The Bullring
On an August Saturday when many are out of town on holiday I queued with others being photographed next to or on Broderick's bull at the centre of the Birmingham Bullring, to get a snap of my talismanic Brompton next to the bronze. This is not actually public space. it belongs to the developer and strictly speaking they are apparently legally entitled to move me - especially if I'm suspected of getting free brand placement. Shortly after the new Bullring was opened in September 2003 I was taking pictures there and as - politely told I shouldn't. I was incensed - gently - but he pointed to a set of images on a notice - red circles with crosses over icons of a skateboard, a cigarette, a bicycle, and - yes - a camera. I got the phone number of the management and lodged a grumble about being a citizen of Brum stopped from being a tourist in my own city etc! Since then I've never been bothered, and I'm allowed to wheel my Brompton over the whole complex, use lifts and go up and down escalators with it, even though in some other shopping malls I've been asked to fold or go. Note for aficionados: this place used t be called The Bull Ring, but the developers made a point of joining the words, so now its 'The Bullring' - and as I observed the outside of the shopping area up to a line of bollards is, even though under the skies, a private space and not a public space. I'm not sure of the full legality of this point, but it troubles me. The Bull is popular. When someone scratched it a few years back flowers were laid around the bull and some called for flogging the miscreant while others thought he ought to 'get a life'.
www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2005/06/08/bull...
The Bullring
On an August Saturday when many are out of town on holiday I queued with others being photographed next to or on Broderick's bull at the centre of the Birmingham Bullring, to get a snap of my talismanic Brompton next to the bronze. This is not actually public space. it belongs to the developer and strictly speaking they are apparently legally entitled to move me - especially if I'm suspected of getting free brand placement. Shortly after the new Bullring was opened in September 2003 I was taking pictures there and as - politely told I shouldn't. I was incensed - gently - but he pointed to a set of images on a notice - red circles with crosses over icons of a skateboard, a cigarette, a bicycle, and - yes - a camera. I got the phone number of the management and lodged a grumble about being a citizen of Brum stopped from being a tourist in my own city etc! Since then I've never been bothered, and I'm allowed to wheel my Brompton over the whole complex, use lifts and go up and down escalators with it, even though in some other shopping malls I've been asked to fold or go. Note for aficionados: this place used t be called The Bull Ring, but the developers made a point of joining the words, so now its 'The Bullring' - and as I observed the outside of the shopping area up to a line of bollards is, even though under the skies, a private space and not a public space. I'm not sure of the full legality of this point, but it troubles me. The Bull is popular. When someone scratched it a few years back flowers were laid around the bull and some called for flogging the miscreant while others thought he ought to 'get a life'.
www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/content/articles/2005/06/08/bull...