What it's like to live in Shirley

Shirley sits in a borough where owning is the norm: 72.2% of homes in the Solihull council area are owner-occupied, 12.8% are privately rented and 14% are social rented, below the England figure of 17.1%. Of that social housing, 9.9% is council and 4.1% housing association, so council tenancies make up the bulk.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council is by far the biggest landlord with 9,714 homes, followed by Bromford Housing Association with 1,180, Citizen Housing Group with 1,029, Platform Housing with 808 and Sanctuary Housing Association with 199. Average weekly social rents for 2025/26 are £96 for a one bed, £107 for two beds and £121 for three.

The age profile leans a little older than England's: 21.1% of borough residents are 65 or over, against 18.4% nationally, while 26.7% are aged 45 to 64. At 31 March 2025 there were 3,293 households on the council's housing register, which is not a simple queue but does show demand. In 2024-25, 695 social homes were let through the council and 30 council homes changed hands by mutual exchange.

Families are well served for schools. Robin Hood Academy is roughly 0.2 miles away, with Rosslyn School and St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School both about 0.3 miles, and Tudor Grange Primary Academy Langley and Lakey Lane Primary School within two thirds of a mile. That is five primaries inside a short walk or a very short drive, which gives you real choice at application time.

For older children, Langley School is about 0.7 miles away and Hall Green School and Kingswood School are both just over a mile. Reynalds Cross School, a special school, is around 0.7 miles, and Aspire AP School is about a mile out.

Outside school hours there is plenty to fill a weekend. Shirley Library is roughly 0.6 miles away, with Hall Green Public Library just over a mile. Newey Goodman Park and Langley Hall Park are the closest places to let children run about. In the wider Solihull area, under-16s make up 19.2% of the population, a little above the England figure of 18.6%, so this is a borough with plenty of young families in it.

Shirley is well placed for trains without being right on top of a station. Five are within an mile and a half: Shirley itself at about 1.5 miles, plus Yardley Wood just over a mile, Hall Green at 1.2 miles, Spring Road at 1.5 miles and Olton at 1.5 miles. That gives you a choice of lines into Birmingham and out towards Warwickshire, depending which side of Shirley you land on.

Buses are the everyday option for most people here, running along the main roads through Shirley and linking the suburb with Solihull town centre and Birmingham. If you drive, the position on the edge of the borough makes it straightforward to get out towards the motorway network and across the West Midlands.

On foot, Shirley works well. Shops, pharmacies, the library and two primary schools are all within half a mile of the centre of the area, and the parks are close enough for a walk rather than a journey. Pavements and shopping parades make short trips easy without a car.

Green space comes first in Shirley. Newey Goodman Park, Langley Hall Park and Shirley Park are all within a mile, and Fox Hollies Park and Marion Way Park are close behind. Between them they cover most moods, from a quick dog walk to a proper afternoon out.

For an evening, there is a solid run of pubs: The Robin Hood, The Red Lion, The Pump House, The Shaking Hand and the Bulls Head are all within three quarters of a mile. Members' clubs are part of the fabric too, including Langley Hall Social Club and Shirley Royal British Legion Club, with HGCC Social Club about a mile away.

For bigger days out, Touchwood Shopping Mall and a Cineworld sit around 2.2 miles away in Solihull town centre. Closer to home, PureGym is about 1.5 miles and MK Heath Club around 1.8 miles. Community centres are a bit more spread out, with Coleside Avenue Common Room about 1.3 miles and Warstock Community Centre and Holy Cross Community Centre nearer two miles.

Across the Solihull council area, 56.1% of adults are in work, close to the England figure of 57.4%. Unemployment sits at 3.2%, slightly below the 3.5% recorded for England as a whole. More recent figures put unemployment-related benefit claimants at 3.6% of working-age residents in August 2026, against 4% nationally.

Those numbers cover the whole borough of 216,240 people rather than Shirley alone, but they paint a picture of a steady local labour market rather than one under strain.

In practical terms, Shirley's position helps. Solihull town centre is a couple of miles away, Birmingham is a short train or bus ride, and several stations within a mile and a half open up jobs further afield without needing a car. Local shops, supermarkets, schools, the hospital at 2.3 miles and the care and leisure businesses nearby all employ people locally too, so not every journey to work has to be a long one.