Moseley B13 Magazine (427) May 2013 by John Northam

MOSELEY MAY 2013 / ISSUE 427

B13

MAGAZINE

OW!

PY N

CO OUR Y T E G

FOR ONLY

£1

We talk with

KEITH MARSDEN on life and business in Moseley

LET THE FESTIVITIES BEGIN!

23 THE BULL’S HEAD

WE TALK TO MOSELEY FESTIVAL ABOUT THIS YEARS UPCOMING EVENTS, WHAT’S RETURNING AND WHAT’S NEW.

SAREHOLE MILL RE-OPENS

CATCH UP WITH THE NEWLY RE-OPENED SAREHOLE MILL AND ITS £450’000 RENOVATIONS.

10 SAREHOLE MILL

NEW MOSELEY HABERDASHERY TRADITIONAL VALUES. GUTHRIE & GHANI BRINGS CREATIVITY TO MOSELEY.

Our Wonderful Staff

MAY 2013 CONTENTS 04 05 06 08 10 12 13 14 18 23 24 26 28 32

MOSELEY ASBO NO MORE RECYCLING GREEN DEAL & CoRE50 MOSELEY FESTIVAL SAREHOLE MILL POLICE UPDATE BRIEF NEWS UPDATES ONE MILE AWAY THE KING OF MOSELEY BULL’S HEAD in session GUTHRIE & GHANI MOSELEY IN BLOOM on 2013 WHAT’S ON IN MOSELEY? MiB ANTI-LITTER CAMPAIGN

Editor John Northam

editor@moseleyb13.com

News & Community Eva Quigley Elena Polydorou

eva@moseleyb13.com elena@moseleyb13.com

Music Matthew Way

matt@moseleyb13.com

Local Film Dharmendra Singh

dharmendra@moseleyb13.com

Grammar Geek Mary-Jo Fulton The Board theboard@moseleyb13.com Stephanie Silk, David Isgrove, Joss Kennordrie, John Northam

“A veritable assortment

of weird and wonderful things!” This Edition

Design John Northam www.digitalfilmworks.co.uk Printing Mixam Design & Print www.mixam.co.uk

Legal Stuff Moseley B13 Magazine Moseley Publishing House Ltd (c) 2013 Moseley Publishing House Ltd is a non-profit company based in England & Wales. Company No. 07786560 www.moseleypublishinghouse.ltd.uk

10 02

No part of this magazine may be reproduced, in part or in whole, without express permission from the company. theboard@moseleyb13.com All material believed to be correct at time of going to print. www.moseleyb13.com

EDITOR “It feels like a monday. Anyone else?” “So, we’re back, after a couple of issues off and thinking about who we are, what we’re doing, and several epiphanies as to our direction.”

05 Help Us So you want to help out? Moseley B13 Magazine is a voluntary organisation. We’re always interested in contributions from the public, taking on regular writers, editorial team members, and new board members. If you are interested in any of these then please get in touch. theboard@moseleyb13.com

24 Contact Us Write to: Moseley B13 Magazine, 149-153 Alcester Road, Moseley, Birmingham, B13 8JP. Email to: info@moseleyb13.com or editor@moseleyb13.com Please email editor@moseleyb13.com for more information on advertising with Moseley B13 Magazine. Website: www.moseleyb13.com info@moseleyb13.com

“New design, new layout, new colour scheme, new... well everything. A veritable assortment of weird and wonderful things.” “Going back to our core, right in the roots of Moseley, you’ll find updates and news from community groups, as well as people centric stories, music reviews in our salt-of-the-earth pubs, and chats with the local born and bred.” “Since summer is here we’re looking closely at Moseley in Bloom and seeing what tip-bits we can dredge out of them for their plans for this years entry... they were supprisingly forthcoming!” “With Moseley Festival just round the corner with a mix of classical music, workshops, comedy, poetry, quizzes, walks, public meetings, dance and more, we’re looking at a brilliant summer. You’re a lucky bunch!” ¬ John

VIOLENT BEGGAR BANNED FROM MOSELEY WITH ASBO An aggressive beggar who targeted locals, shoppers and businesses in Moseley has been banned from the village for five years. Birmingham Community Safety Partnership successfully obtained an Anti-Social Behaviour Order against Nathan Davis because of his ‘drunk and aggressive’ behaviour. The 41 year old man, who led a group of offensive beggars in Moseley, Kings Heath and Sparkbrook, is barred from threatening, abusing, intimidating, or harassing people living in the local area. The ASBO prohibits him to beg, drink alcohol, expose himself, urinate or take his dog off the lead, as well as causing any distress, alarm or harassment to anyone, anywhere in Birmingham. The order was established during a hearing at Birmingham Magistrates Court, in which 11 witnesses, who live in the affected areas, offered evidence of Davis’ threatening behaviour. Sergeant Tom O’Keefe, from West Midland Police’s Moseley and Kings Heath neighbourhood

team, said: "This is another example of joint partnership work to tackle an individual who had long plagued residents and businesses in the local area. It is hoped that this Anti-Social Behaviour Order will send a clear message to all that this type of behaviour is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated.” In June 2012, officers from Birmingham Community Safety Partnership obtained a Section 222 Injunction Order against Persons Unknown to sop street drinking and begging in Moseley Village. “We would encourage anyone who sees Mr Davies in Moseley and Kings Heath to report it to us so we can make sure he keeps to the conditions set out in his order. Tackling anti-social behaviour remains a priority for us, we would urge anyone affected to contact us," Sgt O’Keefe said. Working with West Midlands Police and the Moseley Community Alcohol Partnership, 30 individuals have received enforcement action, support and education. 27 out of the 30 individuals have successfully received packages of support aimed at helping them with their alcohol, drug and accommodation issues. Councillor Ernie Hendricks told B13 Magazine: "It’s never nice when someone is banned from an area, as there is always the possibility that the problems they bring with them are simply transported somewhere else.” “I understand that Mr Davis was offered support with his alleged addiction, but unlike some of his fellow street drinkers, he declined – sometimes people have to be ready to help themselves, I suspect Mr Davis is not in that place just yet." Councillor James McKay, Cabinet Member for a Green, Safe and Smart City said he hoped the ASBO and the Section 222 injunction Order will send a “clear message” to all that this type of behaviour is not acceptable and will no longer be tolerated.

