The Birmingham Gay Village is an LGBT district next to the Chinese Quarter in Birmingham city centre, centred along Hurst Street, which hosts many LGBT-friendly businesses. The village is visited by thousands of people every week and has a thriving night life featuring clubs, sports bars, cocktail bars, cabaret bars and shops, with most featuring live entertainment including music, dancing and drag queens.
The 2017 gay, lesbian and bisexual population of the West Midlands was recorded at 2.2%Office for National Statistics, Sexual orientation, UK: 2017, Office for National Statistics (21 January 2019), 2019 or 128,920 of the estimated 5.86 million residents of the West Midlands region.Office for National Statistics, Population estimates - 2017, Office for National Statistics, 2019 In 2009, the gay and lesbian population of Birmingham was estimated to be around 6 per cent or 60,000 of the estimated 1.03 million residents.
Formation and development The area expanded from just the Nightingale Club and Windmill bar in the 1980s, to multiple bars and venues in the surrounding streets, with the area first curtained off from the rest of the city by the Smallbrook Queensway section of the Inner Ring Road. This took place in the 1950s, when the area was a little warehouse district with a few small businesses. The area was expanded in the 1980s when land to the east of Hurst Street was cleared for the building of the Arcadian Centre, with the only surviving building being that of the Missing Bar. The Gay Village finally took its form in the 1990s after the number of venues increased and gave the area more of a boundary, while the increasing number of bars resulted from an increasing number of customers and amount of diversity offered.
The starting point for unhindered growth of the gay village was the partial decriminalisation of gay sex between males with the Sexual Offences Act 1967. A victory for gay rights and a reflection of attitudes changing towards gay people, the act became a springboard for a gay liberation movement in Birmingham and countless lesbian and gay organizations were created over the following decades to challenge attitudes.
At the end of May 2009, Birmingham City Council approved plans for a environmental improvement scheme at the heart of the city's Gay Village area. The changes included extending the avenue of street trees to the full length of Hurst Street and parts of Kent Street; widening pavements to create space for café bars to provide outdoor seating and brighter street lighting with decorative lanterns.
Village events
Birmingham Pride
Annually over the Spring bank holiday weekend upwards of 70,000 people flock to the area for Birmingham Pride. Birmingham Pride was the largest free Pride event in the UK before 2013, when an entry fee was introduced for entry to the Gay Village. Usually there are entertainment acts, market stalls, fairground attractions and a parade, and until 2012 it was completely free. In 2012, for the first time, charges were introduced for access to the entertainment marquees, tents and certain areas of some bars. In 2013, the charge was expanded to include entrance to the Gay Village.
Gay and Lesbian Pride Ball The Gay and Lesbian Pride Ball takes place every spring at the International Convention Centre with an average audience of 1000 plus attendees. It is organized by Midland Zone Magazine and features an opening act to begin with, the Midlands Zone Readers' Awards, a three-course meal, a live entertainment event, a disco, and then an after-party in the Gay Village.
The first Pride Ball took place in 1998 at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens and was the idea of Graham Brogden, who was a committee member for Birmingham Pride at the time. At inception, the idea was for the Pride Ball to fund Birmingham Pride, although Midland Zone Magazine had issues with this and took control of Pride Ball in 2001 to separate it from Birmingham Pride. They also moved the venue to the International Convention Centre, where they managed to get 540 participants for their first event. Rising to almost 800 by 2008, and being used to fund local LGBT organisations and HIV and AIDS charities.
In March 2012 the Pride ball raised for AIDS and HIV charities. And organizations to gain funding were presented with their cheque in the Nightingale Club by Louie Spence of Pineapple Dance Studios.
Christmas Ball On 8 November 2012 the first Christmas Ball and charity fundraiser created for the Birmingham gay community was announced. It took place in the Penthouse above the Loft Lounge on 18 December 2012. The event included a meal and local drag acts: Little Miss Marty, Miss Penny-Tration, The Sensational Pam Catz, birminghams very own Adele - Stacey Donohoe, Ricky Finlan, Lee Jedward and Pam-la Motown.
Buildings and history
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Glamorous Bar Glamorous Bar Location(s) 31 Hurst Street, Birmingham, B5 4BD Website Glamorous Bar Website Originally known as The Windmill, then Partners Bar, XL's and TRISHA's. Now known as Glamorous Bar, it is a late-night venue located on Hurst Street next to the Hippodrome. It has seen many changes over the years and is now a late-night venue.
Bar Jester Bar Jester Location(s) 42 Holloway Circus, Birmingham, B1 1EG Built 1964 Website Previously known as The Court Jester, the building was put up in 1964, when the Inner Ring Road was undergoing development. It became popular in the 1970s with the LGBT community, and this intensified until the late 1990s, when its popularity had fallen due to competition from newer bars in the village. The venue stayed in business until 2006, later reopening in 2010 after renovations and a rename to Bar Jester, with the addition of a marble Jester engraving at the entrance.
Following refurbishment by owner and former Mr Gay UK Richard Carr, it was a karaoke and live cabaret bar open every night of the week. The venue closed in 2019.
