With more Michelin-starred restaurants than you can shake a stick at, including Purnell’s, Turners, Simpsons, Adam’s and Carters, Birmingham is the place to be in the West Midlands.
The city has the lowest age profile in Europe, with under-25s accounting for almost 40% of its population. It also has a thriving gay scene and is home to the largest LGBT festival in the UK.
If ale is your thing, Birmingham is up there with the best because the Black Country, as the adjacent former industrial revolution area to the west of the city is known, is famous for its real ale and holds an annual Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) festival to celebrate all that is great and good with beer.
Are you in the club?
The MA500 club is open to multi-site pub operators and runs three nationwide events a year that include business-focused presentations from top experts and owner-operators.
Each event is followed by an evening networking study tour of new and exciting venues in the area.
- To register your interest in attending the next MA500 meeting in Birmingham on 16 February 2017, email lucy.flack@wrbm.com
MA500 member and licensee of the Prince of Wales in Mosesley, Keith Marsden, says the city is a great place to be an operator and presents lots of opportunities.
He says: “You need to have that mindset where you don’t mind instigating and taking the lead in Birmingham.”
Marsden explains that Birmingham has changed over the past decade and the popular areas are shifting.
He adds: “The city centre used to be all about Broad Street, which was a big thing a few years ago. It was full of clubs, multiple operators and late-night venues but now, other places are coming up.
“Set-ups like BrewDog and Turtle Bay are investing in other areas in the city. Good-quality, multiple operators are moving in and are helping to rejuvenate the city centre.
“Broad Street has now been eclipsed by other areas and independent operators, such as Great British Pub Award winner Pure Bar and Kitchen, are doing really well.”
Importance of the people
Marsden adds that the best reason operators should open sites in Birmingham is simple yet, so important; the clientele.
He says: “The people are great and are very self-deprecating. It’s a vibrant city with a lot going on, it has plenty of culture and the people are friendly.
“It is so undiscovered, yet people come here and really take it to their heart. We have got five universities so have a lot of graduates who stay on after studying because they love the place.”
The city, labelled Britain’s second city after London, is right in the heart of the UK and off the national motorway network with the M5, M6, M40 and M42 surrounding it, meaning it has close links to the rest of the UK.
The central position of the city gives customers from far and wide an easy route into the centre, but Marsden was keen to emphasise the outskirts of Birmingham have a lot to offer as well.
“The city is also strong in the suburban hot spots. I am based in Moseley, just outside Birmingham, which has a great circuit of around 30 bars and restaurants, and Sutton Coldfield is yet another busy little place,” he adds.
“There are lots of little villages surrounding the city so you feel a real sense of community.”
Footfall is ever increasing in Birmingham. Since 2006, the number of people visiting the city has risen by a 12% (3.6m) with the value of Birmingham’s economy also increasing by 12%.
Following a £150m development in 2013, Resorts World Birmingham is the first place to integrate restaurants and bars including Las Iguanas and Sports Bar, alongside a conference hotel and spa, gaming, cinema and shopping all under one roof and has changed the way leisure and entertainment is consumed in the UK.