Broad Street and Hagley Road

[tHEgLASSdOORS]

Hadn’t been to either for a fair while, christ parts of both look like we are back in 1985. Aside from the bags of rubbish, overgrown buildings, boarded up shops and crackheads aots. How the fuck has an area so close to the centre become this bad? No wonder I’m hearing so many brummie accents landing in the affluent Black Country suburbs

[Squid]

Hagley Road needs looking at urgently. It really needs a housing development plan. The number of derelict office buildings on there is ludicrous. It should be turned into something like Islington Row Middleway.

Broad St is a victim of nightclubs declining. People don't go out as much as they used to.

People's lives are changing but cities aren't changing to meet their needs.

[Dumbo]

Has Hagley Road ever been decent. The bottom half, towards Bearwood, has always been crackhead and crack hostel central.

Broad Street massively affected by the tram line.

[tHEgLASSdOORS]

Has Hagley Road ever been decent. The bottom half, towards Bearwood, has always been crackhead and crack hostel central.

Broad Street massively affected by the tram line.

There was a spell where it was definitely in better nick than it is now. It looks atrocious. I know the council is in the shit but Jesus it’s one of the main roads into the city centre

[ericlegrisly]

Both are on my hybrid semi daily cycle to work.

The Hagley Road towards Sandon has been ropey Spiceheads, hookers and so for about 25 years, but it feels peak now and slightly scary.

Broad Street is kind of same as it ever was but with more nutters/druggers and mendicants per square metre than it used to have. The Exchange, opposite the Rep / Library is a delightful oasis, mind.

[Mouse]

It’s been a shit hole for years. It’s just moved up from Bearwood towards the centre now.

As a side, I went to the Hippodrome at the weekend with the other half and walked through the Arcadian. I mean it’s never been great but its on a different level now.

[CarlosCorbewrong]

I always wondered how places became a Ghost Town before I decided to leave Birmingham a few months ago. It’s mad - just a few years ago it was experiencing migration from London as people moved into an up and coming city with relatively good affordability. Now people are leaving in their droves as the reality of deep urban decay sets in.

[Tom Joad]

Driving down Hagley Rd to town and it's clubs, on a summer night, was a feature of my youth. When I did it again after a gap of years I still felt a buzz. Now we have a maintenance job just off Hagley Rd by Sandon/Fountain and we have to have eyes on the van constantly and never leave any tools lying around.

[Man from delmonte]

Hagley Road needs looking at urgently. It really needs a housing development plan. The number of derelict office buildings on there is ludicrous. It should be turned into something like Islington Row Middleway.

Broad St is a victim of nightclubs declining. People don't go out as much as they used to.

People's lives are changing but cities aren't changing to meet their needs.

I'm not so sure that is entirely true. The demographics of the people going clubbing is certainly different. Whilst fewer younger people go clubbing than in the 90s and 00s when teenagers and people in their 20s weren't so boring, there are more people in their 30s-50s who do still really enjoy going out. When I go to club nights at the Hare and Hounds they are very popular with a massively wide age range.

Broad Street's biggest issue is that it has a reputation these days for just being rough and the choice of destination for general knuckle draggers. Even when I first moved to Birmingham 20 years ago after finishing uni it seemed a pretty crappy place to go for a night out and it's only got worse. I think the new Snobs has really struggled with its change of venue to Broad Street. I popped in there to try it out a couple of months ago for a quick pint before going to the NIA and it was really empty. This was at about 6:30pm on a Saturday night. A mate went to one of the Saturday afternoon indie sessions they had there and he said there was barely anyone there. A friend's daughter is at Birmingham Uni and apparently the only place the students go to down there is the old Bierkeller.

[Borin' Baggie]

Hagley Road needs looking at urgently. It really needs a housing development plan. The number of derelict office buildings on there is ludicrous. It should be turned into something like Islington Row Middleway.

Broad St is a victim of nightclubs declining. People don't go out as much as they used to.

People's lives are changing but cities aren't changing to meet their needs.

I'm not so sure that is entirely true. The demographics of the people going clubbing is certainly different. Whilst fewer younger people go clubbing than in the 90s and 00s when teenagers and people in their 20s weren't so boring, there are more people in their 30s-50s who do still really enjoy going out. When I go to club nights at the Hare and Hounds they are very popular with a massively wide age range.

Broad Street's biggest issue is that it has a reputation these days for just being rough and the choice of destination for general knuckle draggers. Even when I first moved to Birmingham 20 years ago after finishing uni it seemed a pretty crappy place to go for a night out and it's only got worse. I think the new Snobs has really struggled with its change of venue to Broad Street. I popped in there to try it out a couple of months ago for a quick pint before going to the NIA and it was really empty. This was at about 6:30pm on a Saturday night. A mate went to one of the Saturday afternoon indie sessions they had there and he said there was barely anyone there. A friend's daughter is at Birmingham Uni and apparently the only place the students go to down there is the old Bierkeller.

Aye, when I was at UoB the people who went to Broad Street past the first week were the twats, most people went to Digbeth or the Gay Village. Broad Street has had that reputation for a long time.

Birmingham's nightlife is definitely struggling at the moment but Broad Street is not emblematic of that.