I worry demolishing Birmingham's indoor market will tear our heart out

Inside the Bull Ring market
-Credit: (Image: Birmingham Mail)


Birmingham Heritage Week is in full swing as of Friday, September 6, a chance for Brummies to connect with the places and spaces that have formed the fabric of who we are here in 2024. All over this city, buildings and spaces are being opened up to visitors so they can learn more about our shared, Brummie identity.

How shameful and gutting it is that on this same week we're learning that our city's historic Bull Ring Indoor Market is as risk of being lost forever. Sure, it might not be the most picturesque destination in the city, but it's ours and it functions as a place for Brummies to shop from local tradespeople who, honestly, probably couldn't afford one of the expensive units in the Bullring or on New Street.

It's early days in the process but judging by a letter sent to the grafters that show up to work on the stalls and stands, the future vision would be to turn the community space into yet more accommodation. But what of the market?

Read more: Historic Birmingham Bull Ring Indoor Market 'to be bulldozed for new homes'

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The dim, pinprick of light at the end of the very, very long tunnel is that perhaps, at some point years from now, market traders will be able to secure a spot down at Smithfield. What good is that when they've got bills to pay now?

While the immediate concern is for the traders, some of who have been showing up for the people of Birmingham for years and giving that first-hand, personal shopping experience that makes all of the difference, I'm also scared for us. All of us.

I'm scared that the heart is being torn out of our city to make space for yet more accommodation. The kind of accommodation that the likes of me - an average income Brummie - probably couldn't afford to flipping live in.

Across the city, we have neighbourhoods with distinctive personalities thanks to the heritage spaces that, in many ways, define them. Look at Balsall Heath, where the Moseley Road Baths are undergoing careful construction to protect and preserve it. Not so that it looks smart, but so that it functions in the way it was built to function, as a community space where locals can find a sense of belonging and purpose.

Don't get me wrong, there are spaces in Birmingham city centre that are staying true to our heritage. Just look at the old, grand Great Western Arcade, which looks beautiful as well as providing a space where small businesses and independents can find a home and achieve excellent things.

Others, like Station Street, aren't being treated with any level of the importance they deserve. That stretch of road, which sprinter Noah Lyles could clear in less than ten seconds, is home to the Electric Cinema, The Crown Pub and the Old Rep Theatre. It's a road that tells the story of Birmingham arts history, and yet regular Brummies are having to fight tooth and nail to protect these spaces. Why is everything always a fight?!

And now it feels as though the Bull Ring Indoor Market is joining the list of city centre spaces that are at risk of being torn away from us. On some bulging bank balance somewhere, I'm sure it makes financial sense to turn it into money-spinning accommodation. But I cannot understand how this can be best for Brum?

Only last month I was wandering through Spitalfields Market in London, grabbing food from different vendors, enjoying the public art works outside, mooching through stalls selling clothing and jewellery and other special bits and bobs. It's so cool, so iconic and so unique. Why can't our markets be like that?

I remember last year asking Birmingham City Council for permission to go into the markets down by the Bullring so we could sing about the vendors ahead of Christmas shopping season. The council wouldn't give us the go-ahead. It felt so sad to me that the market didn't feel important enough to them to let us celebrate it.

For every little bit of historic Birmingham that is stamped out to make way for boring buildings, I grieve a little bit. Sure, there's going to be loads of space for people who can afford such a thing to live in our city centre. But what will there be to enjoy when they get there?