Diary Thursday 2nd April 2026 – The Night Before The Convention.

Though Eastercon was not officially starting until Friday 3^rd April, I was among many attendees going on the Thursday to meet with friends old and new, potentially get early event registration before the queues for it got much bigger on the Friday, and generally chill out.

Sign for The Old Crown, Digbeth.

I got the bus there from near The Old Crown that had been such a lovely home for the first two days of my stay, and reached the bus station that was conjoined to the train station, airport, NEC and NEC feeder hotels, one of which, the Hilton Metropole, would be my home for the remainder of my week in the Midlands.

Lakeside, NEC Birmingham

I knew the route to it well from previous Birmingham Eastercons, and even dragging my heavy suitcase on casters, it was a pleasant walk. I looked forward to checking in, getting my room, and packing my things away in drawer space. Except things were about to go horribly, unexpectedly wrong and I would even be threatened with eviction by a dreadful manager. The full story of this episode is on my Tripadvisor review of the hotel itself. https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186402-d211158-r1055734018-Hilton_Birmingham_Metropole-Birmingham_West_Midlands_England.html

Hilton Metropole entrance, NEC Birmingham

Fortunately after being subjected to two miserable hours of being made extremely unwelcome the rest of the weekend went well. I met with friends as planned, got registered, though I would have to wait until the next day for a rare Read Me and printed programme (The conventions are starting to assume that all fans read everything on their phones and laptops and don’t bother printing actual programme booklets other than on request).

In the evening, friends arranged a trip towards the NEC’s massive food hall and shopping mall, Resorts World, where we dined on excellent food at a Vietnamese Street Food diner. We returned to the Hilton, for more casual socializing before I headed to bed about 1 AM.

Vietnamese Street Kitchen, The NEC, Birmingham

Photos taken by me.

Arthur Chappell

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