The Fort Shopping Park

If you don't fancy heading to the centre of Birmingham for shopping heaven (why not?!) this shopping park has a number of flagship stores and eateries. Best of all the car parking is free, although as you can imagine finding a space at the weekends can be tricky so I would advise getting here early.

Next, Boots (with a mini Waitrose inside), Topshop, Oasis and many more are here. If you are feeling hungry there is a Frankie and Benny's, Nandos, and Harvester and well as a few coffee places to try.

All in all a worthwhile place to visit to stock up on the essentials.

As I'm currently the Duchess of the Fort, it would be rude not to review the place!

For me, this is quite local a I live just a couple of miles away. It's a typical out of town shopping centre with all of the high street familiars in one open space, so not at all an indie heaven, but useful if you need a Boots or M&S. It also has a BHS, Dorothy Perkins, Evans, and Carephone Warehouse, to name but a few.

There's plenty of coffee, cake and food options including Starbucks, Costa Coffee, M&S Cafe and eateries such as Nandos, Harvester and Frankie & Bennies.

There's plenty of free parking (it does get very busy around Christmas, and sometimes of a weekend) and it feels less claustrophobic than some shopping centres, being open air and built in a big loop.

As far as these things go, it's decent enough, well maintained and with plenty of options.

The Fort is an atypical retail park mimicking the high street with its plethora of chains all in one place and is well served for the out of town retail market and has a good ample car park.

If you live East of Brum and want an out of town retail experience then this is one, although it is not what I would call a particularly pleasant experience.

Getting here is also an absolute pain - and is not well reserved by buses.

BHS went a good few months ago and it looks as if in a few months there will be a huge NEXT store in its place.

I like to go to The Fort when I know exactly what I need. No messing, free car parking and a selection of stores to choose from.
WH Smiths, HMV, Oasis, Top Shop, Sports Direct, Evans, Warehouse, Boots, Perfume Shop, JJB, Mothercare, Brantano, Bank, Vodafone, O2, Carephone Warehouse, M&S, Clarkes, Clintons cards, New Look, Debenhams, Starbucks, CostaCoffee, Nandos, Burger King, Franki & Bennies, Harvester, Skallywags Play area and more.

I really don't see the point in the Fort shopping park other than the companies which are located there being able to capitalise on the poor, unsuspecting office workers from Fort Dunlop. Aaaah, that would be the point then!
Seriously though there is no reason to go there when the Bullring is a mere 15 mins away by bus. I mean, they have some ok stores but there will always be something that you can't find there and you will end up in the city centre regardless, spending even more money! They should have made it a discount outlet park so that us city dwellers had reason to go there.

Not even a fort, has 0 cannons.

The thing i really like about the fort is that before you have ever been here, you've basically been here a million times.

Same old shops, restaurants, coffee places blah blah blah. Just showing up to this place is enough to corrupt children into becoming terrorists."Not another New Look Mommy!?" again and again the kid will scream as you try on the same clothes a million other people are trying on in the same florescent light cookie cutter store.

Why not take a break from it all with a cup of costa coffee? How god damn original of you, i hope you fill your loyalty card up and get into heaven or whatever your trying to do by leading such a strictly zombifiyed life.

Parking is free.

There's nothing special about The Fort whatsoever. It's just very bland, and contains the same generic shops as anywhere else.

It's only really good for people who live near Fort Parkway, because it means they don't have to travel into Birmingham city centre to spend their money. But the whole experience is nothing I'd want to repeat often, unless I was over that part of Birmingham for a different reason. But if I wanted to go to a Harvester, I'd find one closer or more central, if I wanted to go to a HMV - again - I'd go into town to browse in two large HMV's; I'm sure to find what I want in one of those, rather than in a small store at the Fort. Hmmm, yeah, the centre doesn't really satisfy me.

I guess the only other good thing about the Fort is the fact that it has generated jobs for people. But again, if you don't live nearby, it'd certainly be a pain to get to work everyday, and I wouldn't always trust the traffic on the 11 route to get you in on time!

Had always thought it was lacking something, and it has just opened a Scallywag's play centre for kids! I think that having it there is great as shopping can be a pain for kids, but now you can make a day of it and stop off there and even go to Nandos (also new) for a bite to eat!


Shop wise it has a good variety, most of the Arcadia fashion group shops as well as HMV, whsmiths, card shops, sports, elc, mother care, boots, phone shops, coffee, bhs, m&s, next. and a few more all in one area which has a slight cover so when its raining you only get wet on the run back to the car!

A brilliant shopping park with many popular shops. Shops include Dorothy Perkins, BHS, Debenhams, HMV and Marks & Spencer. It also now has a Nando's and a Starbucks plus a kids indoor play area.
During the weekdays its pretty causual around here, but on weekends, and evenings towards Christmas it can get very busy around here.
Its got ample free parking and a bus stop right outside, so its easy to reach for anybody.

While it's by no means a huge retail centre, it's convenient, with tons of free parking, and good-sized stores including Boots, M&S, Next, Oasis, HMV and Warehouse.
If you're planning on doing general high street browsing, and not looking for a huge number of stores, this is ideal - and easily covered in an hour or two.