What was here?
A traffic gyratory on the western side of the Inner Ring Road, wrapped around an island that held John Madin’s Central Library and other 1970s buildings. The ring road’s through traffic ran underneath in the Queensway tunnel.
History
In 1969 the photographer John Ball recorded the Queensway tunnel half-built between Paradise Street and Easy Row. The tunnel and the circus above it were the last major pieces of the ring, which was first used by traffic all the way round on 4 January 1971. Madin’s Central Library opened in the middle of the circus in 1974.
Pedestrians reached the island by subways and stairs. By 2006 Keith Jordan found that a wide walkway had been built over the road towards Centenary Square, but elsewhere the original subways still dominated, and the area had a “run down and neglected air about it”.
Why it mattered
Paradise Circus put the city’s main library and music school on an island ringed by traffic. Its removal reconnected Chamberlain Square, Centenary Square and the new library on Broad Street.
Why it disappeared
Road building · Redevelopment
The Central Library was demolished in 2015–16 and the gyratory was taken apart for the Paradise office development and the Metro. The road, renamed Lyon Queensway, closed to general traffic in September 2018; the council planned to reopen it for buses, trams, taxis and cycles.
The same spot, then and now
1888–1913
Today
Old map: Ordnance Survey six-inch, reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland (CC BY 4.0). Today: © OpenStreetMap contributors.
More pictures
The Civic Centre from Suffolk Street, 15 July 1974Chris Denny, 15 July 1974. Geograph via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0 
Spiral steps to Paradise Circus Queensway, 2 October 2012Andrew Hill, 2 October 2012. Geograph via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
What’s there now
What replaced it
The Paradise development (offices, hotel and a rebuilt Chamberlain Square) and Lyon Queensway, a bus, tram and taxi route.
What survives
The A38 Queensway tunnel beneath, which still carries through traffic.
Today
Paradise offices and Chamberlain Square; the Metro crosses Lyon Queensway between the Town Hall and Library stops.
Then and now
Then · 1969
Now · 12 December 2015
Today
Redevelopment of Paradise Circus, 26 September 2019Philip Halling, 26 September 2019. Geograph via Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 2.0
Key dates
- 20 July 2013 — Ring road tunnels shut for repairsThe A38 St Chad’s and Queensway tunnels, the main surviving parts of the ring road, close for six weeks of essential repairs.
- September 2018 — Paradise Circus closes to general trafficParadise Circus, renamed Lyon Queensway, closes for the Metro and the Paradise redevelopment. Through traffic keeps using the A38 tunnel underneath.
Sources and further reading
No exact opening date has been found for the Paradise Circus gyratory itself. The Queen’s opening of the whole ring road on 7 April 1971 is often said to have included the Queensway tunnel, but this rests on newspaper reports not read here.
- The Inner Ring Road, Underpasses & Murals of Birmingham — Keith M. Jordan, Sutton Coldfield Local History Research Group, 2006. pp. 28–30
- Paradise Public Transport Improvement Scheme (consultation) — Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Be Heard, 2021
- Memorandum by Birmingham City Council (WTC 16), Walking in Towns and Cities inquiry — Birmingham City Council, House of Commons Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs Committee, HC 167, 2001
- The history behind Birmingham’s St Chad’s and Queensway tunnels — BBC News, BBC, 2013
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