre. Later, its name was changed to The Pallasades.
Grand Central's Big Makeover
Why a New Look?
Grand Central got a huge update as part of the "Gateway Plus" project. This project also modernized the New Street station. The makeover took many years to complete. A company from Birmingham, Colemans, helped with the demolition work.
What's New?
The shopping centre was completely redesigned. It now has a special roof made of a material called ETFE. This roof lets in lots of natural light. The centre has over 60 stores. It covers a huge area of about 500,000 square feet. For a long time, the main store was John Lewis.
Many shops, restaurants, and cafés opened here for the first time in Birmingham. Some of these included Cath Kidston, The White Company, Kiehls, Giraffe, and Tapas Revolution. The new Grand Central opened its doors in September 2015. This was at the same time as the modern New Street station.
Tram Stop Connection
The shopping centre's name was also given to a nearby tram stop. This tram stop is called Grand Central tram stop. It opened in May 2016.
Changes Over Time
In 2020, John Lewis announced some news. Their store would not reopen after being closed during the COVID-19 rules.
Grand Central has even been a movie set! It was chosen as a place to film the 2023 movie Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One.
Images for kids
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The modern architecture of the new Grand Central shopping centre
