Selly Oak

Selly Oak constituency shown within Birmingham

Selly Oak is an area in south Birmingham, England. It is also a ward and formal district, managed by its own district committee.

Birmingham Selly Oak is a constituency; its member of Parliament is Dr Lynne Jones.

The Birmingham and Worcester Canal forms the northern boundary of the area.

A number of colleges, mainly theological, collectively called the Selly Oak Colleges are now part of the University of Birmingham. These include the College of the Ascension, originally founded to train women missionaries.

The famous Cadbury chocolate factory is nearby in Bournville.

Population and services

Selly Oak is the principal area of private housing for students at the University of Birmingham, with over 1500 houses occupied. Due to its student orientation, there are a multitude of pubs in the area such as the Gun Barrels, the Bristol Pear, TC's, the Soak and the Goose at the OVT. There are also numerous eateries on Bristol Road, such as Woodstock, Mud Cafe, Adam's Place and the [Selly Sausage]. Selly Oak also has the second highest concentration of curry houses in Birmingham outside of Moseley. There are also three supermarkets in the area: Tesco Express, Aldi, Sainsburys.

Selly Oak was blighted for a large part of the Twentieth Century by a road-widening scheme for the Bristol Road (A38). In the latter half of that century, many historic buildings were demolished, leaving a degraded urban environment.

Plans for significant regeneration of the area were confirmed in 2005. A new 10m wide, 1.5km stretch of road will be built to alleviate the heavily congested Bristol Road, with improvements to public transport and other facilities in the area. A major Sainsbury's superstore will be built, replacing the existing Selly Oak store. Work is due to start in early 2006, to be completed by 2009.

Selly Oak has a gym called the Tiverton Pool and Fitness Centre. This health centre includes a swimming pool, a smaller instruction pool, Pulse Point gym, sunbed, sauna and seating for spectators.

The redevelopment of the area also involves the local hospitals Selly Oak Hospital and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital which together form the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. Construction work has started on a new hospital on the current Queen Elizabeth site, and is due to be completed in 2009. [link] On completion it is thought that Selly Oak Hospital will close.

Selly Oak is served by Selly Oak railway station on the Birmingham Cross-City Line, providing services to Birmingham New Street, Lichfield Trent valley and Redditch stations.

External links

Formal Districts in Birmingham:

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