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Whilst many Moseley residents spent their Easter Sunday morning either eating too much chocolate or perhaps simply recovering from the night before, the good folks of Moseley Society cleaned up unsightly dumped rubbish from Moseley Car Park. Even more unfortunate is that this wasn’t a one off occurrence. Since the end of February, the car park situated behind popular pubs and restaurants of St Mary’s Row has been missing its aluminium can bank – and it has made a profound difference.

COUNCIL RECYCLING FACILITIES ARE ‘RUBBISH’

In an area of Moseley where countless designated drivers and foodies can park on a safely hidden mass of tarmac, one would think that this would be the place for a few sturdy aluminium can banks. After a few too many cans accompanying their chicken manchoosi from Imlees across the road, curry punters may have once courteously thrown empty booze vessels into said can banks. But alas, the aluminium can banks are no more. The council, rather suddenly might I add, took them away on the grounds of contracting issues with nobody to dispose of such material. Members of Moseley Society Committee and its Car Park Team were advised by the Fleet and Waste Management department that residents could “still recycle cans via the doorstep collection offered by the council.” I contacted the council and was told that my enquiry regarding the aluminium recycling banks in the car park would be reviewed and answered in due course. I am yet to receive my reply. Perhaps

they are just too busy. Perhaps this is a good sign and perhaps the Recycling Department are actually working with new contractors. Perhaps they are also info@moseleyb13.com

too busy to return whinging emails. If not, we’ll deal. Because a little digging and probing at the maze that is Birmingham City Council’s DIY website brought me to “A-Z of Recycling,” which quite clearly stated that “If there are no can banks available, aluminium cans can be put in with the brown glass bank.” For now, the brown glass bank remains in Moseley Car Park. So there we have it. For those wishing to recycle their cans from their curries, or their greasy Rubicon cans from their chippy meal, the opportunity is there. When discussing this situation with fellow Moseley-ites, admittedly, some were nonchalant. Others were irate at the lack of compassion shown by the council and the rubbish left behind. In the meantime, the care and attention shown to Moseley car park by various committees during this can bank fiasco shows us that even without the help from the council, Moseley will remain a sustainable community with hardworking volunteers. And for that we should be proud. Marieke Weijers-McGovern 05

Energy efficiency and renewables - what’s the latest in Moseley?

When it comes to the green agenda, Birmingham is in the vanguard of global cities – but how can local people engage with that agenda and benefit from its progress? There are a number of national schemes and local initiatives that could be worth looking into, so here’s a quick guide:

THE GREEN DEAL including Birmingham Energy Savers and the Energy Saving Co-op

‘Birmingham Energy Savers’ programme, which is currently dealing with a backlog of cases. But it is still worth getting yourself booked in for an energy assessment to see if you qualify, particularly now that the weather is getting warmer – see below for contact details.

The concept behind the national Green Deal is ‘pay as you save’: where energy efficiency improvements to your home are paid for out of the savings on your energy bill – as long as the savings match or outweigh the cost of the works done (known as the ‘Golden Rule’). Homeowners approach (or are approached by) a Green Deal provider, who will assess their home for potential improvements and whether those improvements meet the Golden Rule. Once the works are completed, a levy is added to that household’s gas/electricity bills – a levy which stays with the property, rather than with the occupiers.

“...this is a sound idea and a crucial part of the decarbonisation of our housing stock.” In principle, this is a sound idea and a crucial part of the decarbonisation of our housing stock. But it’s safe to say that there have been teething problems with the national Green Deal: the training for the Green Deal Assessors and the software for calculating the Golden Rule were delayed and the rate of borrowing to cover the works is above market rates. This has had an impact on the local 06

Another option for improving the energy efficiency of your home is the Energy Saving Co-op, whose goal is to provide easy access to advice, home improvements and fair finance. This is particularly suitable if you want to make sure that the process is carried out by local tradespeople. You can also invest into the co-operative itself – check www. energysaving.coop for details. Both of these routes involve a free advice element – so even if you decide that you don’t want to go any further, you won’t miss out. www.moseleyb13.com

CoRE50 ...bringing renewables into community ownership A year or so ago SusMo, Kings Heath Transition and Balsall Heath is Our Planet formed CoRE50 – a community renewables co-operative – to help neighbourhoods and community organisations to install and benefit from renewable technologies. The co-operative has already completed one installation, a photovoltaic array at Ackers Adventure, and are currently working on a number of wind and solar projects around Birmingham. Money for the projects is raised via grants and community share issues,

with the money repaid from the proceeds of selling the electricity and the feed-in-tariff. CoRE50 are currently looking for members/ investors, volunteers and potential projects – so if you are interested in finding out more, get in touch. If you would like to be referred to Birmingham Energy Savers or the Energy Saving Co-op, get in touch with SusMo by emailing sustainablemoseley@ gmail.com, or by leaving a message at Moseley Exchange.

info@moseleyb13.com

If you would like to make an enquiry about CoRE50, email corefifty@gmail.com. Claire Spencer SusMo & CoRE50

Let the summer festivities begin! With the low hanging grey clouds that continue to inhabit the skies of Moseley, the Fighting Cock’s weather vane that never seems to swing away from ‘cloudy’ or ’miserably wet,’ and the misbehaving puddles that seem to have no distinction between the street and a shop floor (yes, I have been a victim), you will be forgiven for losing all hope in ever seeing a full beer garden, or a colourful flowerbed in the village square, again.

