Cost Of Living Crisis In Birmingham: Can Traditional Markets Survive?

When I was a child, trips to the Bullring markets in Birmingham city centre were a treat. An explosion of orchestrated chaos... shouting, hustling, bartering and above all the commerce of human interaction. Only a true character could prosper in the dog-eat-dog unforgiving environment of the Bullring! It truly was an assault on the senses. People from every walk of life in this incredibly multicultural city came together to grab a bargain. As modernisation has inevitably gentrified the area, which was once very 'rough around the edges', it seems that the spirit of the traditional markets is being suffocated. The markets now sit in the shadows of the towering temples to consumerism that make up the new Bullring shopping development. To add to the modernisation of the area, the markets have also suffered greatly from lockdowns caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, escalated parking charges for customers, a 'clean air zone' charge for older vehicles to enter the city centre and recently the crippling rises in wholesale goods caused by hyper inflation and the cost of living crisis! These are small independent businesses that will be lost forever if the current conditions are not confronted. Use it or lose it.

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