All Saints Church Square

Beautiful space to relax and people watch. It was refurbished few years ago, now with water features, café and lovely plants. I go past this square a lot, and you’ll see all sorts things happening like farmer’s market and other events.

This space was previously a grassy church yard to All Saints church, with a knee-​high wall around it. The idea came up of developing the space to turn it into a public square, like a suburban version of a village green.
The area is functional and pretty. There is a central maze that kids can navigate while mum catches a breather. Sturdy and eye-​pleasing seats surround the square, and there is a group of them huddled together where schoolkids can catch up on gossip. The existing gravestones have been sensitively incorporated into the design.
The centre piece is a two dimensional maze where you can read calming words of wisdom and inspiration as you make your way to the centre.
On the sunny evening that I went there with a group of 7 – 10 year olds, the space had a somewhat Mediterranean feel. A dark haired man lay with his eyes closed on one of the seats. A pretty woman waited for her date. He arrived on a bicycle and they strolled off. Over-​weight teenagers ate chicken and chips out of polystyrene containers. And the kids who were meant to be making crayon rubbings of the mosaics, gravestones and words of wisdom at ground level, splashed around in the bubbly fountains getting soaking wet.
Even though it’s been there for quite a while, this was the first time that I’d been to the square. It presents itself as a place to take time out, so I’ll make time to do just that sometime soon.

This is a great addition to the Kings Heath High Street. The experience of going to the centre of B14 can be harrowing, to say the least. There are too many cars, too many people, and a general feeling of «What the hell am I doing here??» soon overcomes you. This large open space offers some respite from that madness. The fact that it is also being used to house occasional markets (from Farmers to Crafts) is also a welcome change to the dynamic of the street and fosters a real community feel. Well done to all concerned!

I’m all for a public square. The Italians have their piazzas, the Spanish have their plazas, and the Brits have… ummm not very much. Admittedly, we don’t really have the weather to be hanging around civic communal spaces — in the UK, that’s what pubs are for — but I’m pleased to see that Kings Heath has said: «To hell with the British weather!» and created a great communal space, right in the centre of the high street.
It’s something that Kings Heath has actually needed for a long time — trogging up and down the high street can get a bit exhausting, and the constant traffic is pretty relentless. So what more could you ask for than a bit of well-​designed public space to break it up a bit? There are fountains (that take you by surprise — be warned…), benches, flower beds and other nice civic decorative things.
The only problem really is that it is right on the junction of one of the busiest parts of the high street, so you’re never going to get away from that damned traffic. It’s a big improvement, however, to before — and certainly something the high street needed.

OK, it’s not really a square, neither is it a shop, restaurant, bar etc, etc. But I think it adds quite a bit to the local flavour of Kings Heath. I don’t mean the centre here either.
In my view, we’ve been needing something like this locally for years. Kings Heath is bucking the trend and has a thriving local high street with a great number of independent local shops.
What it didn’t have was somewhere to ‘hang out’. I don’t mean a place for locals to sit and consume cheap booze, I mean a space that welcomes the whole community and provides a place to sit and enjoy the surrounding space in safety.
If you haven’t actually checked it out properly. Please do take a moment to sit on one of the benches. Take a look at the maze, encourage you’re children to give it a try, or to put their hands in the little water fountains, or just do it yourself.
It’s a lovely spot to take a moment from the shopping or just stop off on your journey home. I’m not in any way religious, but our local space is a much nicer place to be now that the All Saints project has been finished, so thank you to all those involved.