“Further events are being added to the programme as July gets closer.” But summer is just around the corner (well around a few T-junctions, along a motorway and across a dual carriageway), and that means just one thing. Drum roll please. Moseley Festival will be here from Friday 12th July to Sunday 21st July!

There will be gigs in pubs, classical music, workshops, comedy, poetry, quizzes, walks, public meetings, dance, exhibitions, therapies and much more.

One of the main events (and my favourite bit) will be the street fair all day in the centre of Moseley on Saturday 13th July. There will be stalls of arts, crafts, food, charities, pressure groups, interest groups and religious groups! There will be live music performances too, including local favourites The Atlantic Players who will be performing at 2pm on the village green. The popular Moseley Masterteam quiz competition will also be there, as well as some

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brand new events for 2013 including an evening of alternative comedy upstairs at the brand new Guthrie & Ghani shop.

There will be gigs in pubs, classical music, workshops, comedy, poetry, quizzes, walks, public meetings, dance, exhibitions, therapies, and much more. Pam Rutter, one of the co-ordinators of Moseley Festival, told B13 Magazine: “The Festival is a lovely mix of well-established and new events. It's great to see new groups and new businesses using the Festival to try out ways of getting people together to enjoy themselves!”

Thousands of full-colour brochures will be produced and delivered by volunteers door-to-door in Moseley and will also be available in local shops. Further events are being added to the programme as July gets closer. Some events are free, but full details of ticket availability will be available in the brochure, on the Festival website or from the Festival stall on St Mary's Row slip road on street fair day. At the very heart of what Moseley is all about, this festival celebrates its’ community spirit and diversity, and I think I speak for everyone when I say summer and the festivities that it brings couldn’t come any sooner! @MoseleyFestival www.moseleyfestival.org.uk facebook.com/groups/5682578380/ Eva Quigley

Contentious Probate

For further advice please contact Manjit Kaur-Heer on 0121 243 3021 or MKH@tyndallwoods.co.uk

29 Woodbourne Road Edgbaston Birmingham B17 8BY edgbaston@tyndallwoods.co.uk Car parking on site

eva@moseleyb13.com

@evaquigley1

Most estates are managed cooperatively and are completed without difficulty. However from time to time contentious issues arise. There can be disputes about the executor's role or Inheritance Act claims may be made by dependants or relatives to challenge the Will. We aim to settle disputes through negotiation. If however issuing or defending proceedings are necessary to protect our client's interests then we are ready to do so. It is our role to provide professional and robust representation at all levels of the process. w www.tyndallwoods.co.uk f facebook.com/tyndallwoodssolicitors t @Tyndallwoods

FIT FOR PURPOSE

The renaissance of Sarehole Mill Sarehole Mill has been transformed from a quiet museum into a fully operational, historic working mill pulsating with the sights, sounds and smells that would have been familiar to both the young JRR Tolkien and Mathew Boulton before him. The Mill re-opened at Easter following a major ÂŁ450,000 restoration and refurbishment project. Water from the Mill Pool once more gushes into the waterwheel buckets, turning the north waterwheel at full speed and driving a series of gears which power the machinery of the mill. Irene de Boo, Curator Manager at Sarehole, is a driving force behind this project and finds it very rewarding to have restored both the function and the purpose of the building. For the thousands of visiting schoolchildren seeing how things really worked in this noisy, rumbling mill is an experience of living history. The goal is to become a working corn mill once more, sell stone-ground flour from the mill shop and bake bread in the Victorian bread oven. There has been a mill on this â&#x20AC;&#x153;Last year the pond was site since 1542 but Sarehole Mill, as we know it, dates drained, three sluice from about 1750. It has been used for grinding corn and gates replaced and 3000 bones for fertiliser, sharpening cubic metres of silt were blades for scythes, spades and other agricultural tools dredged out.â&#x20AC;? and Matthew Boulton used it as a rolling mill to produce sheet metal. It finished its working life as a corn mill in 1919 and then fell into disuse and dereliction. In 1946 it was bequeathed 10

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to Birmingham City Council who later contemplated demolishing it for housing. There was a public outcry! In 1960 a restoration appeal was launched, to which Tolkien himself contributed. The Mill was opened to the public in 1969 under the care of Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery. Since then the mill pond became badly silted up, overgrown and ever smaller. In summertime the water was only about 3 inches deep and lacked the

volume and velocity to turn the wheel properly. The fish vanished and even the ducks had to walk! Funding was finally approved by Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Museums Development Trust Fund and Arts Council England. Last year the pond was drained, three sluice gates replaced and 3000 cubic metres of silt were dredged out. The Grade II listed building was re-roofed, re-pointed and re-painted. A traditional millwright was engaged info@moseleyb13.com

to repair and renew some of the mill machinery and the Victorian bakehouse and oven were restored to full working order. In February the empty pool was filled with water from the original water source, the Coldbath Brook in Moseley Bog. With the undergrowth cleared, the shimmering reflection of Sarehole Mill across 1 acre of water can again be seen from Wake Green Road; the very view that Tolkien would have seen

from his home at Number 264 for the four years from 1896 and later used as his inspiration for the Shire in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. He and his little brother Hilary played in the meadows around the Mill at Hobbiton and were shooed away by the floury miller who was later immortalised as The White Ogre. Sarehole Mill is on the city’s Tolkien Trail and has an exhibition, ‘Signposts to Middle Earth’ located in the Granary.

