23 | Jul | 16

Hugh Thomas

Concrete Beginnings

We love Birmingham — we’ve talked about it before. The place loves food. With Carters getting its first Michelin star this year, and Adam’s, Purnell’s, Turners and Simpsons all retaining theirs, the city is a hotbed of ideas. We’re beyond excited to make it our home for the British Street Food Festival 2016. And now it’s about to fatten up a little bit in the regular streetside-dining department.

As of the end of the month, and courtesy of Brum Yum Yum, traders will start marketing their fare at the site of a former garage off Pershore Street in the city centre. No, they haven’t called it ‘The Pit-Stop’ – it’ll be known as the Hawker Centre, and the scratchy little image above will give some idea of what it should look like. Minus those dark, soullessness, possessed-looking figures, hopefully.

Plans of what’s to come might ring some bells for Digbeth Dining Club frequenters, who’ve enjoyed DDC’s multiple award-winning events for a good few years now. And by the sounds of things, DDC are only too happy about Birmingham’s street food getting the added exposure. DDC’s founder, Jack Brabant, tells us the Hawker Centre will be a very different setup to his events, and even has a few of his own plans on the boil that he’s soon to announce. Wonder what that could be? Cancel your summer hols to Mexico City and Seoul, ladies and gents, because Birmingham’s going somewhere.