Talk:New Street, Birmingham

In the United States there is a big argument over whether to say, “Merry Christmas” or, “Happy Holidays”. (Incidentally if I say either I say, “Happy Christmas”. “Merry Christmas” encourages people to drink alcohol till they are merry, possibly to carry on after that till they are drunk.) In Britain there is not the same concern over the word Christmas. British shop workers don’t routinely say, “Happy Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” to customers. Therefore British people who are not Christians don’t feel that the Christian festival is being pushed onto them to the same extent. The lights in the picture of New Street are Christmas lights. They celebrate the Christian festival of Christmas. Similarly Hanukah lights celebrate the Jewish Hanukah festivals and Divali lights celebrate the Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain Duvali festival. Proxima Centauri 2 (talk) 10:34, 5 January 2009 (UTC)Reply

'the Waterstone's bookshop which occupies the former grade II listed Midland Bank building'

Should this say, 'the Waterstone's bookshop which occupies the grade II listed building formerly used by the Midland Bank' or some such phrase? Currently, it sounds a bit ambiguous about the building being listed, whereas I think it means to say that it's no longer the Midland Bank.

Reference here at Birmingham City Council refers to 'New Street 128 (Waterstones)': http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?blobcol=urldata&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobheadername1=Content-Disposition&blobkey=id&blobtable=MungoBlobs&blobwhere=1223477135617&ssbinary=true&blobheadervalue1=attachment%3B+filename%3D992798Statutorily_Listed_Buildings.pdf

Michelle — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michellegraham (talk • contribs) 14:23, 1 January 2012 (UTC)Reply