A group of 10 enthusiastic volunteers from Moseley, Kings Heath and Hall Green have been trained by miller Mick Forbes on how to grind corn. While the grinding stones are bedding in, the volunteers are refining their technique by grinding

NEWS FROM THE MOSELEY & KINGSHEATH NEIGHBOURHOOD POLICE TEAM The next monthly neighbourhood meeting is on Monday 29th April 2013 at the community hall Whitesmiths Croft (off Silver Street) Kings Heath at 1900 hrs. We hold a "Cuppa with a Coppa" event each Monday morning between 0900-1000hrs at the Pear tree public house Kings Heath High St. - full details of all future meetings and events are on our neighbourhood web site.

barley for animal feed. Once the stones have settled they can upgrade to wheat and hope to mill a goodly quantity of flour during their public demonstrations on Sundays and Wednesdays. Bags of stoneground ‘Sarehole Brown’ should be on sale this summer.

Residents: With summer approaching, at last, please take time to consider security around your homes and gardens. Take care to secure garden sheds, gates, fences and not leave out tools, ladders, bikes or toys that can attract criminals and easily be taken or used to gain entry to your home. Make sure windows are locked when you are out and keep a watchful eye on your neighbourhood.

Irene is waiting for the coal-fired oven, large enough for 60 loaves, to get the OK from Environmental Health and Trading Standards. Then it will be fired up to bake bread for the first time since 1871. It would be great to taste some at Moseley Farmer’s Market. Since the land was cleared another group of volunteers are busy creating new gardens, an oasis to match the tranquil pool which is now a haven for wildlife including herons, mallards, moorhens and a kingfisher. The current restoration is complete, but should Irene de Boo wish to put herself through the mill again there’s still the south waterwheel and the 1852 steam engine in need of some tender loving care.

Contacts: Sgnts Tom O’Keeffe & Anna Wilson Email the team on: moseleyandkingsheath@ west-midlands.pnn.police.uk www.west-midlands.police.uk @MoseleyKHeath Contact by phone on 101 ext 7829 6530/6611

Opening Times: Tuesday to Sunday 12 pm-4pm. 0121 777 6612 Stephanie Silk

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MAISON MAYCI Maison Mayci would like to build a bakery behind the shop. Moseley Society’s response was: “A joyful support of this application. Maison Mayci has proved to be an important addition to Moseley life. The environmentally sound reasons for wishing to locate their bakery to Moseley are sensible, and we particularly laud the architectural imagination that has gone into the design. We look forward to the planted green wall!”

MOSELEY PARK & POOL As reported in the December (Moseley Society) Newsletter, the Trustees have commissioned consultants to submit a bid for funds from the Heritage Lottery Fund. Following local consultation the bid will be based on upgrading the landscape and adding new facilities. These would include new toilets, a community learning/meeting space. It is hoped that the improvements will attract people from a wider area to the park as well as providing a useful space for local schools and organisations.

SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS The plans to introduce diagonal crossings at the cross roads in the village have been shelved due to lack of funds. Instead the Council are considering putting in some minimal safety measures, including ‘welcome’ signs at the entrance to the Village asking drivers to ‘slow down’ with images designed by local schools. In addition they are proposing to raise the level of the crossings at either end of the slip road by the Green.

HALFORDS 91a Alcester Road A planning application has been submitted for a change of use of the motor vehicle repair centre. The application is for choice of uses of the building – either shops or offices or restaurant/ cafe/snack bar.

MOSELEY BIG PLAN The supplementary planning document [SPD] is now ready for consultation, once cleared by the Cabinet Member. It represents over four years of work led by the Moseley Regeneration Group. In 2010 a widely publicised consultation informed the process. Despite the introduction of Neighbourhood Plans we have been advised by the planners to proceed with the SPD format. We hope that the formal consultation process will take place in April/ May and plan to make this the topic for our AGM on Thursday 16 May.

HIGHBURY TRUST Together with other groups including Moseley Community Development Trust and the Friends of Highbury Park, the Society is continuing discussions with the Council’s Trust and Charities Sub-Committee. We will continue to press for changes to the governance of the Trust that will separate it from the city departments that have a non-charitable interest in the estate.

News gratefully received from The Moseley Society. You can keep up to date with the Society’s news through their quarterly newsletter by contacting them on all-enquiries@moseley-society.org.uk, or by becoming a member. moseley-society.org.uk

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The violence arising out of the infamous rivalry between our two most prominent gangs, the Burger Bar Boys and the Johnson Crew, whose postcodes – B21 and B6 – separate them by only a mile, has blighted our city for years.

“While the main aim is to broker a truce between ‘Burgers’ and ‘Johnsons’, the film also acts as a clarion call to young boys and girls to repel the lure of gang life.” Millions of pounds have been spent trying to address the problem. Communities have been divided, innocent lives have been lost, while others have been irrevocably shattered. One Mile Away may well be the most significant attempt to resolve this historic problem once and for all. Winner of the Edinburgh Film Festival’s Michael Powell award for best British film, Penny Woolcock’s documentary is a milestone. It transcends the medium by not just highlighting a problem, but by actively trying to tackle it.

As proof of her commitment, she was able to persuade former MP James Purnell and key Northern Ireland peace architect Jonathan Powell to back this project; James as a Producer, Jonathan as an adviser. While the main aim is to broker a truce between ‘Burgers’ and ‘Johnsons’, the film also acts as a clarion call to young boys and girls to repel the lure of gang life and choose a more auspicious path. Dylan Duffus, aka D-Boy, and Matthias Thompson, aka Shabba, are the two very brave young men who take a big but necessary risk in bringing their respective gangs together. Initial efforts to enlist support for peace are met with great suspicion. Gang members on both sides accuse the men of having ulterior motives. But they persevere in spite of their odds. I spoke with director Penny Woolcock to find out why disadvantaged groups have been the inspiration for her recent films. I also spoke with cast member Simeon Moore, aka Zimbo, a bright young man and now a credible hip hop artist, who has rejected his former gang life to help implement the work of One Mile Away (http://onemileaway. co.uk/), a social enterprise borne out of the film, which seeks to improve the lives of vulnerable young people in Birmingham and the UK through a range of preventative and educational measures.

