Overview

Now known as MAC, it’s a non-profit charity art centre, Interesting, in a way. It opened in 1962 in an 8.6 acre piece of land, replacing the old Bathing pool area that was there. This Lido opened in September 1873, the same time as Cannon Hill Park itself and remained open until 1939. It was the very first open air pool in the Birmingham area, and only open during the summer months. It was some 216ft x 100 ft, designed by John Gibson. It had a paved promenade near the open pool, for sunbathers use, while surrounded by turfed areas and shrubbery. The building had a concrete floor, with a long shed with changing rooms on the south side. It would have cost you a 1d (penny) to use the facilities, this went up to 2d (two pennies) in 1899 to use before 10.00am. Than that 1d until closing time. It was fed by a spring that ran through The pool itself, but no signs of it whatsoever today. There were many concerns about the water standard however, and by 1879 because the bottom of the pool was covered by mud, it was decided to now regularly clean the pool. The pool had to be rebuilt in 1919 before opening again in 1921, before finally closing in 1938. ( FOR MORE DETAILS AND OLD PHOTOS, SEE. www.lostlidos.co.uk/cannonhillpark The lido was now replaced by the Midlands Art Centre, the Birmingham City council giving 8.6 acres to develope the centre. In April 2008 It had to close for a while to allow a £15 million facelift, then reopened in May 2010. It now houses a cinema, an auditoria, music centres, art gallery, a cafe with a bar. There is also an open air outdoor theatre. During 2015 they had 1,028,371 visitors. Over the years, Yoko Uno, UB40 and ELO have played here, with many other celebrities. So what did we see and do on our visit. After that messy ice Cream Dennis had (you can see this on our review for Cannon Hill Park) but really enjoyed, we made our way towards the MAC centre (photo 1) and took the wheelchair ( very cautiously ) down the ramp towards the entrance (photo 2) and as it is an Art centre, what better to see at the entrance than this succulent plant display (photo 3) We entered a large open planned area (photo 4) that you can take a lift up to floor one for the Art centre, today exhibiting the “Grayson,s Art club ( photo 5) but this type of art is not for us (photo 6) we prefer proper artists with proper paintings. If you need the toilets (photo 7) You can now take the lift (photo 8) down to the lower -1 floor level, we thought this might be the better of the disabled toilets (photo 9) which was nicely decorated, lovely plain tiled walls, with grab rails and a pull cord (photo 10). There are various studio rooms that can be used for various exhibits (photo 11) and a number of music rooms are available for recording purposes (photo 12). Now let’s head for the cinema (photo 13) which is a very nice small auditorium brightly decorated with warm coloured seating (photo 14) while next to this is the MAC Bar, empty now (photo 15) but absolutely full just 10 minutes later. Outside, we could see the open outdoor theatre, which is very popular during the Summer months (photo 16) before we headed for the cafe and bar (photo 17) and a cool refreshing glass of Chardonnay and a small Bulmers cider as a farewell salute to our most enjoyable day at Cannon Hill Park. OUR FINAL THOUGHTS We are proud to have been the reviewer of the year 2022 for Euans guide, and represented Euans Guide in the “Tech4Good” awards, held in London, and being one of the finalised. Don’t forget to now go on the internet, and find. www.helpfordisabledtraveller.co.uk ( that is,,,, help for disabled traveller.co.uk ) and see over 340 reviews we have presented for Euans Guide. Thank you for supporting them, they do a fine job for us disabled people.

Transport & Parking

Parking can be good if you get a bay near enough to the centre, but you need to get there early, there’s only two disabled bays, and these fill quickly, after that, the Queens Ride is just a long narrow parking driveway, one lane each side of the drive, and a long way between the entrance for the park by mac centre, and way way over towards the Wildlife Park and an entrance for The Bridge However, it is FREE for blue badge holders.

Access

Once at the entrance between two lakes, there is a downhill slope towards the MAC centres doorway (photo 2) Inside it is Easy to move around as all on level floors. A lift is handy to get you down for disabled toilet, (photo 8) and up for the arts centre (photo 5)

Toilets

Downstairs on the lower minus 1 floor. You need a key to get in, or staff will open up for you. Large enough inside for scooters, with pull cord and grab rails.

Staff

Seemed to be able enough and supportative.

Photos