Tin Tins

Freeth's Coffee House, the popular name for the Leicester Arms on the corner of Bell Street and Lease Lane in Birmingham, England, was a tavern and coffee house that operated from 1736 until 1832.One of the most celebrated meeting places of Georgian England, it was already known during the early eighteenth century as a place for small businessmen and lawyers to conduct business. During the second half of the century, when its landlord was the topical ballad-writer John Freeth, it was at the forefront of the emergence of popular political consciousness in Birmingham, as the host of radical groups such as the Birmingham Book Club, and as the focus for local opposition to the governments of Lord North.

Birmingham Market Hall was a municipal market hall in the Bull Ring area of Birmingham, England (and part of the city centre there), from 1835 until 1940, when the interior and roof were destroyed by wartime bombing; although the shell of the building remained in use until final demolition in the 1960s.

The Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England is located in the city centre's Southside. It is an area with a predominantly Chinese influence as a result of a concentration of Chinese owned businesses, organisations and social clubs. The area now covers a neighbourhood that includes Hurst Street, Ladywell Walk and Pershore Street. Many of the buildings in the area have Chinese architectural features and art including Chinese style roofs and wall murals in the Arcadian Centre depicting historical scenes typical of the Silk Road.

The Rotunda is a cylindrical highrise building in Birmingham, England. The Grade II listed building is 81 metres (266 ft) tall and was completed in 1965. Originally designed to be an office block, by architect James A. Roberts A.R.I.B.A., it was refurbished between 2004 and 2008 by Urban Splash with Glenn Howells who turned it into a residential building, with serviced apartments on 19th and 20th floors. The building was officially reopened on 13 May 2008.

The Birmingham Odeon is a cinema and former concert venue located in Birmingham, England.

Southside is a new name for the district in the city centre of Birmingham, England. It contains the Chinese Quarter, the city's Gay Village, The Arcadian and the Hippodrome Theatre. At the end of May 2009, the Birmingham City Council approved plans for a £530,000 environmental improvement scheme at the heart of the city's Gay Village area. The changes included extending the avenue of street trees to the full length of Hurst Street and parts of Kent Street; widening pavements to create space for café bars to provide outdoor seating and brighter street lighting with decorative lanterns.

The Bull Ring is a major shopping area in central Birmingham England, and has been an important feature of Birmingham since the Middle Ages, when its market was first held. Two shopping centres have been built in the area; in the 1960s, and then in 2003; the latter is styled as one word, Bullring. When coupled with Grand Central (to which it is connected via a pedestrian overpass, branded as ‘LinkStreet’) it forms the United Kingdom's largest city centre based shopping centre, styled as Bullring & Grand Central. The site is located on the edge of the sandstone city ridge which results in the steep gradient towards Digbeth. The slope drops approximately 15 metres (49 ft) from New Street to St Martin's Church which is very visible near the church.The current shopping centre was the busiest in the United Kingdom in 2004 with 36.5 million visitors. It houses one of only four Selfridges department stores and previously the fourth largest Debenhams in the UK.

The Old Rep (originally Birmingham Repertory Theatre) is the United Kingdom's first ever purpose-built repertory theatre, constructed in 1913, located on Station Street in Birmingham, England. The theatre was a permanent home for Barry Jackson's Birmingham Repertory Company, formed in 1911 from his amateur theatre group, The Pilgrim Players, founded in 1907. Jackson funded the construction of the theatre and established his professional company there. Architect S. N. Cooke, a colleague from the Birmingham School of Art, collaborated with Barry Jackson in the creation of the theatre. Both Jackson and Cooke took inspiration from the democratic nature of theatres that they had visited in Germany. The design of The Old Rep was particularly influenced by Max Littmann's 1908 Künstlertheater in Munich.In 2014, Birmingham Ormiston Academy, also known as BOA, successfully tendered for The Old Rep Theatre.The theatre is situated just opposite New Street Station, from which a blue plaque, above the theatre's first floor windows, to Barry Jackson can be seen. Two doors down, Britain's oldest working cinema can be found, the Electric Cinema.

Ringway Centre is a Grade B locally listed building located on Smallbrook Queensway in the city centre of Birmingham, England. The six-storey, 230 metres (750 ft) long building was designed by architect James Roberts as part of the Inner Ring Road scheme in the 1950s and is notable for its gentle sweeping curved frontal elevation.Completed in 1962, the Ringway Centre was the first part of the Inner Ring Road scheme to be completed, and the only part with street-level shops and footways. The building currently provides office space on its upper floors and commercial space at street level.

The Statue of Horatio Nelson by Richard Westmacott, RA (1775–1856) stands in the Bull Ring, Birmingham, England.

Centre City Tower is a commercial building in the Birmingham city centre, England owned by Bruntwood.The building's architects were Richard Seifert and Partners. The Centre City complex consists of two buildings, the Tower and the Podium. The Podium is a low-rise building that surrounds the Tower base, but (with the exception of fire escapes) there is no direct connection between the two. This arrangement means that the first floor of the Tower is at approximately seventh-floor level when compared with other buildings. When first constructed, the Podium contained at ground level a nightclub and a theatre. The theatre was a requirement of the City Council, who stipulated that a public amenity should be provided as a condition of granting planning permission. However, the proximity of three other theatres probably contributed to no-one taking up the concession to run the theatre and it remained unused until c.1990, when it and the nightclub space were converted to additional office accommodation, under the title 'Centre City Atrium'. Before building work commenced, the 'lost' theatre was featured in an article in the UK trade journal New Civil Engineer. This may explain why the street at the back of the building is called 'Theatre Approach' though the presence next door of the former Tatler Theatre may be a more convincing explanation. The Podium exterior was cleaned in mid-2006 using a power-washer. It was named as the 'ugliest building in the UK' by photography experts ParrotPrint.

The Water Services Regulation Authority, or Ofwat, is the body responsible for economic regulation of the privatised water and sewerage industry in England and Wales. Ofwat's main statutory duties include protecting the interests of consumers, securing the long-term resilience of water supply and wastewater systems, and ensuring that companies carry out their functions and are able to finance them.Ofwat primarily sets limits on the prices charged for water and sewerage services, taking into account proposed capital investment schemes (such as building new wastewater treatment works) and expected operational efficiency gains. The most recent review was carried out in 2019; reviews are carried out every five years, with the next due to take place in December 2024.The Water Act 2014 extended retail competition to all non-household customers of English water companies from April 2017 and provided for possible future competition in wholesale markets. Ofwat's role includes regulating such water and wastewater markets and promoting effective competition wherever appropriate.Ofwat consists of a board, plus an office of staff which carries out work delegated to them by the board. The Environment Agency is responsible for environmental regulation, and the Drinking Water Inspectorate for regulating drinking water quality. Water in Northern Ireland is regulated by the Northern Ireland Authority for Utility Regulation, and the supply and treatment is carried out by the government-owned Northern Ireland Water. There is no separate charge for water for residents or companies in Northern Ireland. Instead, water is paid for by the rates system. The water industry regulator in Scotland is the Water Industry Commission for Scotland.