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DS: What triggered this documentary? SM: A realisation felt by various gang members that we cannot go on living the way we have been, for our kids’ sake if not ours. The documentary marks an epic moment. We’re doing something that’s never been done before. PW: I’ve known Shabba for a few years. He put forward the suggestion of arranging a truce and thought I could make a film about it. I knew Dylan and other former gang members since working with them on a film called 1 Day. DS: Was it ever a concern that this film would reinforce negative stereotypes and perhaps create new ones? PW: The film doesn’t show a problem that’s unique to Birmingham; it’s an inner-city problem throughout the UK. These boys are taking a big risk to make things better for their community. This film gives them a voice, and shows them to be intelligent, articulate and brave. The funeral scene [of a slain child] demonstrates that the violence isn’t glamorised. Vulnerable people at risk of becoming gang members are more likely to listen to these boys than, say, the police, whom they don’t trust. SM: I don’t care about stereotypes; what’s important is how we see ourselves, not what others think about us. info@moseleyb13.com

DS: Has there been any progress to the peace process since the film was released? SM: Although there hasn’t yet been a truce, things are much calmer now than ever before. Gang members are at least talking and learning from each other now. DS: What sorts of activities does the One Mile Away enterprise do? SM: One Mile Away is about changing a mindset and a whole way of life. We have a mentoring scheme, a Youtube channel to counteract negativity and school programmes to target our most vulnerable kids. The enterprise inspires young people to ponder their future by learning from leaders and understanding the dangers of criminal life. We support their interests and set and assess goals.

“The film doesn’t show a problem that’s unique to Birmingham; it’s an innercity problem throughout the UK.” DS: It’s suggested in the documentary that no one truly knows the origins for the feud. 15

SM: Who cares why the feud started? The point is: it started. Knowing how it started will not fix the problem. The key question is: how will it end? People should focus on the real issues.

forming, so the focus should be on the root causes of why they form. DS: Can you comment further on what you mean by ‘programming’?

DS: So, what are the real issues? SM: The feud is only a symptom of a deeper problem. We need to tackle the root causes of why people turn to crime. Young people need to change their mentality and self-perception. That’s what One Mile Away, the social enterprise, is dealing with. DS: Does the film portray Birmingham’s gang culture fairly? SM: I think so. It doesn’t exaggerate. It shows the reality and what progress is being made to deal with the situation. But I don’t like the word ‘gang’.

“The feud is only a symptom of a deeper problem. We need to tackle the root causes of why people turn to crime.” DS: Why not? SM: It’s a word the media loves. If the word is used, it gives certain people a license to say and do what they like with ‘gangs’. It has financial implications and I feel it is not in the interest of many groups to resolve this problem. DS: Are you saying you blame certain institutions? SM: I’m not blaming any one. If I’m blaming anything, it’s the programming that black people have suffered throughout history. I’m advocating that we take individual responsibility and be masters of our own reality. You will never stop gangs from 16

SM: Black people have had their identity stolen from them. We’re told lies about our origins. You’d never hear a young black man says he’s from Africa – why not? That is our home. Our history has been distorted. We’re taught we were descended from slaves but this is not true. Black people were once proud rulers, who became slaves when they came to uncivilised Europe. As kids are not taught this, the slave mentality still exists. This is reinforced in schools, books, films and the news. If this is all we know, how else should we behave? DS: What can be done to combat this historic process? SM: Knowledge. We need more black people in positions of power. Only then can real change can take place on a grand scale. My vision is similar to the vision in a film called The Great Debaters [directed by and starring Denzel Washington]. Applying that concept of industrious, resilient black people working together to beat difficult odds to a modern context would be a powerful way forward. I no longer want people to make decisions about us without us. DS: Can other communities help? SM: I’m not asking for anyone else’s help. But people should recognise that gang culture affects all communities. It’s no longer a black problem; it’s a youth problem. PW: A young boy from Handsworth can’t see a film in Star City because it’s enemy territory. We all need to work together because this problem affects all of us.

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DS: There are scenes showing the police in a negative light. Was it hard to get the film made?

DS: How optimistic are you that this film will make a genuine difference?

PW: It was eye-opening to see the police hamper us because I thought they were meant to protect and serve. They [the police] cancelled a meeting they scheduled with us, which was a shame. They also took us to court to try and obtain the rushes.

SM: Change is inevitable: people can only sleep for so long. More and more people are starting to understand how we’re being deceived, and there’s been a shift in thinking.

DS: What has the reaction to the film been so far? SM: Mixed. First, people hated it because they questioned the motive behind it. But the people against the documentary are now a minority, and the community as a whole is supporting it. DS: Are you optimistic that a change in culture can be achieved? SM: Most definitely. People aren’t happy with this lifestyle. They question why they are doing what they’re doing. They know it’s not right, but they need a tangible alternative. Change is infectious but I’m not seeking to preach, only plant the seed. The criminal lifestyle is for stupid people. Yes, there are intelligent criminals but they know it’s not a sustainable way to live. DS: What did James Purnell and Jonathan Powell contribute? PW: James supported the project from the start. He’s always been interested in documentaries, which goes back to his time working for the BBC [he has since returned to work there]. He’s been invaluable in raising money. Jonathan’s advice was gold dust because of his involvement in the Good Friday agreement. He was weary of becoming directly involved because he said there’s always a risk that the mediator becomes the target, however, he advised us to never get disheartened and keep going, no matter how painful it might be.

