Updated 7:20am 25 May 2012

Powered by Google

Graham Young

Graham Young

Borrowcop Locks

Walk in the Park: Borrowcop Locks Canal Park in Lichfield

JUST because the region’s canals are often tucked away doesn’t mean we should forget them.Read

Amber Tavern

Pub Review: Amber Tavern on Hagley Road West, Birmingham

**

SITTING next to the huge, curved bay window of this pub gave us a bird’s eye view of the Hagley Road traffic lights.Read

Birmingham and Midland Institute

Days Out: A visit to the Birmingham and Midland Institute

MOST people in this city will have been past the lovely Grade II listed Birmingham and Midland Institute building at some point, if only while sitting on a bus en route to Broad Street.Read

Urban Feast

Cheap as Chips: Urban Feast on Navigation Street, Birmingham

**

I HAD to double-check the name of this eatery on my way out after the friendly server flash-cooked some quarter-inch square fries so quickly I thought I must have been to a shop called Urban Fast.Read

American Pie Reunion

Film Review: American Pie Reunion

rated 15 **

THIS is a typically modern Hollywood comedy which relies heavily on parental involvement in the script to try to generate laughs.Read

TGI Friday's

Pub Review: TGI Friday's on the Hagley Road

**

ONCE the first of its kind in the UK, the now 26-year-old TGI remains ever-popular.Read

The Apprentice: Graham Young's verdict

“THIS task is all about smelling what’s selling,” Lord Sugar told his young pretenders as he prepared to send them off on a sales exercise in to deepest Essex.Read

Simon Cowell

Simon Cowell is outed as a BRUMMIE in new book

BRITAIN’S GOT TALENT judge Simon Cowell has finally been outed – as a BRUMMIE.Read

Frydays

Cheap as Chips: Frydays in Acocks Green

IF YOU don’t know the area between the Warwick Road and Coventry Road, then this chippy might be hard to find.Read

Avengers Assemble. Picture PA Photo/Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK.

Film Review: Avengers Assemble

rated 12A ****

DON’T worry about the future of the Earth after the latest alien invasion – because the heroes have landed.Read

Albert Nobbs

Film Review: Albert Nobbs

rated 15 ***

I HAVE always loved Glenn Close, who deservedly won a third best actress Oscar nomination for this to go with three best supporting actress nods.Read

Hanbury Hall

Days Out: Hanbury Hall in Droitwich

WITH all of the bad weather we’ve had recently, sometimes it pays for me to be able to say: ‘Here’s one I did earlier’.Read

Witton Lakes

Walk In The Park: Witton Lakes in Gipsy Lane, Birmingham

EVERY week I have one ambition for this column – and that is to confound the perception that Birmingham is just another concrete jungle.Read

Bob Marley

Film Review: Marley

rated 15 ****

I ALWAYS thought Bob Marley was Afro-Caribbean through and through, not the son of a white man.Read

The Peacock

Pub Review: The Peacock in Kings Norton

****

EVEN though this pub is technically in Kings Norton, it’s still a lovely drive out into pristine countryside.Read

Lockout

Film Review: Lockout

rated 15 **

THERE’S a good reason why I wasn’t offered the chance to review this film in time for last week’s paper – and that’s the fact it’s not very good!Read

The Victoria

Pub Review: The Victoria in Barnt Green

*****

THE motto on this pub’s website is that ‘you can’t beat a good local’.Read

Blythe Valley park

Walk In The Park: Blythe Valley Countryside Park

WITH the planning laws having been ‘‘simplified’’ last month, some people are worried about developments springing up on green belt land.Read

Babycall

Film Review: Babycall

rated 15 ****

IN A CINEMA world unfairly dominated by the often crass, one-size-fits-all tastes of Hollywood, it must be tough to be a foreigner.Read

Elfie Hopkins

Film Review: Elfie Hopkins

rated 18

JAIME Winstone has been in some of my least favourite movies of recent years – Kidulthood, Anuvahood and Donkey Punch.Read

Author Profile

Award-winning Film Editor Graham Young has covered the Midlandsý radio and TV scene for two decades. The father of three is also the Mailýs reviewer of pubs, parks, family days out and chips and a keen photographer.