Happy New Year Birmingham!
Happy New ... Birmingham?
Well hello... Happy New Year!
At least I hope it's going to be, as opposed to all the doom and gloom we're currently being bombarded with.
So, it's been a few weeks since my last post. And since then I've been incredibly busy stuffing my face with festive delights and drinking far too much in order to put on the compulsory half stone over Christmas... yeah. Great.
Now I have to try even harder at the gym in order to get back into my super skinnies, comfortably (which I had to wrestle with the other day to my horror).
One thing you won't find me doing is following these apparently simple (yet you have to completely change the contents of every cupboard in your kitchen) detox plans that are presently emblazoned across nearly every magazine I'm faced with. I blame Carol Vorderman for that.
Nope, losing that bit of excess is actually pretty simple: cut out the crap, drink less alcohol and do some exercise!
Anyway. Let's go back to my previous blog post shall we? By the way did anyone see the feature in the Sunday mercury on December 29th? Also online here.
Well, here's a newsflash for you....
I actually agree with Lisa Piddington and in fact many of you who commented. On some points.
But I still wouldn't call Birmingham a Style 'Capital'....YET.
But here we go:
YES: Birmingham has definitely come a long way from it's industrial past.
YES: The Mailbox, The Bullring, Selfridges and the various other retail areas are generally great places to shop
YES: We have some great bars and restaurants here
YES: The Jewellery Quarter, The Custard Factory and it's many creative, boutique and vintage offerings around that area are fantastic
YES: I know the Clothes Show Live comes to the NEC every year - I first went 11 years ago. But remember the NEC IS a central venue for the UK.
But! Unfortunately, it doesn't matter to people coming to Birmingham for the first time what The city used to look like and how amazing it is compared to then. These people only care about it as it is now... and that ultimately means compared to other cities, be it the UK or abroad.
Given, if they see or find out about all these great things as soon as they step off their train/plane/bus/vehicle then chances are many of them will certainly be impressed. But if they don't, or they only see a bit it's not going to leave such a lasting impression. But I think this comes down to in some areas, there just isn't enough... and I want more!
I was talking about this with a friend quite recently. The Custard Factory and Digbeth in particular.
This, the oldest part of Birmingham, has the beginnings of a brilliant and bustling Bohemian 'Quarter'.... But it just isn't visible enough. It hosts a top 10 UK venue in the Old Library, but how many visitors know this? I know it's great - I held my graduate fashion show there in 2005. We have the Sunday Flea, which, if more people could be drawn, could have the potential to be much bigger.
We have the boutiques, small businesses and the arty roots, the nightlife... and the Creative Launchpad.
But we need something more. I'd love to see Digbeth turn into this wonderful, arty, popular community from the top to the bottom of the high street. But, what, particularly in this climate, can we do to create it?
4 Comments
Authors
Sarah Morris - the Sunday Mercury's resident fashionista: pulls no punches when it comes to style.
I believe there is a 'Big City Plan' which is being nurtured by the city council to accomodate such a Bohemian quarter and Digbeth is definitely the best choice for this.
An area stretching from the Custard Factory up to Selfridges would work really well, it needs a lot of investment though. One thing that Birmingham lacks is a shopping guide for visitors in form of a leaflet. People travel a long way to visit stores such as A-Too and Autograph but how many people visiting Brum for the first time know such places exist. I personally know a lot of people who visit Brum on organised coach trips but they rarely venture outside of the Bullring.
I thought Moseley already had the 'Bohemian Quarter' tag sewn up?
Maybe Digbeth and Moseley could both be Bohemian Quarters and team up to make a Bohemian Half ...
Hi Steve, yes I think you're right about Moseley in a way. However, I think, should Digbeth be really worked at it could be so much better. it could be great and a real crowd puller
There used to be a lot more cool shops and stalls within the Oasis indoor market and the indoor market at the Bullring, I can remember some ace retro clothes shops, the kind of thing would would see in Camden but a lot cheaper, SH record stalls as well..
The council could do a lot worse than to send someone to Toronto and Montreal and see how they work it, some great retro style markets and if everything is all in one place it's easier for out-of-town shoppers who won't know where to go. The council could help out by reducing rates permanently for shops in one particular area and get Advantage West Wids to help out with business start up grants... but probably pie in the sky. Brum has slowly lost much of the curiosity shops in the city centre but many still exist out of town in suburbs, the trick would be to draw them into the city centre but it would have to be a designated area like China Town and connect a trail to the Custard Factory. There is already two of the city's oldest music store close by. You already have the footfall of the Bullring, a large additional Bohemian quarter "route" could truly put the city on the map as an ultimate shopping destination rather than just Selfridges/Harvey Nics etc.