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DS: How did you find filming in Birmingham and would you film here again? PW: Birmingham is an extraordinary place. The only negative thing is the road system; it’s a difficult place to negotiate. Soho road is one of my favourite places. I love the vibrancy and diversity of Birmingham – its music scene, its cultures. The view of space-agey [sic] Selfridges next to the gothic Church is stunning. I would definitely film here again. It is cinematic enough, but still unfamiliar. DS: What’s next for you? SM: I’ll continue making music to inspire change, and continue to promote a positive agenda. This cause is a lot bigger than the film - it will go on forever. We want to instil a positive and productive mentality into the soul of our children. PW: I think I’ll give documentaries a break because of how fraught this experience has been. I’ll probably choose fiction next. DS: Where do we go here regarding the peace process? PW: The boys are building a movement beyond the film. They’re very determined. If they were suicidal before the film, at least now if they feel the same way they’re at least doing something worthwhile. Dharmendra Singh dharmendra@moseleyb13.com

The King of Moseley B13 Magazine speaks with Keith Marsden from The Prince of Wales… What were you doing before the Prince of Wales? I spent most of my life working for large companies… Coca Cola, PricewaterhouseCoopers. I was in advertising for a long time so I have a background in brands, brand strategy and management consultancy.

“I don’t really sell beer, I sell an experience.” 18

Did you always want to own a pub? No, no, it happened by accident. I set up a skate park down the road which I owned for five years but as a business it was just a basket case. I didn’t make any money. The up keep of the building was quite expensive and it didn’t generate enough sales. I funded it all myself and after five years we just ran out of money. We had already invested our house and our savings, our pension, everything. At that point in time we had nowhere to live, no money

and I needed to find something that could generate some income and put a roof over our heads. The pub was one of the few things that could do that. So I borrowed some more money off my landlord and he leant me the money to buy the lease of the Prince of Wales. So that is how we ended up here. There was no great strategy or desire; it’s just that we needed somewhere to live that could generate some income. www.moseleyb13.com

“I do like running the place, I enjoy it. It’s good to do something that you enjoy doing, that you can have a bit of pride in...”

in a handful of very large brewers so the small brewers were all losing out. The government at the time came up with legislation that said every brewer that has more than 2,000 pubs (and at that point there were about 70,000 pubs in the UK) must be forced to sell the others. This was called the Beer Orders. The theory was that if the brewers then sold those pubs, they would be snapped up by the little regional brewers and family brewers and you get more choice.

Is it the best decision you have ever made? The jury is still out. Time will tell. I do like running the place, I enjoy it. It’s good to do something that you enjoy doing, that you can have a bit of pride in. Lots of people like it, I get lots of positive comments

But some people in the city got very smart. They borrowed a lot of money off the bankers and bought lots of pubs. So when these pubs were all sold off instead of going to small independent breweries they ended up with these big pub companies owning thousands of pubs. Their business model was “we’ll own the pubs, we will lease them out and we will make the tenants buy beer from us.” So that is how this pub works. I have to pay rent to my landlord and I have to buy my beer from my landlord as well. I have to pay between 40% and 50% more than the market price; I am not allowed to do anything else. The other model is called the free trade which is where you buy the freehold. I would love to buy the freehold of this pub and I have tried to buy it many times. Even though the bricks and mortar

“So if I want to by The Prince I need £2.9m, if I had £2.9m I would go and sit on on it, that’s really satisfying. It’s good to go to work and get good feedback about what you do. How does it all work? It’s the story of the pub trade in the UK. About half of the pubs in the UK are owned by very large, what they call, pub companies. If you go back to the 70s, brewing in the UK was becoming very concentrated info@moseleyb13.com

an island somewhere!” of the Prince is probably only worth £600,000 or £700,000 because it is so profitable for the brewery the value of it on the balance sheet is nearly £3m. So if I want to buy the Prince of Wales I need £2.9m and if I had £2.9m I would go and sit on an island somewhere!

A lot of pubs went under in the recession because they didn’t serve food. Why did you survive? I don’t think it is as simple as that. For pubs, there has been a monumental shift over the last ten years. The beer duty has been going up, so prices have been going up; supermarkets have been using beer as a lost leader so the differential between a can of Carling in a supermarket and a pint of Carling in a bar has grown massively. Demographics have changed too, in inner city areas a lot of immigrants are coming in. Some of those people don’t drink. If you take this area, for example, it used to have a big Irish community who would drink like fish, now there are lot of Somalis, a lot of Muslim people and they just don’t drink, it’s not part of their culture. Then you’ve got the smoking ban, some pubs were landlocked from outside. One of the silver bullets that people have tried is food, but the bottom line is: if you are not very good at selling beer, then you

£16,000 between us so something had to change. We needed to attract a broader clientele, we needed to bring more women in, younger people in, and we needed to breathe new life into the pub because it was just getting older and older. We refurbished

“It was a proper boozer. But the problem was it was very one dimensional. The front bar was really intimidating too.” are not going to be very good at selling food either. Even though the number of people going out for pub meals has gone up, if you are a bad landlord, just putting food on the menus isn’t going to solve your problems. You’ve got to be much slicker than that. Why did you decide to change the Prince of Wales? It was a proper boozer, but the problem was it was very one dimensional. The front bar was really intimidating too. In the first three years, my wife and I worked a 90 hour week each and we made 20

it, brightened it all up, and smartened it up a bit. It is still a little rough around the edges and it’s not the smartest place in town but a lot of people like that. Then we introduced things like the wine, the cocktails, and we put greater emphasis on service. We employed more staff, we trained them up better, we put them in uniform, we tried to make it a bit friendlier and a bit more welcoming and that really worked. It was hard work. So now if you look at the type of people that come in on weekends it’s very varied indeed. You can have different types of a night here, you can stay in the front bar and sit in a quiet traditional pub, or you can come out here and have a nice bottle of wine or go to the cocktail bar. Would you say The Prince of Wales is a different way of looking at a pub? A little bit quirky, a little bit off the beaten track. In the end I don’t really sell beer, I sell an experience. www.moseleyb13.com

You come here and have a great night out. The drink is only part of it. It is all about the atmosphere, the service, the fact that there are fewer idiots in here, although the odd one does sneak through. By and large there is not a lot of trouble; you can have a

great night out week in week out. And that is really how we run our business. On a Saturday night, Moseley sometimes looks pretty bad in terms of binge drinking and anti-social behaviour… It does. I think perception is worse than the reality though. If you look at the crime figures and if you look at the number of arrests for anti-social behaviour, it is very low. But what we’ve got in Moseley is some people coming into the village and going to excess. They drink too much, they go out and they have a fight or are sick or whatever. We need to stop that. I wrote to the Police and Crime Commissioner when he got elected and said we need to enforce the law that says once somebody is intoxicated they do not get served. Here we have a rigid policy, all my bar staff are trained. If you fumbling with your glass, or slurring your speech, unsteady on your feet, we will not give you anymore alcohol. If every pub in Moseley did that we would cut down on the amount of anti-social behaviour. Who are the worst offenders?

