Kings Heath
The best thing about Kings Heath is all the lovely green open spaces.
What’s going for it? Kings Heath is the promised land. Indeed, before we all got aspirations about individual fulfilment through things other than a daily commute to nine-to-five jobs, suburbs such as this supplied everything most of us could dream of. The loveliest homes: late Victorian or 1920s, all period details and roomy rooms. The streets are broad and bursting with juicy trees. There are parks for toddlers and terriers to run wild: one, Kings Heath, all tea rooms and municipal borders; the other, Highbury, rambling and raggedy. Golf course? Of course. Good schools. The High Street is just the right side of humdrum. But Kings Heath has a wild side, too. A touch of bohemia is drifting in from Moseley. Da Heath is gathering a scene, since Laura Mvula waxed lyrical about her hometown in Green Garden. The magnificent Hare & Hounds has long let commuters unleash their inner mosh. But the flat whites are here. Before you know it, there’ll be craft beer and everything. Wonderful.
Flat whites, Yummy Mummies and Craft beer. This is the hippest place in Brum.
Well connected? The nearest train station is a 15-minute walk away in Bournville, with several trains an hour to New Street (15 or so mins). You won’t want for buses. By car, you can reach the city centre in 15 mins (er, without traffic), the M42 in 15 mins and the M5 or Birmingham Airport in 20.
Schools are top notch. Primaries: St Dunstan’s Catholic, Billesley, Kings Heath and Wheelers Lane are good, says Ofsted, with Woodthorpe Junior outstanding. Secondaries: Kings Heath Boys and Swanshurst (girls, mixed sixth form) are good. Queensbridge, with Wheelers Lane Technology College, King Edward VI Camp Hill boys and Girls outstanding.
We nipped into The Lounge to chat to some lovely locals… A fantastic, newly created Village Square hosts the monthly Brum Yum Yum street food fair and farmers’ market. The shopping centre is flourishing with quirky independent shops and cafes.
- Closest village/town: Moseley
- Post Office: 1
- Stores: There's a butchers, a bakers and we wouldn't be surprised if there was a candle stick makers!
- Supermarket: Asda is on the High Street
- Pubs: The Hare & Hounds is awesome
- Walks: Kings Heath Park is a great place to walk the labradoodle
- :
