Residents and workers in Digbeth, Birmingham, once described as "Britain's coolest neighbourhood", have voiced concerns about safety and the area's decline, with rubbish strewn on streets and graffiti covering walls.
Regeneration's double-edged sword
Digbeth, previously named one of the best places to live, has undergone multi-million pound investments aiming to make it "better" than Media City in Salford, Greater Manchester. Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight opened a studio there last year.
Natalie Freeman, 39, who works in the Custard Factory, a creative area housing several independent businesses, said: "It's been a double edge sword with the regeneration as it has sort of torn the heart out of it. The smaller independents are having to move out due to rising costs and parts of the area have become increasingly run-down and dangerous at night."
Graffiti and rubbish problems
Photographs taken recently show graffiti tags sprayed along multiple buildings and rubbish dumped in the street, which locals say has become the norm. The city's iconic John F Kennedy mosaic, standing since 1968, has been defaced.
Freeman added: "The graffiti issue is a massive problem - it was always just street art but vandals just tag away with no repercussions now and almost every street is covered in it. There's never anybody to stop them either. People just dump rubbish all the time as well. It's pretty grim to be honest in parts and I don't feel that safe at night sometimes."
History of violence
In 2022, semi-professional footballer Cody Fisher, 23, was stabbed to death on the dance floor of the Crane nightclub on Boxing Day following a minor altercation. Two men, Remy Gordon and Kami Carpenter, were convicted of his murder.
Earlier that year, Chinese national Jinming Zhang, 41, was murdered in a flat in Digbeth, and his killer remains at large. In the previous year, Ashley Day, 20, was stabbed to death with a Rambo knife at a flat party advertised on social media.
One office worker in the area, who did not want to be named, said: "I won't let my daughters come in to town anymore and Digbeth has started attracting the wrong crowd. It used to be one of the best night's out in the city but it's not safe. It looks a right dump in parts now. When you redevelop an area you've got to work with and support who is currently there but they haven't so it sort of kills the vibe which made Digbeth special in the first place."
Future plans
In 2027, the BBC will move into a new flagship HQ called The Tea Factory, completed as part of a £69.3 million development. Digbeth is undergoing a 20-year regeneration framework aiming to transform the area into Birmingham's main creative and media hub across 11 development sites on 35 plots.
Local resident Jamie said: "The graffiti has got out of hand - people are seeing the street art as meaning anyone can paint anything on any wall and it is starting to look a right mess. Targeted the JFK in particular is appalling - a mural should be pretty sacred and kept up to date. It's not right people doing things like that."
The framework was launched at the UK Real Estate, Investment and Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in May 2025. West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker previously promised Digbeth will be "bigger, better and bolder than Salford's Media City" while unveiling previous regeneration plans. Birmingham City Council was approached for comment but did not respond.
