Bearwood, West Midlands
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Bearwood is an area, originally a tiny hamlet, astride the border of Sandwell, West Midlands, England, and Birmingham with much of it lying in the Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in Smethwick including the Bearwood Road and a small part belonging to Birmingham. Bearwood like many areas of the West Midlands conurbation has a local sense of place, although has become absorbed into Smethwick proper. Many locals still use the term "The Bear" especially referring to "The Bear Hotel" located in Bearwood.
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[edit] General description
Bearwood has a small shopping parade on Bearwood Road, including a small indoor market, and a number of other local amenities such as banks, supermarkets, bakeries and pharmacies. There are several opticians and a large NHS dental practice situated on this road. The Birmingham Outer Circle bus routes (the 11A and the 11C), which link Birmingham's suburbs, have stops here. Bearwood also has a number of restaurants serving a range of different cuisines.
Bearwood Road leads northwards to Smethwick High Street, and at the southern end joins Hagley Road, one of the main arterial routes into Birmingham from the M5 at Junction 3. If the plans for the Midlands Metro extension along the Hagley Road are realised, Bearwood will also have a tram stop.
Between 1923 and 1973, Bearwood was the headquarters of the Birmingham & Midland Motor Omnibus Company - or "Midland Red" - based at the company's depot in Bearwood Road. Although most of the company's innovative buses were built at its Carlyle Road workshops in nearby Edgbaston, they were all registered at Bearwood and as such carried the Smethwick 'HA' prefix on their number plates.
[edit] History
Some of the Birmingham conurbation's older properties can be found in the roads adjoining Bearwood Road. A traditionally upper working class area of Victorian terraced houses, this has more recently become much sought after, as house prices in neighbouring areas such as Harborne have moved out of the range of first time buyers.
[edit] Parks
Lightwoods Park runs alongside Hagley Road and features a skateboard ramp and bowling green. It also has a walled garden called "The Shakespeare Garden" with benches, ponds and plants. This park is located within Sandwell MBC, but was ceded to Birmingham in the early 20th century. The bandstand (a Grade II listed building [1]) has railings bearing the Birmingham Forward crest, and the drinking fountain also has City of Birmingham inscriptions. Under a recent agreement between Birmingham and Sandwell, management has now been returned to Sandwell from November 2010.[2] The historic Lightwoods House, a Grade II listed building [3] is now undergoing extensive renovation. It had been used for a number of years by the Hardman company, which makes stained glass windows.
Warley Park, colloquially called "Warley Woods", is nearby. It is grade II listed on the English Heritage Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. It covers 100 acres (0.40 km2) and includes a meadow, woodland and a public golf course.[4]
[edit] Schools
Also situated on Bearwood Road is Bearwood Primary School, a mixed sex school for children between the ages of 3 and 11 years. It is well above average size, serving 479 pupils.
St Gregory's Primary School on Park Road, just off Bearwood Road, also is a mixed school for children between 3 and 11.
Abbey Infants School and Abbey Juniors lie to the north, on the edge of Warley Woods.
Every year Bearwood hosts a music festival at Warley Woods- Picnic In The Park - to promote local bands and artists and to promote use and up keep of the parkland.
[edit] Local entertainment
Bearwood has a small range of local restaurants: Azzari Too, The King's Arms, Teknaf Cuisine. Local pub The Bearwood Tavern hosted comedy nights in the 1980s hosted by local comedian Frank Skinner (Chris Collins) and many TV comedians appeared there, including Sean Hughes,Ed Byrne and some of TV's "The Fast Show".
Bearwood's main musical claim to fame lies with Christine Perfect, who grew up in Bearwood and studied sculpture at art college in Birmingham. She joined Fleetwood Mac and married John McVie in 1970 and, as Christine McVie, went on to become one of the outstanding members in the band's long and illustrious career. Keith Law member of the bands, Velvett Fogg and 'Jardine', lived in Park Road, Bearwood, in the mid-1980s. Other musical claims to fame include the now defunct "Little Nibble" cafe getting a mention on Dexy's Midnight Runners "Don't Stand Me Down" album and local -ish band The Twang rehearsing at the Sandwell Snooker Centre in the town. Well known actress Julie Walters lived in Bishopton Road as a child.
There are many local musicians in the area and until recently there were regular acoustic performances at Atticus Bar, which closed its doors in November 2008.
