Digbeth nightlife: a guide to a night out in B5 and B9
A 1908 mission hall turned four-room gig venue, a music hall and club on Lower Trinity Street, a warehouse with five rooms under the viaduct and crazy golf at the Custard Factory. Where to go out in Digbeth.
By Only Birmingham Editorial
Go out in Digbeth by heading down from the Bull Ring to Digbeth High Street and the railway arches. Within a few streets you have a four-room gig venue in a 1908 mission hall, a music hall and club on Lower Trinity Street, a five-room warehouse on Trent Street and crazy golf in the old custard works. This was Birmingham's first industrial district, and the night out still runs on brick, railway viaducts and very loud speakers.
The setting
Digbeth was Birmingham's first centre of industry. Water from the River Rea brought the factories, the canals and the Great Western Railway followed, and the Staffordshire blue brick viaduct still carries trains towards Snow Hill over the top of it all. Typhoo made tea on Bordesley Street until 1978. Bird's made custard on the High Street from 1902. Those buildings are now where the evening happens, and the arches are the reason so many of the venues are in them.
The O2 Institute, Digbeth High Street
The O2 Institute at 78 Digbeth High Street opened on 16 January 1908 as the Digbeth Institute, a church mission linked to Carrs Lane, designed by Arthur Harrison. The council bought it in 1955 as a civic hall. Since then it has been The Sanctuary, the HMV Institute and, since 2015, the O2 Institute. It has four rooms: Institute1 holds 1,500, Institute2 up to 600, Institute3 250, and Un-Plug, the old Barfly in the cellar, 400. On a busy Friday all four can be running at once, so check which room your ticket is for before you queue.
Mama Roux's, Lower Trinity Street
Mama Roux's at 2 Lower Trinity Street calls itself Digbeth's music hall and club, and has done since 2016. It is the in-between size: bigger than a pub back room, smaller than the Institute, and the place to see a band on the way up or dance after one. It sits on the B9 side of the district, off the High Street.
Lab11, Trent Street
Lab11 started in 2012 as the restoration of a single warehouse on Trent Street. It is now five internal spaces, a rooftop terrace and an outdoor area under the railway viaducts, and it puts on more than 200 events a year. Expect club nights, day parties that run into the evening, after-hours parties and label showcases with DJs. Check the listing for the finish time, then plan the walk home accordingly.
The Custard Factory, Gibb Street
The Bird's works became the Custard Factory from 1992, when an £800,000 City Grant started the conversion. It now holds about 400 small businesses by day, plus bars, restaurants, an arcade, the Mockingbird Cinema and The Old Library event space. The pool in Gibb Square is sometimes emptied for dance music events, which is about as Digbeth as it gets.
The crazy golf here is now Golf Fang: 18 holes and a bar at the Custard Factory on Gibb Street. It is strictly over-18, with Challenge 25 and physical ID only, so leave the photo of your driving licence at home and bring the real thing. It opens in the afternoon on weekdays and from midday on Saturdays, and stays open latest on Fridays and Saturdays.
The pubs
Digbeth was Birmingham's Irish quarter, and some of the pubs still say so: Hennessy's, Norton's, Cleary's, The Spotted Dog, The Big Bull's Head and The Kerryman. The Anchor, The White Swan and The Old Crown are the old houses of the district. Use them for the first pint before a gig, or the last one after. The St Patrick's Day parade has been held here since 1996 and draws crowds of up to 100,000, and if you have never seen Digbeth High Street on parade day, put it in next year's diary.
How to do it
- Start: a pint in one of the old pubs on or off the High Street.
- Early evening: a round at Golf Fang, or a film at the Mockingbird in the Custard Factory.
- The gig: the O2 Institute for touring bands, Mama Roux's for the next ones.
- Late: Lab11 or whatever club night is on under the arches.
Getting there and back
Since the ring road was remodelled, Digbeth counts as part of the city centre, and you can walk in from the Bull Ring. Birmingham Coach Station, built in 1929, is across the road from the Custard Factory if you came in by coach. The Metro is being extended through Digbeth past the new Curzon Street station, which will make the late trip home easier when it opens. Until then, walk back up past the Bull Ring with everyone else. It is part of the tradition.
