When: Friday 2nd November 2012, from 20:00
Where: The Old Crown, Digbeth High Street

The Old Crown are holding their very first Man V Food challenge this Friday. For those of you not familiar with the concept, it essentially involves a lot of burger and some very brave challengers who could be in with a chance of winning £100!

It promises to be a very entertaining night, so even if you’re not up for pushing your body to the limits of an Olympic Apetit-lete, we’d still recommend going along to have a laugh at the challengers’ expense!

THE MEAL
A 32 ounce handmade beef burger with six battered onion rings, six rashes of bacon, topped with a dollop of chilli and melted cheddar cheese, cos lettuce, and a slice of beef tomato all served with a bowl of hand cut chips and homemade coleslaw.

THE RULES
1. All food must be consumed within 30 mins.
2. Your food must be on the plate, in your mouth, or in your belly at all times.
3. You can drink as much liquid as you like.

THE PRIZES
The first to finish wins £100, a special yellow Tour-de-France-style winner’s t-shirt, and their photo on the Winners Hall of Fame Wall.
All challengers will receive an OLD CROWN MAN V FOOD t-shirt for entering.

THE DETAIL
1. £15 entry fee with a £5 deposit to be paid by 15:00 on the day of the event.
2. You must be at the venue and registered by 19:30.
3. Places are limited so challengers wishing to enter are asked to call the Old Crown 0121 248 1368, or email landlord Kieran.
The Old Crown recommends that people with any sort of heart condition do not enter – meat stroke is real possibility.

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When: Thursday 15th November 2012
Where: Chandos Primary School (for most residents of Digbeth) – see map below

On Thursday 15th November, voting for the new West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner will open.

The Police and Crime Commissioner will be responsible for:

• Coming up with priorities for police in the region;
• Setting the local policing budget, including the portion of Council Tax that helps pay for it;
• Holding the chief constable accountable for police performance;
• Helping improve community safety.

There are seven candidates for the West Midlands region; click here to see them all and read their manifestos.

Please note that you must be registered to vote by this Wednesday 31st October, in order to have your say in who is elected into the role. For more information about registering, please visit aboutmyvote.co.uk.

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Mr Bird’s Emporium - Birmingham’s first independent creative department store opened on the 13th October at The Custard Factory.

Thousands of people flocked to Digbeth to attend the launch party. In fact, it was such a success that Mr Birds Emporium and Custard Factory were amongst the top five trending topics in Birmingham on Twitter throughout the day! Other treats included a performance from Hazy James featuring UB40′s saxophonist Brian Travers, and a DJ set from The Charlatans’ Jon Brookes.

We have also seen the return of a weekly vintage market to The Custard Factory, which can only be a good thing for Digbeth. Known as The Custard Cream, the vintage and craft market saw more than 65 stall holders on launch day; here’s hoping that similar numbers come back every Saturday from today!

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From The Chamberlain Files:

Birmingham’s historic Digbeth markets are at risk of going out of business if the city council insists on pushing forward with a controversial relocation plan, traders have warned.

Wholesale Markets stallholders claim they would be unable to afford “significantly higher” rents at a new purpose-built site.

An independent survey into traders’ views found widespread “cynicism and mistrust” of the council’s motives going back many years, according to polling company QA Research.

Image: The Chamberlain Files

The council is consulting the future of the Wholesale Markets site, which it owns, after plans to move to a £140 million development at Witton collapsed last year.

Key members of the council’s controlling Labour group are sympathetic to traders’ wishes, but have warned that the financial cost of remaining on the city centre site may be too great.

The 22-acre Digbeth complex was built in 1975, although markets have been held on the site since 1816.

The Wholesale Markets provide fresh produce to hundreds of street markets, restaurants and shops across the Midlands. However, it made a £1.5 million loss last year and more than a third of the 264 trading units are vacant.

The building is “at the end of its useful life” with a leaky roof and requires expensive and costly refurbishment if more traders are to be convinced to move in, according to the council.

There is also a question mark over the future of the adjoining Indoor Market, Rag Market and Open Market , which traders claim stand in the way of the council’s wish to flatten the area for a major redevelopment scheme linking with the planned HS2 high speed rail terminal.

The council has conducted its own consultation into the future of the Wholesale Markets, offering several options including doing nothing, moving to an out of town site and a comprehensive redevelopment of the existing site.

Most traders opted to stay where they were, although some said they would be prepared to move if the council helped them with relocation costs.

The QA Research study found that traders feared a domino effect if the Wholesale Markets were forced to move with many businesses failing to survive and “not having the will to carry on”.

The study noted: “This would lead to many of the Open and Indoor Market traders closing down. The Rag Market was also cited as relying heavily on the customers that attended the other markets so would be affected if the others were set to decline.

“There was a feeling from across the markets that the council had big plans to develop something on the site that the markets currently occupy -possibly in relation to the arrival of HS2.”

Birmingham’s Wholesale Market Traders’ commissioned their own study to increase awareness and understanding of the Markets’ importance to Birmingham and the national food-supply chain. Digbeth Residents Association has been sent a copy of this study, which can be seen below.

If you’d like to learn more about the history of Birmingham and the importance of the markets, Birmingham Museum has recently opened a new exhibition entitled Birmingham: its People, its History; it comes highly recommended by DRA Treasurer Gabi!

Birmingham Markets – The Essential Catalyst

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Espirito Brum, the Brazilian cultural exchange festival which mostly calls Digbeth home, has been commissioned for another two years. This is great news for our little part of the world, but what is even better news is the announcement that the Brazilian government has has named Espirito Brum as an officially recognised cultural event in the lead-up towards the FIFA World Cup 2014!

Festival organiser Tessa Burwood said: “Birmingham has so much culture to offer. It is a vibrant and cosmopolitan destination and truly deserves this official recognition. The Espirito Mundo circuit includes Madrid and Paris, and having official inclusion in the global World Cup 2014 Calendar now puts us in the same standing as those European capital cities. It is such an honour. What’s really exciting is that this decision has come from the Brazilian government, which means that people very high up in Brazilian politics will be talking about Birmingham, and finding out about the city.”

This is not only a fantastic opportunity for Digbeth, it is also a chance for our city as a whole to come together and present a united, welcoming and incredibly cultured front to the rest of the world. Digbeth Residents Association is certainly motivated for the challenge, and we look forward to all our members and supporters coming together to champion Espirito Brum to the world, as they’ll all certainly be watching now.

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