“We spent months working on it and then at the last minute somebody came along and offered more money.”

info@moseleyb13.com

It’s obvious isn’t it? Down on that triangle we’ve got a couple of places that need sorting out. The amount of trouble outside The Junction every week is poor. What is going on there? Why don’t they sort it out? It should be clamped down on. What we want in Moseley is a great choice of well managed pubs; we don’t need a riot van outside a pub every weekend! I have heard rumours about you buying the Village pub? We got gazumped. We were buying it. We spent months working on it and then last minute somebody came along and offered more money. So we are not buying it now. I am hopeful that they might screw it up and it might come back to the market and we can have another go! I went back twice and offered more money but it wasn’t enough. 21

Tell me about life as a landlord? If it was a small pub, really struggling, I would be getting up at 7, doing the cellar, doing the ordering, working behind the bar. But the Prince is a pretty big business these days. It has 25 staff so I don’t have to do any of that anymore. I’m not really a landlord; I run the business which just happens to be the Prince of Wales. My wife is more like a landlady as she works on the wines on busy days. The business itself takes quite a lot of running, with all the staff we have, coming up with new ideas and taking them forward. What’s the next thing to add to the pub? I don’t know! We are waiting a little while now, we think it’s doing pretty well at the moment. We’ve spent the last few years investing the money we’ve

made in the pub. We’ve put the new marquee in, developed the Tiki Bar, the wine cellar, the cigar shed, things like that. In the lounge we do classic cocktails like Martinis, and we are doing a new menu for that which we are launching in the next couple of weeks which will be exciting. Then we will be doing a new menu for the Tiki Bar for the summer as well. A lot of people come for the cocktails. Last month was the first month ever where we sold more spirits than we sold larger. What are your thoughts on Moseley? I think Moseley is missing a few tricks; it’s a real jewel in the crown. People, especially older people who don’t use the pubs, view the night time economy as a bit of a menace but actually it’s a real asset. We need to have a bit more courage and be a bit more aggressive. We do a great job in conserving a lot of our heritage, and that’s fantastic, but at the same time we need to be a bit more progressive. If we are not careful its reputation as a bit of a bohemian, artistic centre will erode over time because there’s not a lot of that left now and we need to get some of that back into, if you like, our DNA. We need a more progressive view on planning too as it’s too restrictive at the moment. It’s much easier to invest in other places in Birmingham, businesses have a really hard time here, it’s not a business friendly environment, and we need to change that. theprincemoseley.co.uk diane@theprincemoseley.co.uk @moseleyprince facebook.com/ThePrinceMoseley Eva Quigley

eva@moseleyb13.com

@evaquigley1

www.moseleyb13.com

THE BULLS HEAD

On 4th April, the Bull’s Head played host to the April issue launch party of Brumnotes magazine, putting on a gig with a plethora of local talent. And it didn’t take long for the intimate upstairs setting to fill with people ready to enjoy it. The first band to get things going were young guns These Kings, as their guitar yielding produced

in session

lighting to step up the stakes in this local talent contest. The way they centred around a glowing globe was akin to witches standing over a cauldron, cooking up an enchanting spell. But Heavy Waves were perhaps the strongest of the night, fresh from

heavy waves the grafham water sailing club laced these kings pop as well as a more ambient sound. The follow up were relative new comers Laced, who received an equally receptive response from the Moseley crowd for their high energy and dual contrasting vocals.

“Tonight was about promoting the local promise of Birmingham’s bands.” The Grafham Water Sailing Club (rolling off the tongue) brought something a little different to the proceedings with their electro synth and moody info@moseleyb13.com

Photos: John Northam

support slots with fellow local successors Swim Deep and Peace. However tonight the band were playing a headline set to a near capacity room, filling it with their own blend of garage rock and psychedelic sounds. Tonight was about promoting the local promise of Birmingham’s bands, as the punter was treated to good value for money – and kudos to Brumnotes for pulling it off. The gig was glued together by a DJ set from another of Birmingham’s talents Hoopla Blue, spinning nostalgic R’n’B classics, adding to the care-free fun times. Any excuse to show off the health of this city’s current musical prowess – and what better place than Moseley to stage it. Matthew Way 23

guthrie &ghani

www.moseleyb13.com

Guthrie & Ghani haberdashery comes to Moseley! A special collection of quirky fabrics, yarn and colourful haberdashery pieces, housed in the wonderful Victorian building on the edge of Moseley Village, will be on sale from April 27th. Lauren Guthrie, contestant of the Great British Sewing Bee, and husband Ayaz, are opening their first fabric boutique “Guthrie & Ghani” which will offer workshops and classes specialising in sewing, knitting and dressmaking.

