Dear readers — welcome to your Monday Briefing. First things first, we’ve had an immense response to our upcoming event, the first ever Dispatch election hustings on Monday 27 April. We’ve sold almost 200 tickets and now we’ve snagged a big name chair to boot: ITV’s political reporter, Lewis Warner is stepping up to moderate the fiercest debate in Birmingham since we named Ozzy the bull.
Indeed, our events manager George has hardly had a moment's peace since the first batch of tickets sold out in 72 hours. Such was demand, we scaled up to a bigger venue — and now we’re almost sold out. There’s just four of the coveted tickets left — grab them now or regret it!
Coming up today, we’ve caught wind of a £17m refurb job at New Street Station. No, not new tracks, not new carriages. Instead, it’s 24 of the station’s escalators that are being replaced. However, as far as escalators go these are pretty new — they were only installed 11 years ago. So what’s gone wrong? More on that in your Brum in Brief.
Also today, an official poll by More in Common and ITV backs up recent Dispatch elections analysis, Coventry FC is back in the Premier League after 25 years, and we give our pick of this week's best exhibitions.
🚨 Birmingham’s at a turning point - come be in the room.
On 27 April, we’re hosting our first ever Dispatch hustings, bringing together councillors from across the political spectrum for a candid, in-depth conversation about the city’s future.
If you’ve been following the chaos, the questions, and the big decisions facing Birmingham - this is your chance to hear it all debated live, and to ask your own questions.
Catch up and coming up:
- On Saturday, Madeleine reported on Cafe Neo, one of the few greasy spoons remaining in the city centre. She went in thinking it would be a heartwarming, nostalgic assignment, and instead found real anger from the gaffer, Andreas Neofitou, who says development has devalued the caff and ruined his retirement plans. “After 50 years, it’s upsetting me,” he says. “I worked hard enough to retire. Now that’s all being taken away”.
Madeleine Rousell
- On Wednesday, Kate wormed her way into the power struggle at the heart of Reform UK Birmingham, ahead of the nail-biting May elections. “Really interesting article,” wrote Peter White who pondered that, if members were “fighting like rats in a sack”, would they be capable of running the council? Adam Biggs, a Reform member who Kate interviewed for the story got stuck in, replying: “I can say from experience we’re not fighting like rats in a sack, those rats were provided by labour and the tories.”
- Madeleine is researching West Midlands myths, legends and folklore. What tales did you grow up with? Were you warned away from canals and underground passages for fear of the infamous ‘Piss Troll’, or perhaps have a particular pub in mind that’s always felt haunted. We want to hear them — absolutely nothing is too silly. Send them to Madeleine at madeleine@birminghamdispatch.co.uk or drop us a comment.
Photo of the week
Fans celebrate Coventry’s return to the Premier League for the first time in 25 years. Photo: @aaronjlaw/Instagram
Brum in Brief
Stairway to hell: New Street Station’s ongoing escalator saga
What goes up must come down, as they say. And in the case of the beleaguered escalators at New Street Station, what doesn’t go up or down but sits stock still at the UK’s busiest railway station outside of London must… also come down. Thanks to a beady-eyed reader who sent in the below snap of a public notice pinned between Starbucks and the new branch of Boots, The Dispatch has learned that 24 escalators leading from the station concourse down to platforms are being quietly replaced. Work began on 23 March, and is set to take 98 weeks.
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