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Top Attractions in Aston

Villa Park

Villa Park is a football stadium in the district of Witton, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Aston Villa Football Club since 1897. The team previously played at Aston Park from 1874 to 1876 and Wellington Road from 1876 to 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway stations and has hosted sixteen England internationals at senior level, the first in 1899 and the most recent in 2005. It was the first English ground to stage international football in three different centuries. Villa Park has hosted more FA Cup semi-finals than any other stadium, having hosted 55 matches in total. In 1897 Aston Villa moved into the Aston Lower Grounds, a sports ground in a Victorian amusement park situated in the former grounds of Aston Hall, a Jacobean stately home. Over the course of its history the stadium has gone through various stages of renovation and development, resulting in the current stand configuration of the Holte End, Trinity Road Stand, North Stand and the Doug Ellis Stand. The club has initial planning permission to redevelop the North Stand, which will increase the capacity of Villa Park from 42,682 to approximately 50,000. Before 1914 a cycling track ran around the perimeter of the pitch where regular cycling meetings were hosted as well as athletic events. Aside from football-related uses, the stadium has seen various concerts staged along with other sporting events including boxing matches and international rugby league and rugby union matches. In 1999, the last ever final of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup took place at Villa Park. Villa Park also hosted the 2012 FA Community Shield, as Wembley Stadium was unavailable due to it staging the final of the Olympic football tournament.

Aston Hippodrome

The Aston Hippodrome, also known as The Hipp, was a popular theatre in the Aston area of Birmingham, England. It was opened to the public on 7 December 1908 after the completion of construction at a cost of £10,000. It was designed by James and Lister Lea who had also designed the Bartons Arms public house just a few yards away on the other side of the street. The theatre was seriously damaged in 1938 by a fire which resulted in a £38,000 refurbishment. On 4 June 1960, the theatre building ceased performances with the final performance a revue, A to Z of Striptease. The building was renovated into a bingo hall and remained so until its demolition in September 1980. The Drum, an arts centre, is located on the theatres site. Performances were held twice daily and amongst these performances were famous acts such as Laurel and Hardy, George Formby, Gracie Fields, Larry Grayson, Morecambe and Wise and Judy Garland who performed there in 1951. The opening chapter of Ron Dawsons novel, The Last Viking, vividly describes one of the strip tease shows which dominated the Hipps offerings during the mid to late 1950s. The show was called Heatwave and the scene captures the sad atmosphere of the artistic tableaux which characterised these shows.

Aston Manor Academy

Aston Manor Academy is a secondary school with academy status situated in the Aston area of Birmingham, England. It is a mixed comprehensive and as at February 2013 has 864 students aged 11-18, including 113 in the sixth form. In June 2011 the Ray Linforth Centre was opened, a new £300,000 dedicated sixth form building named after the chair of governors. Previously known as Aston Manor School, conversion to Academy status was completed on 1 July 2011. Due in part to the fact that it is situated in Aston, it has children from a wide variety of ethnic groups. As of February 2013 the highest proportion of children at the school are of Bangladeshi origin at 33%, with Pakistani at 18%, Black Somali at 13%, Black Caribbean at 11%, Black African at 6% and White British at 3%. A very high proportion do not speak English as their first language. Reflecting the cultural diversity within the school, the school has its own steel band. In addition to having Technology College status the Academy has gained a range of awards and accreditations, including Applied Learning, School Achievement, Healthy Schools and International School awards. In May 2011, the Academy gained the Naace Information and Communications Technology Mark.

The Bartons Arms

The Bartons Arms is a public house in the High Street in the Newtown area of Aston, Birmingham, England. Built in 1900-1901 by noted pub architects partnership James and Lister Lea for Mitchells & Butlers, it is a grade II* listed building, and is on the Campaign for Real Ale's National Inventory of Historic Pub Interiors. The pub is known for its wall-to-wall Minton-Hollins tiles and its snob screens, which allowed middle class drinkers to see working class drinkers in an adjacent bar, but not to be seen by them. The current public bar was originally divided into three. There are function rooms upstairs, originally for billiards and club use. Laurel and Hardy once stayed there, after appearing at the adjacent Aston Hippodrome (now demolished, replaced by The Drum Arts Centre), and were photographed serving beer from behind the bar. The pub features in the 1999 Atom Egoyan Birmingham-set film Felicia's Journey. It also features in the 2006 novel by Ron Dawson, The Last Viking: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Heist; as the gang of robbers meet in the pub. It was purchased in 2002 by Oakham Ales who restored the building to its former greatness before reopening it in 2003, after three years out-of-use. On 28 July 2006, the pub was damaged by fire, reportedly caused by an electrical fault. During the 2011 England riots, the pub was looted, windows were smashed, and fires started, albeit quickly doused by the manager, Wichai Thumjaron. Up to eight shots were fired at police who attended the incident.

Aston railway station

Aston railway station serves the districts of Aston and Nechells in Birmingham, England. The passenger entrance is on Lichfield Road. The station is on the Cross-City Line and the Chase Line. The station is situated adjacent to and above the Lichfield Road (A5127), crossed by a bridge as the railway line, part of the original Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837, is on an embankment through what was "pastoral parkland" at the time of its construction. The line also crosses the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal, just south of Lichfield Road, on a bridge which is all that remains of a longer viaduct of ten arches, described as "one of the most beautiful structures on the line of the Grand Junction". The section of the viaduct crossing Lichfield Road, immediately south of the station, was replaced by a steel bridge in 1906.

Witton railway station

Witton railway station serves the Witton area of the city of Birmingham, England. It is situated on the Birmingham-Walsall Line, part of the former Grand Junction Railway, opened in 1837. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by London Midland. The station sits above Witton Road, the A4040 Outer Ring Road, as the railway line here is on an embankment. It is the closest station to Villa Park, home of Aston Villa F.C. and is advertised as the station for Villa Park on station signage. Under Villa owner Randy Lerner, there have been discussions on changing the name of Witton Station to Villa Park as is the case with West Bromwich Albion's local railway station, The Hawthorns. Aston Villa's former CEO, Bruce Langham, has said that the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (Centro) are amenable to the idea as long as it is done at the expense of the club. No action has yet been taken.
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