House beats ring out through the open air while a heaving crowd of young partygoers dance. Suddenly, they begin to chant: “Richard Parker, Richard Parker!” You might think he is the next DJ on the set list, but in fact he is the mayor of the West Midlands and this block party has been assembled to send him a message: leave Digbeth alone. It’s Sunday night and I’m in Birmingham’s trendy party district.
It’s filled with bars, warehouse clubs and storied music venues. The 1,800-strong crowd of mostly twentysomethings at the Parker event fits right in. But buzzy scenes like this may soon be a thing of the past.
Under plans proposed by the Midlands Rail Hub Alliance – including Network Rail, which owns and manages railway infrastructure in Great Britain – seven nightclubs, including XOYO Birmingham, Mama Roux’s and Club Colette, could be demolished from 2030. The aim is to expand a nearby viaduct, allowing more trains to run through Moor Street station rather than the more congested New Street, but striking a blow to the city’s nightlife. Ravers want Parker, who leads the region’s strategic transport agenda, to use his power to lobby against these plans.
The proposal comes at a testing time for the industry. More than 26% of all late-night venues across the UK closed for good between 2020 and 2025, according to the Night Time Industries Association. Birmingham has been hit harder than any other major city, experiencing a 28% drop in the number of bars, clubs and other establishments where you might grab a late-night drink.
But Digbeth, a former industrial centre where metal sheets, Typhoo Tea and Bird’s Custard were once manufactured, has stood strong as the city’s cultural bright spot – far cooler than Broad Street, Birmingham’s main clubbing strip, which has the vibe of a street-long All Bar One. It’s where some of the names now headlining electronic music festivals around the world caught the raving bug. The Birmingham DJ Fleur Shore, 30, has been coming to Digbeth since she was 15.
I get to go all over the world and do my job.” Shore has played gigs in the Argentinian countryside, the historic Plaza de España in Seville, Spain, and the mountains of Gran Canaria. But the UK has not always made it easy. When everybody’s all together, dancing to the same thing, it’s powerful.” The mooted demolition of Digbeth’s bars and clubs is just one example of the threats to British nightlife.
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