Business bouncing back
Business News
LEFT: Renewal: Mike Olley
BELOW: Raising a toast: Customers enjoying the reopening of outdoor hospitality
New marquees stand as symbol of renewal
By Jessica Brookes
the hospitality sector, according to Mike Olley, chair of Westside Business Improvement District (BID). In preparation for reopening the
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Westside area of Birmingham, including Broad Street, scores of outdoor seating areas and marquees have been dotted along the area so that more venues can entertain guests. Late night venues such as Velvet
Music Rooms, Coyote Ugly and Players Bar have now reopened for outdoor hospitality, alongside other venues in and around Brindleyplace such as Craft Dining, All Bar One and Bank Birmingham. In order to entertain thirsty
punters, venues on Broad Street have been granted pavement licenses. All the new outdoor areas will be in place until phase three of
arquees that have popped up on Broad Street stand as ‘totems of renewal’ for
the Government’s ‘roadmap plans’ to lift restrictions. According to Westside BID, thousands enjoyed hospitality venues in the area when Covid restrictions relaxed in early April. For Mike, the marquees
symbolise renewal from the pandemic.
‘I think we’re going to have a whole new economy which is going to satisfy the changing work patterns and the people that are now living in the area’
He said: “These marquees are
going to be like totems or symbols of renewal as we come out of the phase three of the roadmap. I think the marquees themselves are quite significant.
“But they are a short term thing
in many respects, because come 17 May we’re all going indoors, and the marquees will come down. “But in that interim period of just
five weeks or so, the marquees will stand there as totems of renewal.” Looking to the future, Mike says
that due to the tram extension widening the pavements on Broad Street, the area may be set for an economic boom due to a new early evening economy emerging. He said: “With the people that
live in the area, I think what we’re going to have is an early evening economy emerge, because people are going to go to work, they are going to work from home as well, and when they go to work they are going to make a day and a night of it. That’s where you get the early evening economy emerging. “I think that a café society kind
of thing will be on Broad Street, because of the broader pavements,
because of the technology that is there to make the outside experience warm, cosy and inviting. “I think we’re going to have a
whole new economy which is going to satisfy the changing work patterns and the people that are now living in the area, which tend to be young professionals with high disposable income. It is going to really change Broad Street.” But for now Mike says that
consumers must return to venues, or they risk losing them for good. He said: “You need people
coming into your premises to get the economic activity going, because without that economic activity, if we’re not buying, selling and trading among ourselves, then we’re all going to be damaged financially ultimately. “We need to go out for our
economic and our social health, and if that doesn’t happen, then venues will simply have to close.”
May 2021 CHAMBERLINK 11
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