What's still working in Birmingham's broken food scene?

National World - LocalTV

Restaurants are closing, menus are shrinking, and hospitality is under pressure across Birmingham. In the middle of it all, Birmingham Restaurant Festival returns—not as a distraction, but as a lens on what’s left, what still works, and what the city stands to lose. We speak to organiser Alex Nicholson-Evans about survival, strategy, and why food has become the frontline of cultural identity.

Transcript

00:00Hospitality across Birmingham is stretched.

00:03Soaring costs, SAF shortages and shifting habits

00:07have left many venues operating on a knife edge or closing altogether.

00:12But not everything's in retreat.

00:14Events that pull diners back into restaurants,

00:16especially new or independent ones,

00:19can reveal what's still working

00:20and what kind of places still have cultural pull.

00:24That doesn't mean the pressure's off,

00:25but it shows where the resilience is.

00:28So I started running festivals in Birmingham about 11 years ago

00:32and the first one we did was Birmingham Cocktail Weekend

00:35and it was really successful because it drove new customers into bars

00:40trying new spirits and new drinks

00:42and I really wanted to replicate that positive experience

00:45into the restaurant scene.

00:47But of course it had to be a little bit different

00:49because you might be able to have a few cocktails in one day,

00:51but you're not going to be having loads and loads of meals out in one day.

00:55Right now the real story isn't just who's closing,

00:57it's who's left and how they're adapting.

01:01The range of dining in Birmingham is still wide,

01:03but keeping that diversity visible takes intention.

01:07In times like these, curation doesn't just showcase,

01:10it diagnoses who's still drawing a crowd,

01:13what kind of service still survives

01:15and where are the gaps starting to show.

01:18So curating the line-up is definitely an art rather than a science,

01:23but there are absolutely things I look for.

01:24What I don't look for is a set number of restaurants with Michelin stars,

01:29a set number of restaurants with particular elements of service

01:32or particular cuisines.

01:34I want to capture the breadth of the city

01:36and the diversity in every sense.

01:38So lots of different cuisines,

01:40lots of different service styles

01:41and lots of different price points.

01:43And for that reason,

01:44I don't really feel a tension between that kind of prestige end

01:48and maybe a kind of more informal dining

01:49because I think the strength of Birmingham's food scene

01:52is that breadth.

01:54Restaurants aren't just businesses,

01:55they're part of how a city expresses itself.

01:58When venues shut, something bigger is lost.

02:01In Birmingham, food has never stood alone.

02:03It's always run alongside music, migration and memory.

02:07That's why hospitality still matters.

02:09Even now, it's doing the work of culture,

02:12quietly but clearly.

02:13I've been thinking a lot about brand Birmingham recently

02:17and I think our strength is also our challenge.

02:20Birmingham could be the city of a thousand things,

02:24a thousand trades.

02:25It absolutely is the city of heavy metal

02:27and we're all feeling that so purposefully

02:30and poignantly at the moment.

02:31It's absolutely the city of food too.

02:33We can lay claim to inspiring Tolkien.

02:36We can lay claim to the Peaky Blinders.

02:38There's so many things we could go after as a city

02:40and that breadth is exciting but of course

02:43it doesn't mean that we've just got one USP

02:44to kind of power through.

02:46I think food is core

02:48and can sit alongside all of those themes.

02:51I don't think it replaces the beauty of art,

02:53the power of music.

02:54I think it's something that sits alongside them

02:56and works beautifully all together.

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