House of Fraser Cafe

Lovely place to go to have a breakfast or lunch or tea party!
The prices are reasonable, the tea are fabulous !

House of Fraser in Birmingham is, in my opinion, the best department store in the city for quality and service. It’s an old building that could do with some replenishing but on the other hand I think the vintage look adds to its character.
On the top floor there is a café, which defines what I mean by «vintage». The décor could do with a facelift although you get a great view of the city from the sixth floor. It’s generally well-​maintained and tends to be quiet so it’s ideal for a catch-​up with friends or break from shopping.
They have a selection of roasts, traditional English breakfast and jacket potatoes. I love their pastries with a pot of tea to complete my shopping experience!
There is a children’s play area, which has always been deserted whenever I’ve been. This is probably because there is a Hamleys on the same floor so most kids must be otherwise occupied in a more vibrant setting!

Hof seems nice from out looking in but work there and you will have a reality check.

The Birmingham House of Fraser store on the Mens floor has some very good staff that work on the polo section on the weekend, give very good survice and helpful advice on sizes, been buying polo there for many years.
In my opinion the store needs a face lift as the mens floor looks very outdated needs some money spent on the lanyout and the clothes look very boring. need to get new brands in and new buyers to get stock that apeal to people who are looking for something different to wear.
There don’t seem to be that many sale staff on the floor. they seem to be worked very hard and stress out. I was been ask so many times to open a fraser card by a sale staff member.

House Of Fraser is great if a little expensive. It’s definitely one of the best department stores in Birmingham. There’s a huge range of clothes and a nice food department. The somewhere section is good too. There’s also loads of gifts so it’s an ideal place to look for presents for people.

This café at the top of House of Fraser seems in many ways to be unchanged by time, despite progressive refurbishments. The café itself has great views across the rooftops of Birmingham, which is perhaps more pleasing to the eye than the café’s own décor (although I do now know what to do with my spare forks).
The café is self-​service, with a variety of counters serving different items. Options include traditional roasts, jacket potatoes, salads and the like, plus a selection of cakes and pastries. There is also a traditional English breakfast. Most choices are ok rather than stunning, but the introduction of cooked to order pasta has upped the overall quality of food.
There is a large play area for children, which is sadly underused, given the proximity of Hamleys on the same floor, the baby changing area in the toilets and the lift access to this floor.

House of Fraser, as someone else has commented, has had a major facelift in recent years and I would say that after Selfridges is the best big department store in Birmingham.
It has the best selection of shoes in the city (!) and all the major brands are available. I like the women’s selection of clothes. The choice is more accessible than Selfridges and there are more lines. I particularly like the Irish brand by Phase Eight (sorry cant remember what it is called!).
The food hall is reasonable and has good selection of chocolates, fine foods and take-​away food.
The other fantastic thing to mention is the great perfume/​beauty department. Staff are very helpful and I would recommend the Aveda counter and going for a facial which are not very often. You can take the cost of the facial off the cost of a product. Last I did this it cost £10 which is very reasonable.

Rackhams, now part of the House of Fraser chain is traditionally the upmarket department store in Birmingham. After suffering some competition in recent years after the establishment of a Beatties, Debenhams and Selfridges, the store has is recent years recovered and gone from strength to strength.
As with other department stores the shop includes several franchises such as Miss Selfridge, Oasis and Viyella which can be handy if you’re looking for something very particular as you can just wander between the sections easily comparing and contrasting.
There is still an element of the expensive in the store, with a large variey of handbags, luggage and shoes that you just won’t find in other Birmingham stores and therefore sometimes it is the ideal place to stop in and buy that something special for someone, even if it’s not an everyday sort of store.

Dear old Rackhams — House of Fraser can rebrand it all they like but everyone still calls it that and I always will! Bless it, it’s hardly a thing of beauty with its horrible sixties tower-​block architecture, but inside it’s quite sweet.
They’ve revamped it lately but it still feels like the most traditional of department stores — it’s the closest thing Birmingham has to Grace Bros! I still like some of the original features they haven’t moved, such as the ladies powder room signs, and the brass notice telling you the lifts are automatic, from the days when they were still often operated by lift operators!
It’s still easily the biggest and most comprehensive department store in Birmingham and the older staff still understand how to do it right — you’ll still spot some ladies of a certain age who are a homage to Mrs. Slocombe with makeup applied with a shovel and big hair who still someone manage to look graceful bless em! They’re real department store staff, and this is a real old-​fashioned department store you can spend a good amount of time in.

A wonderful place to shop. The menswear section has a range of top-​brand labels, as well as House of Frasers (much more affordable!) own ‘Linea’ branded clothes.
Most of the staff are genuinely knowledgable and helpful, making the store a pleasant place to wander around. Good location too.

House Of Fraser is the upmarket ‘house’ that has everything you need to live on the fine side of life.
The clothing departments are situated on three massive different floors and are pricey but swanky! They offer mens, womens and childrens clothing and accesories, they also have a lovely shoe department downstairs.
They recently introduced a Hamleys up on the top floor which is small but has loads of fun toys and games in.
There is also an amazing food department down in the lower ground floor which is brilliant as it offers food stuff from around the globe and includes all the great American candy! Prices are actually fairly ok for goods in the food department. There is also a wine and liquer section and a cooking utensil department.
Overall House Of Fraser is a wonderful shop — on payday.

I have awarded this otherwise fairly run of the mill establishment the accolade of five stars for one reason alone: the gated parent and children’s eating/​play area. Nothing particularly special to look at and sometimes even a bit on the grubby side BUT it is the only place in the entire of Birmingham City Centre that I know of (and I would like to know of another even though my own children are older now) that you can take a crawler/​toddler out of their pram/​buggy and SIT DOWN while they stretch their legs for half an hour or more. OK at first you may be up and down like a yoyo for a while closing the gate repeatedly and reminding them that they can only play in that area but they get the message eventually. The area is screened so you don’t feel like you’re annoying other patrons with noise etc. in fact it’s quite well hidden although it has lots of natural light from the large, old metal framed windows. There are a few toys absolutely ideal for this young age group to get really engrossed in: bricks, trains, beads etc. Very simple and just what they want after they’ve been overstimulated with the city chaos and the frustration of no independent movement. There are toilets and a changing area on the same floor although you do have to leave the restaurant to get to them. Recently Hamleys has opened on the same floor which has all the latest toys to marvel at and a great slide for children to play on too (but of course nowhere for parents to sit down!)
As far as food goes they do pick and mix kid’s lunchboxes, and children’s pasta that they cook in front of you and is fun to watch, self serve salad and lots of hot meals, smoothies etc. All the food is great, slightly expensive but worth it for the sit down. When my children were in a buggy I never used to buy much more than a cup of tea and a cake. The only problem is persuading the children to give up their independence and get back into the pram. An oasis for parents of young children. Obviously weekends are busier than weekdays but I have still sometimes found my family to be the only people in there. Amazing.