Birmingham city centre in the context of "Smethwick"

Birmingham (/ˈbɜːrmɪŋəm/ BUR-ming-əm) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands region, in England. It is the largest local authority district in England by population and the second-largest city in Britain – commonly referred to as the second city of the United Kingdom – with a population of 1.2 million people in the city proper in 2024. Birmingham borders the Black Country to its west and, together with the city of Wolverhampton and towns including Dudley and Solihull, forms the West Midlands conurbation. The royal town of Sutton Coldfield is incorporated within the city limits to the northeast. Birmingham's urban area has a population of 2.7 million and its wider metropolitan area has a population of 4.3 million.

Located in the West Midlands region of England, Birmingham is considered to be the social, cultural, financial and commercial centre of the Midlands. It is just west of the traditional centre point of England at Meriden, and is the most inland major city in the country, lying north of the Cotswolds and east of the Shropshire Hills. Distinctively, Birmingham only has small rivers flowing through it, mainly the River Tame and its tributaries River Rea and River Cole – one of the closest main rivers is the Severn, approximately 20 miles (32 km) west of the city centre. The city does however have numerous canals, collectively named the Birmingham Canal Navigations.

Sutton Coldfield (/ˌsʌtən ˈkoʊldfiːld/ SUT-ən KOHLD-feeld pronunciation), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of Lichfield, 7 miles southwest of Tamworth, and 7 miles east of Walsall.

Sutton Coldfield and its surrounding suburbs are governed under Birmingham City Council for local government purposes but the town has its own town council which governs the town and its surrounding areas by running local services and electing a mayor to the council. It is in the historic county of Warwickshire, and in 1974 it became part of Birmingham and the West Midlands metropolitan county under the Local Government Act 1972.

Warwickshire (/ˈwɒrɪkʃər, -ʃɪər/ ; abbreviated Warks) is a ceremonial county in the West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Oxfordshire and Gloucestershire to the south, and Worcestershire and the West Midlands county to the west. The largest settlement is Nuneaton.

The county is largely rural, with an area of 763 sq mi (1,980 km) and an estimated population of 632,207 in 2024. It contains a number of towns, including Nuneaton and Bedworth in the north-east, Rugby in the east, Stratford-upon-Avon in the south-west, and Warwick and Leamington Spa adjacent to each other in the centre. For local government purposes, Warwickshire is a non-metropolitan county with five districts. The county historically included the city of Coventry and the area to its west, including Sutton Coldfield, Solihull and the city centre of Birmingham.

Queensway, in Birmingham, England, most often refers to the Queensway Tunnel, a 1,798 feet (548 m) long road tunnel in the centre of the city. The tunnel forms part of the designated A38, which locally is a major carriageway that cuts through Birmingham city centre. "Queensway" as a suffix is also the name of several other roads and circuses in the city (such as Smallbrook Queensway); all these roads including the tunnel collectively made up what was once called the Inner Ring Road, an orbital dual carriageway which has now been dismantled.

The old Inner Ring Road, which was also referred to as the "Queensway" and designated as the A4400 road, was completed and opened in 1971. Described as an "urban motorway" (although it was not officially designated as a motorway), it featured largely grade separated junctions and most of them allowed vehicles staying on the road to pass over or under those using the junction. Pedestrians were kept physically separate from vehicular traffic and used subways to cross the ring road. Although seen as revolutionary when first opened, the 'Concrete Collar', as it became known, was viewed by council planners as an impenetrable barrier for the expansion of the city centre. By the 1990s, changes were made to the road as the council sought to improve pedestrian links, and vehicular movements were increasingly shifted out to the Middleway. The Inner Ring Road was effectively dismantled in the early 2000s, with many of its roads having been rebuilt and downgraded to surface-level streets, resulting in them resembling city streets far more. The Queensway Tunnel and St Chad's Tunnel, as well as the Lancaster Circus and Suffolk Street flyovers, are remaining relics of the ring road and make up most of the present A38 carriageway in this area.

The Middleway, officially designated as the A4540 and signposted as ring road, is an orbital road in Birmingham, England. Serving as the sole ring road of the city, it runs around Birmingham city centre at a distance of approximately 1 mile (1.6 km). The A38 (including the Queensway tunnels) cuts through it vertically.

Chelmsley Wood, sometimes called just Chelmsley, is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, West Midlands, England, with a population of 12,453. It is located near Birmingham Airport and the National Exhibition Centre. It lies about eight miles east of Birmingham city centre and 5 miles to the north of Solihull. The town is also close to both Coleshill and Water Orton in Warwickshire, the county the area was historically part of.

In 1966 Birmingham City Council compulsorily purchased the ancient woodland and built the 15,590 dwelling council estate to rehouse families on its council house waiting list. With the rise in unemployment in the 1970s parts of the estate suffered from deprivation and anti-social behaviour. The area established a town council.

Birmingham New Street, also known as New Street station, is the largest and busiest of the three main railway stations in Birmingham city centre, West Midlands, England; it is a central hub of the British railway system. The station is a major destination for Avanti West Coast services from London Euston, Preston, Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley, and West Midlands Trains services from Liverpool Lime Street and London Euston both via the West Coast Main Line. The CrossCountry network centres on New Street, as well as local and suburban services within the West Midlands; these include those on the Cross-City Line between Lichfield Trent Valley, Redditch and Bromsgrove, and the Chase Line to Walsall and Rugeley Trent Valley. The three-letter station code is BHM.

The station is named after New Street, which runs parallel to it, although the station has never had a direct entrance from New Street except via the Grand Central shopping centre. Historically, the main entrance was on Stephenson Street, just off New Street. As of 2022, the station has entrances on Stephenson Street, Smallbrook Queensway, Hill Street and Navigation Street.