Dear readers — today we’re broadening our scope beyond Birmingham. Things you may not know about Madeleine: she just reached book 200 of her 400 heavy list, last month she adopted a 14-year-old cat — and she went to school in Wolverhampton for seven years. So she’s pretty familiar with its streets.
Since her return from university though, Wolves seems quieter than ever. There’s a lot promised on the horizon for the city centre though: new developments bringing hundreds of homes, plus retail and leisure space. And the first brick in the city’s refreshed foundations was laid three years ago, with a bold plan to pedestrianise Victoria Street.
Madeleine set off to report on Wolverhampton’s exciting new future. But the story she actually found was a bit more complicated: of local traders struggling to keep up with developments.
We meet some of Wolverhampton’s local business owners in today’s piece to hear their stories.
But first, your Brum in Brief.
Brum in Brief
🗞️ A man in his 20s has died, following a stabbing on Bridge Road in Alum Rock on Tuesday, which also left a woman with non-serious injuries.
Freelance journalist Martin Fricker was on the scene after the attack. He shared footage with The Dispatch of the scene, including graphic imagery that shows police officers performing CPR on a man lying in the street.
Fricker tells us that when he arrived at Bridge Road, a woman was waving her arm out of the top floor flat. “She was shouting that she had been attacked and the man was outside”. Armed police subsequently turned up, “telling everyone to get out of the street because it was an armed siege”.
The incident took place by a school but Fricker says no children appeared to be in the playground at the time. A 32-year-old man was arrested in connection with the stabbing. Detective Superintendent James Munro from West Midlands Police, said: “We believe this to be a contained incident, with a man in custody.”
💰 How’s this for a bit of political spin? Birmingham city council passed its budget on Monday. The local authority’s Labour leadership are heavily promoting the line that it’s the “first balanced budget in three years” and the thanks is all down to them (who announced Birmingham was bankrupt in the first place, we have to ask?).
But, as The Dispatch reported on Monday, the plans nearly didn’t make it; a previous budget meeting was adjourned after council leader John Cotton realised he didn’t have the necessary numbers to see the proposals squeak through. Then, independent councillors told ITV they had been obliquely “threatened” with legal action by council officials if they didn’t approve a budget soon. In the end, Cotton was able to get his numbers signed off — with the backing of the Liberal Democrats, who won amendments such as an additional £2.9m on museums, homelessness and youth services and a one-off investment in Birmingham’s highways. One way the Lib Dems suggested these changes could be bankrolled is by cutting the council’s communications team, reports Local Government Chronicle. But then who would be able to generate press releases that turn growing discontent and mutiny with long-running Labour rule into a big win for the party?
If you go by council policy papers — and who isn’t eagerly eating those up? — Wolverhampton is a city on the ascent. Sure, it might feel worn. But, it’s actually in the midst of a major transformation. And like many cities, its centre is in the spotlight.
When I started going to school in Wolverhampton 13 years ago, I was coming to it from a tiny village (Seisdon, if you know it.) So, for a couple of years, being in a city felt exciting. By the time I was a teen, however, Birmingham was my preferred destination. Still, trips to Beatties and the indoor market with my mum, and after-school mooching around the Mander Centre with friends remain fond memories.
That’s all changed now. Many of the big retail names like Debenhams, Beatties, and Marks & Spencers that I remember wandering around as a child have gone. I’ve never thought of Wolverhampton as a particularly energetic place, but since returning from up north, I can’t help but think its centre feels emptier than ever.
However, impressive plans are afoot that should reverse such feelings of decline.
The Smithgate development secured £83m in funding to see through the construction of 1,000 new homes between School Street and Darlington Street in the city centre. Work on the first phase, Bicycle Works, got started at the end of last year, promising 331 homes and retail space by the end of 2027 around Market Square. A little outside the city centre on Qualcast Road, work on the £150m Canalside South scheme has begun, which will turn brownfield land into 530 energy-efficient homes. Beatties is (hopefully) set to be a stunning place to live. Soon, if the press releases are to be believed, the city centre will be a thriving neighbourhood.
But transition takes time. Some of the first stirrings happened three years ago, when the city council made a bold move to pedestrianise what I’ve always thought of as Wolverhampton’s second high street: Victoria Street, home to a succession of independent businesses. Prior to the pedestrianisation, Victoria street was a busy two-way road for cars and buses, with four public transport stops along it.
Making Victoria Street traffic-free was supposed to herald a new era for the city centre, pulling in visitors and boosting local business revenue. Personally, I imagined al fresco dining (and true, a cafe does have seats on the street now), and a ton of pedestrians checking out the local wares.
It was an ambitious plan to reimagine what one of Wolverhampton’s busiest thoroughfares could look like.
But you know what they say about the roads to hell — they’re very walkable. To get a feel for what might be on the cards for Wolverhampton, The Dispatch went to Victoria Street. We expected to meet a set of shopkeepers raving about being first to experience the city’s metropolitan revival. Instead we were met with stressed and frustrated business owners who felt changes were made without their input — and fading them out of the city’s apparently bright future.
The war over walking
Mother and daughter duo, Billy and Zara Chander-Kumar have run Equinox, a shop with a busy frontage adorned with tapestries, elephant figures, and hanging lanterns, for 22 years. Upon entering, I was greeted by a large, gold statue of an angel, guarding the downstairs jewellery shop filled with incense, crystals, and dream catchers dangling from the ceiling. Upstairs is a centre where Billy offers holistic therapy sessions.
In 2021, a letter from Wolverhampton city council landed on Equinox’s doormat. Inside were details of a plan to pedestrianise the road, preventing even buses and taxis from driving down it. The work was meant to last six months. In Equinox, Zara — a small, chatty woman with long black hair — tells me they instantly worried it was going to be disruptive to their business. Along with other Victoria Street retailers, they formed a group — Westside Traders — at the start of 2022, to monitor impact and raise any concerns.
Despite the doubts being voiced by traders, Wolverhampton city council were enthusiastic enough for everyone. In 2023, announcing the completion of the Victoria Street work (which took over a year to finish), Councillor Bhupinder Gakhal said it would: “will attract more visitors and enable businesses to thrive and grow through a blended approach of retail supported by events and activities in quality public spaces and city centre living."
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