Paradise Circus

[Truvelo]

Is this junction defunct just because the roundabout has gone? A quick look on GSV shows this new sign bearing the junction name. This is common with other circuses in the city which have become traffic lights but retain their original names.

[c2R]

Is this junction defunct just because the roundabout has gone? A quick look on GSV shows this new sign bearing the junction name. This is common with other circuses in the city which have become traffic lights but retain their original names.

I was giving that some thought - I might un-defunct it - or is it now simply called Paradise without the circus bit? The sign seems to indicate it's still called circus though, if thats correct!

[Chris5156]

Is this junction defunct just because the roundabout has gone? A quick look on GSV shows this new sign bearing the junction name. This is common with other circuses in the city which have become traffic lights but retain their original names.

A junction doesn't have to be a roundabout to be called a "circus". Originally the name just meant a junction in a city where the buildings had been pushed away from the corners to create a bigger space. Oxford Circus in London, for example, has never been a roundabout.

[Bryn666]

Is this junction defunct just because the roundabout has gone? A quick look on GSV shows this new sign bearing the junction name. This is common with other circuses in the city which have become traffic lights but retain their original names.

A junction doesn't have to be a roundabout to be called a "circus". Originally the name just meant a junction in a city where the buildings had been pushed away from the corners to create a bigger space. Oxford Circus in London, for example, has never been a roundabout.

Indeed, Darwen Circus has never been a roundabout either, although we did propose at one stage to make it into one...

Paradise Circus is still Paradise Circus, it's a reformed junction not a defunct one.

[Truvelo]

...it's a reformed junction not a defunct one.

That's a very polite way of putting it. I'm a bit less tactful

[c2R]

Thanks all, I've un-defuncted the junction on the wiki; the article does need some work to fully describe what the junction now comprises as well as some further historical information. Truvelo, could you draw a map in the style of the alternative proposal one to indicate what was there until recently?

NB - I'll leave Friday Bridge as being defunct though, as that definitely is no longer there (nearby apartment buildings don't count!).

[Truvelo]

Truvelo, could you draw a map in the style of the alternative proposal one to indicate what was there until recently?

That will be no problem. I'm just working on alternative layouts for M40 J15 at the moment. When I've uploaded these I'll start on Paradise Circus.

[c2R]

Truvelo, could you draw a map in the style of the alternative proposal one to indicate what was there until recently?

That will be no problem. I'm just working on alternative layouts for M40 J15 at the moment. When I've uploaded these I'll start on Paradise Circus.

Thank you - it seems the sort of article we should really improve, as there is so much history about it in such a relatively short amount of time. I didn't realise, for example, that there was an entire canal that was there, and then wasn't again! And I got there (Friday Bridge), from the nearby Saturday bridge, which shares a name with a bridge in Lincolnshire in Holbeach parish, which is where I'm currently working on Class III road lists.... the wiki is definitely a forever project!

[Sabrista]

Probably one of the most misnamed places ever.

Serena

[c2R]

Probably one of the most misnamed places ever.

Serena

It was a giant building site when I was last there...

[Fenlander]

Truvelo, could you draw a map in the style of the alternative proposal one to indicate what was there until recently?

That will be no problem. I'm just working on alternative layouts for M40 J15 at the moment. When I've uploaded these I'll start on Paradise Circus.

Thank you - it seems the sort of article we should really improve, as there is so much history about it in such a relatively short amount of time. I didn't realise, for example, that there was an entire canal that was there, and then wasn't again! And I got there (Friday Bridge), from the nearby Saturday bridge, which shares a name with a bridge in Lincolnshire in Holbeach parish, which is where I'm currently working on Class III road lists.... the wiki is definitely a forever project!

Friday Bridge being a village south of Wisbech, not too far away from Holbeach.

[c2R]

That will be no problem. I'm just working on alternative layouts for M40 J15 at the moment. When I've uploaded these I'll start on Paradise Circus.

Thank you - it seems the sort of article we should really improve, as there is so much history about it in such a relatively short amount of time. I didn't realise, for example, that there was an entire canal that was there, and then wasn't again! And I got there (Friday Bridge), from the nearby Saturday bridge, which shares a name with a bridge in Lincolnshire in Holbeach parish, which is where I'm currently working on Class III road lists.... the wiki is definitely a forever project!

Friday Bridge being a village south of Wisbech, not too far away from Holbeach.

It certainly is; and also was a bridge in Birmingham that was buried by Paradise Friday Bridge (Birmingham)

[Truvelo]

The last time I was there the central library was being demolished. What a sad loss of a fine example of brutalist architecture.

Anyway, I've added a map of the former layout to the Wiki article.

[c2R]

Thank you, that's perfect.

[Truvelo]

I've added another map showing the earliest known proposal. I wonder how many more designs were produced?

[fras]

The last time I was there the central library was being demolished. What a sad loss of a fine example of brutalist architecture.

Anyway, I've added a map of the former layout to the Wiki article.

This was being built when I first came to Birmingham to work in about 1971/2. The original design for Paradise Circus was never finished. The School of Music got its portland stone facing, but the library never did. Instead the bare concrete was bush-hammered to a sort of finish but it never looked particularly good. The bus station underneath never opened, and any buildings at the north end never got built. A real mess, frankly, and what's there now is totally undistinguished. It seems impossible for Birmingham City Council to actually get anything built that is memorable, they seem to knock half of the city centre down every 30 years or so.

[Truvelo]

The bus station underneath never opened...

Does that explain why there was a series of bus stops at the north end of the junction?

[Chris Bertram]

The bus station underneath never opened...

Does that explain why there was a series of bus stops at the north end of the junction?

That was part of a grander plan as described. The main bus station would have been on the east side of the circus, and exited onto the outside lane of the roundabout. Remember that the speed limit was 40 on the ring road, for years, even after the failed bus station exit had been replaced by a garden, there was a 40 sign at the corner where the merge would have been.