Summer of fun announced for Victoria Square as Colmore Bid unveils outdoor seating scheme

Victoria Square will be a hive of activity once again this summer as Colmore BID, in partnership with Retail BID and Birmingham City Council, announces Summer in the Square to support city’s leisure and hospitality industry.

Image by Stacey Barnfield

This April, Victoria Square will be transformed into a new space, allowing visitors and those working in the city to enjoy their favourite bars and restaurants outdoors.  Colmore BID, the organisers of Colmore Food Festival, Birmingham’s largest food festival, has partnered with Retail BID and Birmingham City Council to establish a new outdoor seating space in an attempt to support the city’s struggling leisure and hospitality industry.

The space will feature socially distanced seating for 120 people, a band stand for live music and entertainment as well as four beach huts with vendors from across the District selling a range of food and drink. The space is free for anyone to use and will be open 24/7. Seating will go in from 12 April, with the huts and bandstand following shortly. A full programme of summer events will be announced over the coming weeks.

The scheme is one of a number of public realm projects that Colmore BID is putting in place to support the leisure and hospitality industry. Last year, the BID launched its parklet scheme, which saw five amenity spaces built outside a number of the city’s venues. Due to the success of the scheme, Colmore BID has announced two further parklets on Church Street, located outside of The Old Royal pub and Gaucho. There is also additional seating planned for Church Street Square, increasing the capacity of the already popular square.

The parklets have capacity for around 20 people within four defined areas; seating with a low table for coffee and drinks, an area for dining with a high table, standing room only and an area that has been specifically designed to be accessible for wheelchair users.

Michele Wilby, CEO of Colmore BID said: “After months of planning, we can officially announce the launch of Summer in the Square. Over the course of the past 12 months, we have continued to consult and support the businesses in our District by any means possible. Road closures have been on the agenda for some time, however due to works happening to the city’s infrastructure, many of the suggestions were just not possible.

“Summer in the Square will allow for increased outdoor seating in the District, in a safe and measured way. We know people cannot wait to return to the city, however we need to do this carefully. We have big plans for the coming months that will hopefully see patrons flock back to their favourite venues. I for one cannot wait to be out there once again with friends and colleagues.”

Steve Hewlett, CEO of Retail BID, said: “Creating space outdoors in the city centre for people to meet safely with friends and family will help all of the businesses. Working together on this project with Colmore BID and the city council has shown what can be done in a short space of time to really show off the city at its best.”

More information, including a programme of events for Summer in the Square will be released shortly. For more information, please visit www.colmorebusinessdistrict.com.