Tales Of The City - The Writing's On The Wall

Yesterday I met up with Nikki in Birmingham. After pots of tea in the bustling 200 Degrees Coffee on Colmore Row, we had a wander around Digbeth, the city's historic industrial quarter. 

Once home to factories producing such iconic British brands as Bird's Custard Powder and Typhoo Tea, in recent years Digbeth has become renowned for its independent nightlife, cool, Bohemian vibe and the fabulous vintage emporium, Moseley Vintage Hub, run by our friends, Steve & Graz (HERE).  The area also serves as a hub for media, arts and upcoming TV/film production, including the BBC and Digbeth Loc Studios.

Digbeth's other claim to fame is its constantly changing street art and graffiti adorning the blue brick Victorian structures, independant workshops and derelict warehouses, making the area a vibrant open-air gallery.

Can you believe we're in the UK's second largest city and we've got Digbeth almost to ourselves?

The grafitti on the wall outside Minerva Works made us giggle. 

This young man stopped to chat, pleased that he wasn't the only person photographing the grafitti on a chilly Tuesday morning. I insisted that he parked his swanky BMW in front of an equally glamorous piece of street art. 

 

Star of the show has to be the spectacular Peaky Blinders mural on Montague Street, on the back of the Digbeth Loc Studio founded by Birmingham's finest, Steven Knight CBE, the creator of Peaky Blinders. 

A photo doesn't really do this justice, hopefully you can appreciate the sheer scale of it with the video. 

Nikki offered to take a photo for this mum and daughter, visiting from Romania. 

And they kindly returned the favour.  Nikki's outfit looks incredible against the artwork, I'm fading into the background! 

We loved how the parking meter had been incorported into this phone box. The K8 Mark II was one of 11,000 installed in the UK between 1968 and 1983 but very few survived following privatisation. 

Have you ever seen one of these before? Once a feature of Birmingham (and still operational when I was growing up), these beautiful urinals, also known as 'Temples of Relief', were made of ornate cast iron panels. Often found beneath railway bridges, this is in Allinson Street, under the south end of Moor Street station and is Grade II listed.

The old Spotted Dog pub, a place I frequented in the 1980s and 1990s. 

By now we were ravenous so we headed to the Indian Brewery for Chaat Attack and Crane Hook IPA. We'd not seen boss, Marni for months and she was as excited to see us as we were to see her. If you're flying out from Birmingham Airport soon do go and check out their new venture at Gate 55. 

Then it wsa back through the subway, past the Bull Ring and back to Grand Central (aka Birmingham New Street) for our respective trains home.

Thanks for a fab day, Nikki (and for holding my stick when I wanted to take photos), see you soon! 

This was what I wore for my day out and naturally, I had to chose a tune from a legendary Birmingham band. 

See you soon!