August in the Arcade: Three Reasons to Visit Birmingham City Centre This Month
August in the Arcade: Three Reasons to Visit Birmingham City Centre This Month
August is one of Birmingham’s most animated months. The city fills up, the calendar fills up, and if you know where to look, there is genuinely excellent food, culture and independent retail happening all around you. Great Western Arcade sits right at the centre of it — between Colmore Row and Temple Row, a Grade II listed Victorian building that has been doing its own thing quietly for 150 years while the rest of the city rushes past.
This month, there are three very good reasons to plan a visit. Here is everything you need to know.
Birmingham Restaurant Festival — All of August, with Land and Samo Bistro at GWA
Birmingham Restaurant Festival returns for its fifth year, and this time it is the biggest it has ever been — 60 restaurants across the city offering exclusive set menus throughout the whole of August. The premise is simple: book a table, enjoy a specially created festival menu at a fraction of the usual price, and discover the best of Birmingham’s food scene in one month-long celebration.
This year, Great Western Arcade has not one but two restaurants in the BRF line-up — Land, which many will already know, and Samo Bistro, the arcade’s newest arrival. Between them, they make GWA one of the strongest destinations in the city for festival dining this August.
Land Restaurant — Great Western Arcade
Land is a modern, plant-focused restaurant serving a tasting menu of bold, seasonal dishes. It appeared in the Michelin Guide 2026 for the second consecutive year and has also received a Good Food Guide nomination. For Birmingham Restaurant Festival, Land is offering a tasting menu experience — one of only 60 restaurants in the city selected to take part.
If you have walked past and assumed it was not for you, August is the best possible time to find out otherwise.
Samo Bistro — Great Western Arcade
Samo Bistro is the newest restaurant to join Great Western Arcade — a contemporary bistro serving modern European dishes in an intimate, candlelit space inside the arcade. Already part of the BRF 2026 line-up in their first summer here, Samo is worth seeking out whether you are coming for festival month or simply looking for somewhere that feels nothing like the high street.
Confident cooking. A room full of character. A very good reason to step off Colmore Row.
Birmingham Restaurant Festival runs from 1 to 31 August. Menus must be booked in advance through the Birmingham Restaurant Festival website: birminghamrestaurantfestival.co.uk. Tables at both restaurants fill quickly during festival month — book ahead.
Practical details Birmingham Restaurant Festival: 1–31 August 2026. Land Restaurant and Samo Bistro are both inside Great Western Arcade, Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QQ. Book your table at birminghamrestaurantfestival.co.uk
Birmingham Weekender — 29 to 31 August, Bank Holiday Weekend
The Bank Holiday weekend brings Birmingham Weekender back to the city centre — the free arts festival produced by Birmingham Hippodrome in partnership with Bullring. This year the theme is Mirror Bull City: the city centre transforms into an open-air disco, with DJ sets, dance performances, installations and live music spread across Victoria Square, Rotunda Square, New Street Station and Bullring.
Over 100,000 people are expected across the three days. The programme includes Birmingham Royal Ballet, a headline DJ set from Huey Morgan, performances from Talawa Theatre Company, roaming circus creatures including Epico the dragon, and the CBSO in the City finale with up to seventy musicians performing in the open air. Everything is free.
Victoria Square — where much of the festival is anchored — is directly adjacent to the Colmore Row entrance of Great Western Arcade. If you are in the city centre for Birmingham Weekender, GWA is the natural stopping point: independent shops, award-winning restaurants and bars, all under one Victorian roof, a two-minute walk from the main stages.
Practical details Birmingham Weekender: Saturday 29 – Monday 31 August 2026. Free to attend. Events across Victoria Square, Rotunda Square, New Street Station and Bullring. Great Western Arcade is open during Bank Holiday weekend. Find us on Colmore Row, B3 2QQ — two minutes from Snow Hill station. Full programme at birminghamhippodrome.com
Mary Poppins at Great Western Arcade — Saturday 29th August, 11am–3pm
If you are bringing children into the city centre for Birmingham Weekender, there is one more reason to make Great Western Arcade your first stop on Bank Holiday Saturday.
Mary Poppins and Bert will be performing inside the arcade on Saturday 29th August from 11am to 3pm — a free family event in one of Birmingham’s most magical settings. Victorian arches, a glass ceiling roof, and Mary Poppins stepping through. It is, by any measure, a rather good combination.
The event runs at the same time as Birmingham Weekender, so if you are already in the city centre for the festival, GWA is a natural and very worthwhile detour. No tickets needed. Just step through the arches.
Practical details Mary Poppins at Great Western Arcade: Saturday 29th August 2026, 11am–3pm. Free. No booking required. Great Western Arcade, Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QQ.
While You’re in the Arcade This August
The events bring people into the heart of Birmingham — and Great Western Arcade has its own reasons to linger once you are here. Here are a few worth knowing about.
Sushi Passion
Named East Asian Restaurant of the Year at the Midlands Food, Drink & Hospitality Awards 2025, and selected by Michelin-starred chef Glynn Purnell. Reviewers this month are calling it the best sushi in Birmingham. Tucked inside the arcade on the Colmore Row side.
Loki Wine — Units 35–36
An independent wine merchant where the staff ask what you are having for dinner before they recommend anything. Not the popular shelf. Not the safe pick. The right bottle for you, every time. One of the most genuinely personal retail experiences in the city.
The Good Intent
One of the UK’s pioneering not-for-profit bars, founded by Craddock’s Brewery in October 2019. Every pound of profit goes to local charities. Six cask ales on tap, a characterful interior of pews and black-and-white tiles, and a genuine sense of purpose behind every pint.
Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe
Feels like something straight out of a Roald Dahl storybook. Flying saucers. Gobstoppers in proper glass jars. Handmade fudge. A time machine disguised as a sweet shop, inside one of Birmingham’s most beautiful Victorian buildings.
Finding Us
Great Western Arcade has entrances on Colmore Row and Temple Row in Birmingham city centre. We are two minutes’ walk from Birmingham Snow Hill station and five minutes from Birmingham New Street. Individual tenant opening hours vary — check directly with each shop or restaurant before visiting.
Great Western Arcade — Colmore Row, Birmingham B3 2QQ
An 1876 Victorian arcade in the heart of Birmingham’s Colmore District. Independent shops, award-winning restaurants, a not-for-profit bar and 150 years of character — all under one glass roof.
Follow us on Instagram @gwabirmingham for what’s happening inside the arcade this August.