105/107 The Bull Ring Centre, Birmingham B5 4QN
Originally, Woolworths opened in Birmingham City Centre on Spiceal Street in 1921, 6 years before the nearby New Street branch opened.
THEN:
Source: Woolworths Museum
It was hugely successful in this location – sales were amongst the highest in the country in the 1930s – so they doubled it in size, with the addition of a large restaurant, and then made further enhancements in the 1950s. You can see below how it is over 2 stores.
Source: Nicklin, Phyllis http://epapers.bham.ac.uk/263/
Major changes were to come in the 1960s – “Woolworths own construction department worked closely with town planners and Taylor Woodrow to devise a massive redevelopment scheme for the City Centre. By releasing land owned by Woolworths they traded both for cash and a brand new store in a new shopping precinct to be known as the Bull Ring Centre. Half of the original Bullring store was demolished to allow for development, with a new ultra-modern Woolies built in its place. Woolworths then swapped into the new site allowing the rest of the old store to be redeveloped.” Source: 100thbirthday,co.uk
I have included the below photo so you can see the location of the St Martin church – this is how we can work out what is in the same location today. This is in 1962 when the new Bull Ring Centre store is being contructed with the old store next door still trading.
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/7161080582/
The Bull Ring Centre was opened by the Duke of Edinburgh in May 1964. Linked by escalators and stairs, with 23 acres of space, air-conditioning, valet parking and tropical plants(!), it was the biggest indoor shopping centre in Europe, with the largest Woolworths in Europe. Watch this video for a nostalgic insight into the building: Bull Ring Opening Video
Below is a photo from 1966, showing the ultra-modern new flagship Woolworths. It was the superstore of its time, with modernised ranges and shop-fittings, featuring a large foodhall, an extended clothing range, plus a top floor cafe where they had a ‘never seen before’ iced water machine.
Source: Dowling, Geoff
Unfortunately, just 20 years later, in 1983 the store closed for business, when the board decided to sell larger stores to release capital – “The Bull Ring store was one of the first to be disposed by Kingfisher in 1983 to another developer planning to raise the whole site to the ground and replace it with something architecturally significant.” (Source: 100thbirthday,co.uk) There wasn’t a Woolies in the City Centre until the 1990s when they re-opened in the Pallasades Shopping Centre.
Source: Birmingham City Centre Past Facebook group
Some forums say Mark One traded from this building in the 1990s, but this was on the other side of the ramp – so I am presuming it lay empty for decades, before the Bull Ring Centre was demolished in 2000. The new Bullring shopping centre was then built, opening in September 2003.
Source: Wilde, Brett
Below is a photo from 2007 after the new shopping centre was opened with the new Selfridges chain-mail building in the foreground. Behind the church is Borders which looks as though this was where the original Woolworths building would have been. Borders have since closed down.
Source: Warrins, Gavin
In 2011, the Bullring was extended to have a new ‘Spiceal Street’ centre with restaurants (see below). So I would say this corner is where the Bull Ring Woolworths once stood.
NOW:
Source: http://bigcityplan.birmingham.gov.uk/spiceal-street-opening/
Woolies Buildings - Then and Now 
When I visited Birmingham in about 1991 or 1992 the former Woolworths store in the Bull Ring was an unbranded discount shop selling pound shop type goods still using the original Woolworth fittings and there were a few Winfield logos showing in places. They used only part of the store – the other floors were unlit and roped off.
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I work at the billing and new street over 40 years ago
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My Grandmother was Manager of Woolworths Restaurant in the Bull Ring for many years and I would like to find a history book on it back in the 40’s 50’s if possible for my elderly Father to read. Anybody know of one I could purchase ?
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Hi my sister used to work in the liverpool woolworths on the sweet counter in 1950,s ,she is 80 in july and we are all dressing up as her in different jobs etc , I have chosen when she worked in woolworth ,I have photo of her in overall and little hat but its in black and white so I dont know what colour the overall and hat were lol can you help
thank you
Christine
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This store did become a Mark One clearance outlet for a few years even though as you say Mark One was on the other side of the ramp. It was basically still Woolworths inside. I used to work in the Mark One next door around 1994 for a few years. A huge store that we only used part of the ground floor.
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Aha, interesting! Thank you for sharing.
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In April 1996 I unexpectedly found myself in Birmingham City Centre due to me having a delay waiting for a connecting coach.
By pure chance I came across this store, and with no previous knowledge of it you could tell straight away that it was a former Woolworths.
The ground floor was open as what can only be described as a cheap market type clothes shop, but on entering you could see the trademark Woolworths floor and the formica type wall boards.
In the centre was gallery balcony type area looking down into the closed basement, presumably where the food hall once was. The trademark blue escalators down to the basement were still visible but sealed off to prevent access.
The top floor was a furniture store, possibly Harvey’s, accessed by what was once a back entrance or fire exit at road level which gave access to escalotors up to the former first floor but as separate business these escalators were boarded off from the ground floor clothes store. You really could see what an amazing store this once was and a shame that it was closed so early on after the split from the parent US company.
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