New Street: A history of station development

By ITV News Central's Transport Correspondent, Keith Wilkinson

The latest design of New Street station has drawn much praise, particularly as it follows a station described as 'dark and dingy' by many.

The new atrium installed to allow sunlight to brighten the space. But it isn't the first time the station has had a bright roof, as natural light was allowed by the Victorian roof built in the 19th Century.

The original New Street station was in fact called Grand Central. It was a magnificent place, with architecture on an heroic scale.

So different to the concrete replacement so many people quickly grew to hate.

Even in its later days, the old New Street was an exciting place.

Especially if you were a trainspotter, like the radio presenter Les Ross in his younger days.

But those passengers getting on the trains, were in decline. And people were demanding better services - and modernisation.

What they got was the new New Street - built for a hugely contrasting £4.5million (compared to £750million for the latest rebuild) and opened in the 1960s.

Ken Wilkinson from Solihull, who is now 97, worked on that rebuild in the 1960s as a quantity surveyor. He said he job was hugely enjoyable to work on, despite the difficulties.

But the new station did get some criticism in the years ahead!

Instead of a glass roof, what the new station got was a shopping precinct - seen as being much more valuable to modern life.

The result was what some saw as drab, dark and dingy platforms.

So Birmingham got a modern station - one that would last half a century. Now it's had another one, which planners will be hoping lasts another five decades.