Maybe you love the Ringway Centre, maybe you hate it. But what should we do with it?

The building’s future will be decided tomorrow

Good morning readers. 

Dan back with you this Wednesday AM. While Kate has been deep in the world of Birmingham’s Brutalist buildings, I’ve been thinking about West Brom after Monday’s update on the unsavoury scenes from Sunday past.

While fighting and arrests overshadowed the first Black Country derby in 12 years, representing a recent nadir for the club, last week I stumbled across a piece of local history that might have Baggies fans reminiscing about better times. (Which isn’t to downplay or distract from the weekend’s violence). 

In 1978, West Brom made headlines by making a trip to China. They were the first professional football team to do so and, as such, it was a damascene moment. Playing five exhibition matches, Don Atkinson’s famous squad were rumoured to be a diplomatic substitute for the England team after they failed to qualify for the World Cup in the same year. Fancy learning more? You can read or listen here or here.

Stumbling across news of this Baggies trip was so interesting to me that I’ve started wondering about whether any other well-known Midlands individuals or institutions have been utilised for international diplomacy — or, indeed, have made long-haul trips for official or governmental purposes. If you can think of any, please do email in or comment so we can share them in upcoming editions.

---

Brum in Brief

⚠️Quit threat at Council: Another week, another council story. This time it has come to light that auditors felt so concerned about working practices at Birmingham City Council they considered quitting. The team, from Grant Thornton, only stayed after additional safeguards were brought in for staff, Jane Haynes reports. These details only add to the sense of pressure at the authority as it grapples with cuts before a budget deadline.

🚄Open for busyness: Those who live in the southwest of Birmingham will have known for a long while that a new University railway station has long been under construction. Now it is open. The station sees 3.5 million passengers a year, but the original building was only intended to cope with 500,000 journeys a year. Transport for West Midlands says the new building offers better accessibility and customer facilities. Andy Street, mayor of the West Midlands, said: "It's good news that we now have a superb gateway for thousands of people arriving at University every day.”

📷City centre CCTV cut-out: A technical issue has left police unable to access CCTV camera feeds in the city centre over the weekend due to upgrade work. As it stands, the issue is still not resolved with no timescale on when it might be. Mike Olley, chairman of the Westside Business Improvement District (BID), said the lack of access creates an extra risk to the public. Councillor Robert Alden, leader of the conservative opposition at Birmingham City Council said: “This news will leave many people rightly worried about safety in the City Centre and potentially the rest of the city.”

🏥Hybrid hospital opens: A new hospital, The Harbone, has opened its doors next to Queen Elizabeth in the south of the city. The £100m hospital will offer a breadth of services from primary care to outpatients through to surgery and diagnostics. Run by HCA Healthcare, they say the facility will serve both NHS and private patients.

☀️Lighter days ahead: With it being the time of year that I start to fixate on the extra minute of daylight we get each day, I can’t believe I missed the news that a light show has been ongoing since last week at Compton Verney. Luckily there are still two more weeks to catch the dazzling array of light installations — as well as street food and drinks from Digbeth Dining Club. Learn more here. 

😂Do you really Lycett?: Birmingham’s favourite funny man Joe Lycett is hosting an intimate “evening with friends” at the Hare & Hounds as part of Independent Venue Week. Tickets are currently sold out but The Dispatch has been advised that it's still worth signing up on the waitlist for a potential re-sale. You can do so by clicking through.

---

Maybe you love the Ringway Centre, maybe you hate it. But what should we do with it?

The building’s future will be decided tomorrow

By Kate Knowles

Life in Britain today often feels marred by divisions. No matter how anodyne the subject matter, debates are regularly reduced to a simple binary: are you for something or against it? In Birmingham, a culture war has recently broken out over a building: the Ringway Centre on Smallbrook Queensway. Do you love it? Hate it? If you say you’re indifferent, then — in my experience — you are the anomaly.

The Ringway Centre is a 750 ft curved concrete cuboid that reaches from the Bullring opposite New Street Station down to Holloway Circus. Shopfronts line up at the street level, with columns holding up the long canopy of the building above it. Where the structure hits Hurst Street, a connecting segment forms a bridge, creating an entryway to Chinatown and the Gay Village. Completed in 1962 amid a post-war building frenzy, its current owner Commercial Estates Group (CEG) wants to tear it down and build flats in its place. Some want to forgo the carbon-hungry demolition and rebuild in favour of refurbishment, and because they are passionate about the Ringway’s history. Others think it is a blight on the public and it should be razed entirely.

The disagreement has reached a fever pitch. I’ve heard colleagues and friends on either side of the fence passionately argue their case. Online discourse — often more polarised than the offline variety — is fierce. The conflict often splits people into one of two camps, condemned by the other side: if you’re a fan of the building, you’re an elitist snob; if you’re a hater, you’re a philistine. As with most issues like this, the reality is more complicated.