The Birmingham ‘Eye’

Posted November 30, 2003

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There’s a big ferris wheel thingy in Birmingham at the moment. I was walking past at dusk and took some photos.



19 comments so far

  1. Dad on December 1st, 2003

    Good light! Good choice of perspectives. It’s located where the fiberglass sculpture “Forward” used to be before a couple of thugs set it on fire. When April and I were in the area in November it was raining hard and the wheel was closed. It’s not as big as the London Eye but probably as big as the one in Paris.

  2. Pete on December 1st, 2003

    Problem is, once you’ve seen (or in my case lived pretty much next to) the London Eye every other big wheel seems, well, not so big. I had to really think about it before aknoweldging that perhaps this Brum one actually was on the large side.

    I did think as I was preparing to take the photos that the fish-barrel thing was in action. None of them were duff. Sometimes scale just does the job for you.

  3. Sue on December 9th, 2003

    Love the photos. I’m hoping to take the children on the wheel on our next trip to Brum, very soon.

    I agree it’s as big as the one in Paris…because it IS the one from Paris!
    ;o)

  4. Dad on December 11th, 2003

    So the second city gets a second hand ferris wheel! I knew I had seen it somewhere before!

    Meantime I see that the miscreant who accidentally set fire to “Forward” will not be brought to justice. Of course there are those who would say he did the right thing in destroying the piece. However I, for one, liked it a lot and shall miss it.

  5. Rob Fisher on December 14th, 2003

    Interestingly, if you ride on this wheel you’ll notice that the recorded guide speaks in French and is talking about Paris, not Birmingham. Yes, really.

    (That’s because it _is_ the one in Paris).

  6. Pete on December 15th, 2003

    Nice story about the commentary. It’s good to see that changing a tape over comes under the category of “complex technical difficulties”.

  7. shamela on February 27th, 2004

    the birmingham eye is wicked you shold go on it if you dont tuff luck it is wicked check it i am a year 10 student at whtc

  8. emma on December 1st, 2004

    could you let us know how much the cost will be

  9. Pete Ashton on December 2nd, 2004

    No idea, Emma. You probably best ask the people who run it.

  10. queso on December 6th, 2004

    its in manchester now, next to the printworks

  11. andrew on December 12th, 2004

    i know we are the second city and get an second hand wheel but this its looks like we have had the front wheel this time . i went to city centre night and was very nice to see wheel with all light on .well done birmingham .

  12. Pete Ashton on December 13th, 2004

    Aparently, and this is just something I heard, this one is permanent and ain’t going anwhere. The fabled Paris one is, according to my man Queso, in Manchester.

  13. Dad on December 24th, 2004

    We were in Brum yesterday and the new Birmingham Wheel looks a lot better than the old (Paris) one. We went to a concert in Symphony Hall (worthy of a separate feature) and during the interval stood on the Level 4 foyer where the Wheel (in neon blue lights) was nicely framed by the steel and glass window wall of Symphony Hall. Would have made a great photo with a wide angle lens.

    Trip on the Wheel costs £5, by the way.

  14. Kirsty on May 9th, 2005

    Hi, me and my friends went on this. It was good, my friend cried on it, and me and my other friend were laughing at her. But I would recommend to go on it.

  15. Lucy on December 8th, 2005

    the wheel is still here. its all christmassy at the moment! i’m scared to go on it but i do really want to!

  16. bob on January 6th, 2006

    The Eye is great1 it scared my nan and my cousin from Oz loved it!

  17. mark catanzareti on January 10th, 2006

    You should see the Ferris Wheel at Great Adventure here in New Jersey. I froze and couldn’t move. It takes you too high. Whooo!
    Mark

  18. Chloe on March 23rd, 2006

    I think the wheel is very nice and now I am doing a geography project for school about birmingham so I am including the wheel so i came across this site! :D

  19. Tamzin on March 25th, 2006

    I went to the wheel the toehr day it was amazing i went with my boyfriend and it was so nice lit up in the dark. But i found out after i had been on it wasn’t bolted to the floor! its held up by water in the legs of it haha!