David Quinn | Freelance journalist and filmmaker based in Manchester

Custard Factory in the thick of the action
Estates Gazette
28/06/2003

Regeneration projects could make Birmingham’s specialist shopping centre more accessible. But its proprietor says he has a “fatalistic” outlook. David Quinn dips into the Custard Factory

A stark naked man, apparently dead in a tank and covered in ants, may not be everyone’s cup of tea. In fact, there are probably few Birmingham shoppers who would find such a sight appealing.

Nonetheless, visitors to the Custard Factory, a mixed-use retail scheme based around the former Bird’s custard factory in Digbeth, were greeted by this bizarre vision as part of an art exhibition in early June.

The Custard Factory is Birmingham’s only centre for specialist retailing. So shoppers looking for something a little different in the city would have to have confronted the man in the tank.

The scheme, which was redeveloped a decade ago by entrepreneur Bennie Gray, features more than a dozen retailers catering for hi-fi enthusiasts, mountain bikers, collectors of retro furniture and other niche markets.

Some agents believe that the scheme, which is billed as an “alternative shopping destination for people who have grown weary of the same old high-street chains”, could become increasingly popular thanks to its relative proximity to several regeneration projects.

“The Custard Factory has become successful already,” says Andrew Benson, retail director at DTZ. “The advent of the Bullring, as well as Eastside, can only benefit and increase its profile.”

However, the brutal nature of the art installation in the doorway acts as a forewarning to Gray’s “couldn’t care less” attitude towards this sort of claim.

“I don’t see any continuity in terms of links between the city centre and this end of Digbeth,” he says.

In fact, says Gray, the redevelopment of the Bullring could have a negative impact on the Custard Factory.

“Digbeth High Street – which links the Custard Factory to central Birmingham – used to be one of the city’s main radial roads. Now it looks as though it terminates in Selfridges’ car park,” he says.

Gray claims to have a “fatalistic” outlook towards the future of the Custard Factory and claims the only reason it attracts retailers is “because it’s cheap” – typically £100 per unit per week.

He does not believe Birmingham lacks a specialist retail offer generally because, he says, the Custard Factory has trouble filling its shops. It has three vacant units out of a total of 20.

Others, however, disagree and express surprise that a city such as Birmingham does not possess a Covent Garden-style area filled with quirky, one-off retailers.

“There isn’t a specialist retail quarter as you might expect in a city of this size,” observes Richard Bidwell, associate retail director at Colliers CRE.

However, there are signs that this could be changing, with the continued opening up of Birmingham’s central core.

Schemes opening in former fringe locations, such as the Mailbox and the Bullring, have helped this process, as well as the demolition of the inner ring road, or “concrete collar”.

“The concrete collar has traditionally limited the city centre, and there are now areas where smaller, specialist retailers may expand,” says Bidwell.

DTZ’s Benson cites Livery Street and Church Street in the city’s business quarter as having the best potential for specialist retailing. But although acknowledging the Custard Factory’s specialist credentials, some agents believe that the scheme needs more promotion before it is widely accepted.

Gray is not aggrieved. “We’re reconciled to being far-flung,” he shrugs. And he looks as if he likes it that way.