Hi I’m Grace, a born and bred Brummy, but I’m sure you already knew that. I love my home city and even the strange accent it gave me, but now days I spend most of my time planning to escape this town. So much so that when asked where I like to eat and drink I could real off a list bars in Amsterdam, and I could tell you exactly where to get the best grub in Disneyland Paris, but Birmingham? I’m not so sure.

I’m forever jetting off to new and exciting places when I have a whole host of great things on my doorstep. There are so many fun and interesting things to do here, from the fantastic IKON Gallery, to the Botanical Gardens, and a huge range of fab bars, pubs, and hotels in Birmingham that I am yet to try. Not forgetting that we have more canals here than Venice! Oh you knew that one already? Well it's true and since the massive redevelopment a few years back Brindley Place and similar areas have become pretty popular sites to grab some grub and a few bevies.

So where would I recommend for a couple of drinks? A few weeks ago I wouldn’t have been able to tell you, that was until I challenged myself to a Brummy Bar crawl to discover some fab new places in the city centre. And I didn’t even touch Broad Street once, I actually stayed on the same road for most of the night!

So where did I go?

Bodega Bar and Cantina

12 Bennets Hill, Birmingham, B2 5RS

Bodega is a fun little eatery where you can get some fab Mexican food and drinks. Tori (my drinking partner for the night) and I both ordered Burritos which were much too spicy for our tastes and I ordered a Mojito because I’m boring and basic.

I’m not going to lie the service was pretty bad that night, several tables who were seated long after us were served before so that wasn’t fab. That being said the atmosphere is pretty cool and there is a Mexican Stir Fry on the menu that I really fancy. 6/10 - would return on a school night.

The Cosy Club
33 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham, B2 5SN

After slurping down our drinks we nipped over the road to The Cosy Club. This fancy little bar is a firm favourite with lots of locals and I’ve been once before myself. It's not the cheapest place in the world but it isn’t extortionate considering the banging city centre location and pretty interiors.

Here I ordered a Grapefruit Gin and Lemonade which was surprisingly tasty and Tori went for a Cherry Bakewell cocktail which she said was amazing. 8/10

Dirty Martini
7 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham, B2 5ST

If you’ve been here a while you will know I’m a big fan of the fairly new Dirty Martini. The decor here is amazing and I couldn’t think of a more Instagram worthy bar in all of Birmingham. I’ve had several little drinkies in here before and I have no doubt I will be back again.

Expect to pay between £9 - £10 for a Martini here unless you manage to visit at happy hour which runs A LOT and then you can pick one up half price. Tori and I both ordered the Poppy Blush Martini which was on special for a fiver and tasted delicious! 9/10

Lost and Found
8 Bennetts Hill, Birmingham, B2 5RS

Lost and Found is one of those bars I’ve been meaning to visit for ages, I’ve heard nothing but good reviews and I can kind of see why. Like the others it was completely rammed and hard to get served at the fairly small bar, but what can you expect on a Friday night really?

Similar to others along Bennetts Hill, the interiors are fantastic and almost mimic a victorian pub, or at least what I expect a Victorian pub would look like. We even spotted a secret room that seemed to have an event on at the time, but it looked amazing. 7/10

The Botanist
14 Temple Street, Birmingham, B2 5BG

Another bar I have visited before and the only one from the night not on Bennetts Hill, it's actually situated on the next road over. The Botanist is a gorgeously decorated bar that serves all sorts of weird and wonderful beverages, which is why I’m very sad to say I only ordered a diet coke this time. Tory was a little more fun an opted for a Mocktail but its safe to say we were done with alcohol by the time we arrived here. Even if you go for nothing more than a coke I would say the Botanist is still well worth a visit! 7/10

There are so many lovely little bars and restaurants in Birmingham City Centre and I'm always looking for more recommendations so please feel free to leave them below or send me a tweet!

Thanks for reading!

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* The spending money was gifted by Hotels.com, however all views are my own.

Birmingham, UK

MARTINIS AND MOJITOS - A FANCY BAR CRAWL IN BIRMINGHAM CITY CENTRE*

Birmingham, lifestyle

And just like that it's December. I cannot even begin to explain how busy the last few weeks have been for me. I would say I'm not coping well but, I'm still here and just about keeping on top of everything.

So as its a new month its time to pop down my three keys to happiness. Like I said, I haven't really had time to even breathe these last few weeks so there is a hell of a lot to write...

Something to look forward to...

Well the biggest thing I have coming up at the moment is Disneyland Paris! I am beyond excited for this trip. It's the first time I have been during the Christmas Season so I know it's going to be magical. There was a bit of drama around this trip (isn't there always?!) but that's thankfully resolved now. On Friday morning my lovely friend Zoe text me to say she had noticed that the return flight she booked for us was actually in June and not this Sunday. Fast forward a lot of stress and a few hundred pounds and we now have brand new flights. We also still have a return flight from Paris in June so I guess we will just have to go again right? RIGHT?!!

I am also very excited for Christmas and a few family birthdays dotted throughout December. I'm just really looking forward to spending good quality chill time with the people I like the most.

Something to be proud of...

Well not losing my shit (too much) the last few weeks is one. I have honestly had a lot of crap to deal with and even though I cried a lot, and even once at work, I'm still milling along. Life has a funny way of throwing pretty much everything it can at you in one go but what can you do really? Sometimes you just have to get on with it even if you really can't see the point.

I'm also really proud of all of the fun blog collaborations I've had in the last few weeks and are continuing to plan even now. I've worked with a lot of great brands recently and even managed to get a paid opportunity which was fab. My platforms seem to have really taken off lately and honesty I'm just so excited to see where my little blog takes me in the future!

Something to do...

I spent the start of the month in London. You might have noticed from the distinct lack of pretty much any content anywhere that it was hectic. My sister and I went down for the Vuelio blog awards (which was amazing by the way) but stayed and made a girly weekend of it.

I've also spent today at the Good Food Show at the NEC. I'd not been before so I was very excited to see what that was all about. We had a live cooking lesson with James Martin and ate hundreds of testers, most of which were booze. I came away with two massive bottles of Amarula and tonnes of other goodies.

As I said previously I'm also going to be spending a good few days running around Disney and I have lots of other bits and bobs to keep me busy. I also have a marketing exam this Tuesday that I have had hardly any time to revise for so I'm not sure how well that's going to go down. If there's one thing I'm definitely not lacking this month is things to do!

So those are this months keys. I think this is going to be the last one I do of these, I'm probably not as happy as I should be still but my god am I trying. I know that sooner or later I am going to be completely content and I am so excited for that. Until then I will plod along doing whatever I can to build myself up into the woman I want to be!

Thanks for reading!