“After a lot of hard work we decided to renovate the building and turn it into a creative hub.” Moseley is “a really creative area of the city,” Lauren told B13 Magazine. “What we are offering fits in with this; the business is about inspiring people to be creative.” Ayaz had bought the old Victorian house on Alcester Road a few years previously but due to financial constraints, the couple had until now, not known what to do with it. “After a lot of hard work we decided to renovate the building and turn it into a creative hub,” she said. Scottish born Lauren, aged 27, has also been participating in the hit new BBC2 show The Great British Sewing Bee, presented by Claudia Winkleman. Lauren said in her blog: “We had absolutely no idea what was coming when we entered the sewing room for the first time […] It was a steep learning curve to try and stay focused when all the cameras were right in your face.” info@moseleyb13.com

She will be offering workshops, taught by herself and a range of experts, on a variety of craft techniques: “The workshops we offer will cover a

“Lauren and Ayaz’s grand opening will take place on Saturday 27th April.” range of subjects from sewing, soft furnishing and dressmaking, to knitting, crochet, print making, batik,” she said. “We are looking to offer lots of different topics, see what is popular, and run with that.” And where did the name ‘Guthrie&Ghani’ come from? “We picked the name after looking through one of the old photograph books by Alton Douglas that was about Birmingham Shops. We noticed that traditionally, shops were always names after their owner whether it was a butcher, grocers, etc. We felt that we wanted to bring the traditional values of these old family run shops to a fresh new business and one way to do that was to put our names above the door.” Lauren and Ayaz’s grand opening will take place on Saturday 27th April in Moseley Village with treats, cakes and homemade lemonade. Watch Lauren on The Great British Sewing Bee on BBC2 every Tuesday at 8pm. guthrie-ghani.co.uk info@guthrie-ghani.co.uk 0121 444 6467

Eva Quigley

eva@moseleyb13.com

@evaquigley1 25

Bloomin’ Marvellous! If you thought Moseley in Bloom was just about filling hanging baskets with Fuschias, then you couldn’t be more wrong. Keeping Moseley “cleaner and greener” is a year-round labour of love, involving a huge range of events and activities and a small army of volunteers.

“It also brings the

“If the area is clean and colourful, it makes people feel better about themselves and getting involved shows them they have the power to change things. It also brings the community together - we work closely with the council, street cleaners, schools, religious groups, local businesses and many other community organisations. All of us helping each other to improve the local area.”

community together we work closely with the council, street cleaners, schools, religious groups, local businesses and many other community organisations.” I met up with Carol Miller, MiB’s ‘In Bloom Ambassador’, in Java Lounge for a well-deserved hot chocolate. She’d just been trudging local streets to recruit participants for the hugely popular Open Gardens event in June. She’s been heavily involved in the charity for the last five years and is very passionate about the work that the team does to maintain Moseley’s flower power. 26

George Howell of Indigo Wholefoods, a regular sponsor of MiB events, explained why he supports their work. “It’s a community thing. The community www.moseleyb13.com

gives to us, and we give back to the community,” and Carol agrees, “If Moseley looks good, it brings people in. It’s good for business.” This year’s theme is ‘Edible Gardening’ and a veritable feast of events and activities is planned. A new item on the menu is a series of talks, starting in May, on a variety of mouth-watering topics, such as bee keeping, organic gardening and garden design. The team will also be continuing their work with local schools. One project will involve giving out thousands of seeds so that children can get hands-on education by growing their own fruit and vegetables. The biggest issue that the team faces is litter. With street cleaning services being slashed and large numbers of non-residents regularly frequenting Moseley’s bars and restaurants, just keeping the pavements free of rubbish is a constant battle. This year MiB are tackling the problem by launching an anti-litter photo competition, which they hope will raise awareness and encourage residents, and

“When the RHS judges visited, they commented on our very ‘mixed’ community, and they’re right. Being an urban area with a diverse population does bring with it certain challenges, but it is also a huge strength.” And of course there is the annual ‘In Bloom’ campaign. In July it will be all hands on deck to make sure that every petal is in place when the judges arrive. Carol is cautiously optimistic that Moseley will retain its regional crown in the ‘Urban Community’ category, a title it has held for the last six years. “It’s the most difficult category,” she explains. “When the RHS judges visited, they commented on our very ‘mixed’ community, and they’re right. Being an urban area with a diverse population does bring with it certain challenges, but it is also a huge strength.” Carol is very proud of the part she has played in making Moseley cleaner and brighter. If she could have just one wish for the forthcoming year it is that more people get involved. “Raising awareness is important,” she said, “but only if people act on it.” To find out more about MiB’s forthcoming events and how you can contribute, visit moseleyinbloom. org.uk or go along to their stall at the Farmers’ Market.

visitors alike, to be more responsible with their waste.

moseleyinbloom.org.uk info@moseleyinbloom.org.uk Alexandra Taylor

info@moseleyb13.com

WHAT’S ON?

Tue 07

Mon 06

Sun 05

Sat 04

Fri 03 Bull's Head

Freestyle presents Johnny Kowalski & The Sexy Weirdos / Jamtidy / The Slipps / Will Itsasecret

CHAMPION DJS ON ROAD – PART. 2

LE LIEU presents TOM DEMAC

Moseley Forum Annual General Meeting

21:00

22:00

TBC

www.ortcafe.co.uk

Huey Morgan (DJ Set)

Warwickshire v Kent

Treetop Flyers + Capital Sun

Jam Jah Reggae Session

21:00

13:45

19:30

21:00

www.bullsheadmoseley.co.uk

info@kitchengardencafe.co.uk

www.ortcafe.co.uk Ort Café

Samantha Whates | James MacKenzie

20:30

facebook.com/impact.birmingham Bull's Head

Impact

20:15

www.moseleyforum.org.uk Moseley Exchange

Moseley Forum Open Meeting

19:30

www.jamjahsound.com birminghampromoters.com

Gramme + Thieves

19:30

Bull's Head

birminghampromoters.com Hare & Hounds

Hare & Hounds

www.edgbaston.co.uk

Bull's Head

Mix Tape Bank Holiday Special

Edgbaston Cricket Ground

Kitchen Garden Café

Honky Tonk Showtime with the Ann Duggan Band

20:00