Does Gentrification Mean Birmingham City Centre Risks Losing Its Soul?
One day it is a sassy mixed neighbourhood full of grunge and good vibes, the next it is a sterilised home zone for career-focused 20-somethings and as dead as a place can get.
This sad transformation, familiar from cities around the world, could be about to haunt Birmingham, if rising anxiety about the closure of the city's soulful music venues turns into reality.
The claims come as Birmingham's Blackbox nightclub, Lower Trinity Street, closes just weeks after re-opening, with the owners citing the difficulty of co-existing with new residential development, Counteract reports.
Changes to legislation in 2016 were intended to protect existing venues from noise complaints from more recent residential development, but their impact has been blunted. Some fear that independent nightlife is being sacrified to "boring-bastard cleanshirt office drones trying to get eight hours sleep," Counteract said.
In August Birmingham City Council helped broker a compromise between Galliard Homes and the city's gay businesses over threats of noise nuisance at the 379-unit Timber Yard scheme.
The developers have confirmed their intention to instal high performance double glazing of the same kind used next to airport runways, which is quite a compliment to the noise-generating possibilities of the LGBT community. Windows facing the clubs and bars will be sealed. In return village businesses have withdrawn their objections and the project won the support of councillors, the Birmingham Post reports.
