Birmingham Pride face a ‘bleak’ future after a struggle to be ‘made homeless’ by new development

This year’s Birmingham Pride could be the last in the city center unless a new permanent home can be found, organizers have said. The LGBTQ+ festival, one of the UK’s biggest, attracts around 40,000 people to a two-day music event at the vacant Smithfield venue in Birmingham city centre.

But this year’s Pride will be the last held at the site before a multi-billion pound regeneration scheme gets underway. The Smithfield development is set to transform the former site of Birmingham Wholesale Markets into a new public realm – complete with new homes, retail units and new community markets.

Pride bosses previously said a new public square promised as part of the redevelopment was “too small” to host the city’s biggest festival and fell short of what was promised. Festival director Lawrence Barton has called on Birmingham City Council to “find us a home in the city centre”, amid fears the LGBTQ+ festival could be forced out of the city’s gay village.

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Plans for the Smithfield site originally included a festival space large enough for Pride, the BBC reports. But Mr Barton this week said those plans had been scaled back.

Mr Barton told the BBC: “We were promised a venue that would hold 20,000 people. After five years, we are presented with a space that, with infrastructure, could probably accommodate 3,000 to 4,000 people. It’s just not favorable for us. The future looks a bit bleak at the moment.”

Dubbed a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to reshape the city centre, Smithfield plans to transform Birmingham’s former wholesale market, next to the Bullring shopping centre, into a thriving new destination with new leisure and cultural spaces. But on May 16, a planning application was delayed by the city council over objections to the lack of public space.

Developers Lendlease said: “We respect the planning committee’s decision and will now work closely with officers to understand the reasons for a postponement. We look forward to featuring the app again in the near future.”

Pride bosses said Birmingham City Council had not proposed any alternative site for the festival. Southside Business District Manager Julia Robinson told the BBC that relocating the festival would have a negative impact on local Southside businesses.

She said: “It would be a disaster, not just for our businesses but for our residents and also for the town. The gay village is Pride, and Pride is the gay village. We think it’s incredibly important that he stays here.”

A Birmingham City Council spokesman said: “It’s been great to see Pride go from strength to strength and its success means it’s more of a challenge to find a suitable venue, but we will continue to work with the organizers and partners to help. to secure their future”.

The annual Pride parade through the city center draws crowds of around 70,000 people each year. Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Beverley Knight, Loreen and Jamelia will headline this year’s festival, which runs from Saturday 25th May to Sunday 26th May.

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