Bournbrook

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Bournbrook
View of Bournbrook High Street (A38 Bristol Road) looking north towards Edgbaston
Bournbrook shown within the West Midlands
Metropolitan borough	Birmingham
Metropolitan county	West Midlands
Region	West Midlands
Constituent country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	BIRMINGHAM
Postcode district	B29
Dialling code	0121
Police	West Midlands
Fire	West Midlands
Ambulance	West Midlands
European Parliament	West Midlands
UK Parliament	Birmingham Selly Oak
List of places: UK • England • West Midlands

Coordinates: 52°26′49″N 1°55′40″W / 52.44685, -1.9278

Bournbrook is an area in south-west Birmingham, England. The area is in the Selly Oak local council ward and also comes under the Selly Oak local council constituency.

The suburb of Bournbrook is bordered by Selly Oak to the south, Selly Park to the east, and Edgbaston to the north and west. The Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Birmingham Cross-City Railway Line run along the southern boundary of the area.

Much of Bournbrook was developed for industrial housing from the late 19th century, mostly in terraces of small dwellings. Located adjacent to the main campus of the University of Birmingham the area has become the principal area of private housing for students at the university, with university students representing as much as 76% of the population of Bournbrook and 29% of the total population of the Selly Oak ward as a whole.^[1]

1 Etymology
2 Population and services
3 Notable residents
4 References
5 Bibliography
6 External links

[edit] Etymology

The name comes from the Bourn Brook which flows along the northern boundary of the area (Bournville is named after a different Bourn).

[edit] Population and services

The Goose at the Old Varsity Tavern (formerly the Bournbrook Hotel), Market Place, Bournbrook

Due to the large concentration of students in Bournbrook, the area has retained many of its pubs, such as the Gun Barrels, the Bristol Pear, TC's, The Soak and the Goose at the Old Varsity Tavern, called the Bournbrook Hotel until the 1980s. There are also numerous eateries along the Bristol Road (A38), such as Woodstock, Mud Cafe, Adam's Place and the Selly Sausage. Adam's Place was awarded "Best Takeway Service" in the area following a recent student poll in Redbrick (The University of Birmingham Student Newspaper). Bournbrook also has a very high concentration of curry houses, largely run by Bengali immigrants.

Industry in the Bournbrook area has included gunmaking, boxmaking and motor cycle manufacture. The Ariel factory was in Dale Road, and the Westley Richards is still in Grange Road.

St Wulstan's, the Anglican church of Bournbrook, was consecrated on 6th and 7th October 1906. Its commemorative foundation stone declares that it was built 'To the Glory of God and for the benefit of the People of Bournbrook'.^[2] It became a separate parish in 1911.

The Tiverton Pool and Fitness Centre originally opened in Bournbrook on January 28, 1906 as Tiverton Road Public Baths. They were built by King's Norton and Northfield District Council and included two swimming baths, one with a gallery for spectators, a children's bath and private baths for men and women. The larger swimming pool would be floored over in the winter months and the floorspace was used for gymnastics. In 1911, it was taken over by Birmingham Baths Committee. More recently it has been converted into a health centre and now includes a "Pulse Point" gym as well as sunbeds and a sauna whilst retaining the swimming pool, the children's pool which is used as a smaller instruction pool and pool spectator seating facilities.

Both Bournbrook and Selly Oak are served by Selly Oak railway station on the Cross-City Line, providing services to the Birmingham New Street, Lichfield Trent Valley and Redditch stations. The former Bristol Road tram route and its depots were replaced by buses in 1952.

[edit] Notable residents

Bournbrook's most famous son is probably the popular tenor David Hughes, who was born Geoffrey Paddison (1929-1972).

[edit] References

^ Population statistics for Bournbrook and Selly Oak (2001 Census: Neighbourhood Statistics.)
^ St Wulstan's Church, Bournbrook: Jubilee Day Programme (1956)

[edit] Bibliography

Dowling, Geoff, Giles, Brain and Hayfield, Colin (1987). Selly Oak Past and Present: A Photographic Survey of a Birmingham Suburb. Department of Geography, University of Birmingham. ISBN 0-7044-0912-7 [Despite the title this book also covers Bournbrook]