A man walks into a bar, ouch. The same sentiment can be felt when strolling into Joe’s Bar on a Wednesday night, to witness hundreds of people crammed into a corner of a sticky room, flailing their bodies to the beat of ‘Mr. Brightside’. 

The Guild has cultivated a space where Sports Nights and Fab have become a challenge to see how many VK’s one person can humanly stomach before finding themselves nursing a cone of water in the welfare room. With the music consisting of severely sanitised pop songs – and maybe a sneaky addition of the latest viral TikTok tune – can you really blame someone momentarily lobotomising themselves in the early hours of a Thursday morning? 

Birmingham has a rich history in the British music scene, with the birth of heavy metal and a musical legacy shaped by reggae, ska, and dance. Yet, apart from the occasional Black Sabbath mural, as a student, it is hard to come by any evidence of this.

With Birmingham experiencing a 38.5% decrease in nightclub activity between 2020-24, it is clear that the city’s nightlife is in a state of emergency. As a student going out in Birmingham, one seems to be confronted with a severe lack of options. When Broad Street is seen as the ‘nightlife flagship’, you know something has gone terribly wrong. Not only has this hotspot’s best impression of Benidorm tainted perceptions of Birmingham, but its pursuit of gentrification has also pushed for nightlife to be increasingly homogenised. The dominance of hospitality chains has led venues like Rosies, Popworld (both owned by Stonegate), or Barbaras (owned by NEOS), to further solidify their position on the UK nightlife monopoly rather than enhancing cultural experiences in Birmingham.

However, despite the deprivation that the UK’s second city faces, students and other grassroots companies have started to make their own creative spaces. 22 Collective, Redhead Records, and Messy!! are starting to shift the focus away from Broad Street. Speaking with Tommy Binns, student and co-founder of 22 Collective, one of the factors that fed into his decision to enter the world of dance events was this feeling of disconnect from the music and culture of the city, stating that ‘as students, there is just a direct line from the student halls to Broad Street’. This is not unique to people like Tommy, and with 22 Collective selling out several recent events, there is a clear yearning for alternative nights out amongst the local and student population. By injecting a new sense of life into the music scene, events like 22 Collective are tightening the tourniquet on Birmingham’s waning clubbing scene.

In another interview with Sam Alcott, student and frequent attendee at these events, he emphasised that ‘the focus on the music just gives you a rest from the same old stuff you normally get’. Throughout the interview, Alcott mentioned the importance of the night not being centred just around alcohol. The shutting down of Broad Street club Pryzm in 2024 (yet another NEOS branch) is a sign that this monotonous style of entertainment is not working for people anymore. Although the owner blamed it on the cost of living crisis as being “singularly the biggest issue that we face“, it is hard to push past the fact that people are not just interested in going out to drink.

As Broad Street continues to consume itself, the Digbeth regeneration project is applying a heightened focus to the creative environment in Birmingham. Whether the project will result in a new sprawling hub of creativity is unknown, but places like Club Collette and Dead Wax are currently fostering these movements and are increasingly gaining more popularity. It goes to show that the desire to attend something new and different is still strong. People are still going out, they just need to be led in the right direction.

Birmingham’s future nightlife has a lot of promise. That is hoping that Digbeth’s regeneration does not follow in the same footsteps of Broad Street, and student grassroots events continue to be supported. 

If you resonate with any of the thoughts in this article, perhaps consider venturing out and finding something that relates more to you, or start something up yourself. Why not? When your original plans are going to the Guild, what is there to lose? At least it may help you avoid the poignant sense of dissatisfaction unique to the realisation that you have just spent fifty quid on a night out in Barbara’s.

If you liked this, read more from Redbrick Comment:

What Actually Happened in the Liberated Zone?

UoN Course Cuts: Is UoB Safe?

Trump and Venezuela: Livin’ La Vida Loca