The new National Express coach station on Bradford Street will be fully-functioning tomorrow. Some, like Karen Strunks are looking forward to the new station with its Starbucks, WH Smith and an Uppercrust bakery, which promises to be a vast improvement on the older model she’d photographed above. Others, like Ian Jelf, aren’t so pleased because it’s situated ‘that little bit “out” of the City centre in a still-not-very-brilliant area.’ Grrrr…
I’m very happy the plush new station is ready to go, if only because I’ll no longer get accosted by panicked-looking people with suitcases demanding to know, “Where’s the coach station?” The temporary move across the road seemed to be more than many could handle.
So happy, I’d quite like to spend some time in there, enjoying the luxuries it has to offer and talking to the passengers passing though, gathering tales of their journeys via Digbeth – where they’ve come from, where they’re going to, their reasons for travel and their experience of the new station along the way.
I suspect the most colourful tales could be gathered during the loud and lively party season that’s about to hit us, so I’m planning my sit-in for the liveliest night of them all. I’ll be arriving at the coach station at 6pm on 31st December and will be staying there until 6am on 1st January – seeing in the brand New Year in a brand new coach station, hopefully gathering some interesting stories from party-goers, commuters and coach station workers whilst I’m there. If you fancy joining me, I’d love some company, but won’t hold out too much hope on that score. If you’re passing through or near the coach station over that time, please seek me out and stop for chat!
And then I learn that Mr Ralph has lost his early lead in BiNS Brummie of the Year and been overtaken by UB40’s Brian Travers, which is well deserved, especially for his sterling support for The Rainbow, but a little saddening all the same. I think I need some chocolate to cheer me up.
The new exhibition Bodies Revealed at the Custard Factory had a press day last Wednesday, which has resulted in some links. Karen Strunks went along with her camera and took some striking images, which she’s compiled into the video above. She seemed to enjoy it, posting one picture as her BiNS Friday Photo.
Would I recommend the exhibition? Absolutely. It’s a chance to see the human body how you would never get to see it ordinarily. It is fascinating, informative and something very, very different.
As promised, here’s the first video taken by my brand new Flip, kindly donated to me by Fullrange Films. Spotted Dog landlord John Tighe gets his head shaved for charidee by a rather un-PC barmaid. Funilly enough, no-one wants the lock of hair I harvested that evening. Thankfully Jon Bounds has come to the rescue with talk of somehow locking it inside the trophy for Brummie of the Year 2008. I hope this will start a tradition of the previous years’ winner passing on discarded body bits to their successors, complete with ceremony, like when Miss World passes on her crown but a bit grosser.
Felt there is enough out there about Gigbeth for the links to warrant their own post. Tickets are now on sale, get buying early to take advantage of their Early Bird ticket offer of £20 for a weekend pass.
Guillemots film and music tour starts here – Yes, here, in Digbeth! At Gigbeth! In the Custard Factory on 7th November. Now I suspect I’m showing my age to admitting to not hearing of them before Gigbeth was announced, but I do LOVE seeing films with live scores so really want to see the “selection of short films re-scored live by the band.”
Fight! Fight! Fight! – or maybe just a minor disagreement, between grumpy guts Midge Diabolik and Gigbeth, who crowned him Digbeth’s Simon Cowell after he accused them of poaching their headline acts from Gay Pride. Birmingham it’s Not Shit joins in the fray with its two bits’ worth.
What is this Gigbeth thing, anyway? – is the question the above spat prompted Russ L to ask himself, which he answers with an interesting discussion of their vision, identity and impact.
One of the reasons I love living in Digbeth is its multitude of pubs, especially old man drinking establishments.
Before Digbeth is Good was born, I wrote a post listing the top ten Digbeth pubs on my personal blog The Getgood Guide (makes for a great crawl, if you have the inclination). In it I lamented the loss of Cleary’s and The Market Tavern, which may yet be reborn as a gastro-pub. How it hopes to beat the culinary competition of the Big Bull’s Head He Man’s Grill pictured above I don’t know.
Now more Digbeth pubs are closing. Barnard wrote that The Spotted Dog (no, the other one on Bordesley Street) called last orders on 6th July. In the same week Birmingham It’s Not Shit announced Monsoon Nights on Bradford Street (previously The Mercat) is set to close to make way for the wholesale markets. You never know, I might just pluck up the courage to drink a pint in there before then.