Boltz Club Boltz was a members-only cruising club for men. The club had theme nights and featured a bar, club, outdoor terrace, dark rooms and other play rooms. After the Covid-19 pandemic, Boltz re-opened on a new site on Kent Street, but the venue closed again in January 2025, with no clear plans to re-open.
Missing Bar Missing Bar Location(s) 48 Bromsgrove Street, Birmingham, B5 6NU Built 1897 Website Missing Website The building is of Victorian design and dates back to 1897. It has a history as a public house and was previously known as the Australian Bar, with a restaurant on the first floor, known as Alexander's. It was renamed the Missing Bar. It was taken over in January 2010 by 7 Carat Ltd and refurbished soon after. Once known as a cabaret bar, the management instead attempted to make Missing a "party bar", since they felt the Birmingham gay scene was lacking one.
Loft Lounge
Equator Bar Equator opened in 2002 after taking the place of a solarium tanning centre and converting the building into a bar. Its 10th birthday was celebrated on 28 April 2012 with a buffet and Elvis Presley tribute act. Equator is also the home of the transgender social group Outskirts, providing a meeting space for people in the trans community on the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month.
Kent Street Baths
The Kent Street Baths were designed by D. R. Hill, with construction starting on 29 October 1849. The baths were opened on 12 May 1851,Aris's Gazette: Birmingham Baths Committee Public Notice, 12 May 1851 although, construction was not completed until 1852. The baths were the first to be opened by the Birmingham Baths Committee.
In 1930, the main buildings, with the exception of the women's bath on Gooch Street, were demolished and new facilities were built in a more modern art deco style. It was opened on 29 May 1933 and renamed Kent House.Official opening after reconstruction of Kent Street baths, 29th May, 1933, Birmingham, England, Baths Department, 1933 Designed by Hurley Robinson,
The baths and surrounding buildings suffered heavy damage during World War II to a heavy night raid on 3 December 1940, with repairs made after the war ended.
The baths were historically significant to the gay history of the area, being popular with gay men in the 1950s as a safe meeting place.
In September 2009, after lying empty for years, the baths were demolished by Benacre Property, the landowner, provoking a local outcry. Despite being Grade B locally listed, Birmingham City Council were unable to save the building and the site became a surface car park.
Sidewalk Sidewalk Location(s) 125-127 Hurst Street, Birmingham, B5 6SE Built 1931 History Laurie's International Club 1996-?Angels Cafe Bar ?-2010The Angel 2010–2012Sidewalk 2012–present Website Sidewalk Website Designed by Alfred John Dunn F.R.I.B.A, a Birmingham and Gloucester Architect in 1931 with two storeys with pediments and banded piers, Originally a car showroom in the 1930s, entrepreneur Laurie Williams transformed the premises into a private members gay bar in 1996 under the name Laurie's International Club and opened it in time for the first Birmingham Pride in 1997. It had wide windows all around, opening it up to views from the street, a first in the gay village and a protest to attitudes of the period that gay people were deviants or perverted. "Angels opened, with plate-glass windows – I was amazed to see gay people in the open – I had thought gay people in Birmingham must be vampires!" It was later sold to Gareth Scratchard, who renamed it Angels Cafe Bar. It closed down and was bought by Birmingham Mardi Gras Ltd, a subsidiary of the Nightingale Club in January 2010 before undergoing a four-month refurbishment at a reported cost exceeding and reopening in September 2010. It later became a restaurant called The Angel and then after closing for refurbishment again, reopening in 2012. Now called Sidewalk, it is marketed as a bar and restaurant and has been refurbished to have a "San Francisco warehouse" decor. It has a ground floor and a basement, ideal for "private hire and small conferencing".
Sidewalk was the host of a fundraising event for the armed forces on 1 December 2012, specifically for the Mercian Regiment Charity.
Queer Street Previously known as Purple Bar & Lounge, it opened on 27 September 2010 and closed on 18 August 2012 after a take-over by GB Holdings, the owner of the Nightingale. It reopened later on 27 September 2012 as Queer Street after it was refurbished. Queer Street is to operate as a "feeder" bar for the Nightingale, attracting and entertaining customers which the Nightingale would not until later in the night when it opens its doors.
In March 2013, Queer Street announced it was being sued by Nigel Martin-Smith, the former manager of Take That, on behalf of his bar, QUEER, in Manchester. Smith claimed ownership of the word "queer", its usage nationally, and that his brand was being "tarnished and diluted" by the deceptively named Queer Street. Andrew Norris, representing Queer Street, countered: "The only element common to the name and logo of both bars is the word Queer...Queer is commonly and colloquially understood as describing someone who is gay, thus Queer in these circumstances has a descriptive meaning." Queer Street closed down in late 2013.Article in Birmingham Post
The Village Inn One of the oldest hostelries in the gay village. Came under new management in April 2008 and was refurbished immediately with the work completed by 22 May 2008. The official Village Inn website states that there is a late-night bar, called The Village Underground, open until the early hours, during the weekend.Official Website The Village Birmingham It was announced in September 2024 that the bar will move to new premises in 2025.
The Village has now reopened on the corner of the Nightingale club site, in a newly renovated premises.
Eden Bar Previously known as the White Swan Pub, it was refurbished and renamed in 2008 and became Eden Bar.