A Cypriot bouncer built a fry-up empire. His son is watching it crumble ‘I personally think it’s a form of social cleansing. They don’t want us. They want Greggs, they want Starbucks’

Click the link below to read🔗

Now, it’s on the brink of extinction following the news that the Bullring markets will close to make way for student and/ or residential flats.

Andreas doesn’t know what to do next, and thinks the loss of his cafe is tragic. Not just for him, but for Birmingham.

“I personally think it’s a form of social cleansing. They don’t want us. They want Greggs, they want Starbucks.”

Andreas Neofitou has worked at the same humble greasy spoon since he was 13 years old. His father, ‘Hercules’, started running it in the 1970s.

📸Roland Leon

Inside the power struggle at Reform UK Birmingham The party’s new recruits are locking horns with its old guard

🗞️"Nowhere is as broken as Birmingham,” Nigel Farage said in February. “We’re going to throw everything we’ve got at those Birmingham elections.”

As he uttered those words, a bitter row was unfolding among his party in Brum.

Click the link for more🔗

Inside the power struggle at Reform UK Birmingham The party’s new recruits are locking horns with its old guard

🧵For our Reform article, or to catch up with this week's briefing, click the link below:

Buy tickets – Who will run Birmingham next? Come and have your say. – The Priory Rooms, Quaker Meeting House Who will run Birmingham next? Come and have your say. – The Priory Rooms, Quaker Meeting House, Mon 27 Apr 2026 - It’s The Dispatch’s first ever elections hustings With the local elections approaching...

🧵Plus, we've made more tickets available for our hustings.

Click below to secure yours:

🧵This week at The Dispatch so far:

🗞️On Monday, our briefing covered the suggestion that Birmingham is heading for a 'mad coalition' next month.
🗳️On Tuesday, we published a story about power struggles at Reform UK Birmingham.

⬇️⬇️

icymi long-term members of Reform UK who wanted to be candidates for the Birmingham council elections have been given the cold shoulder, while former councillors from local Conservative and Labour parties have quietly embedded themselves in the party.

This has not gone down well.

Inside the power struggle at Reform UK Birmingham The party’s new recruits are locking horns with its old guard

Has he? Or is something else going on? Find out in our latest story:
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/inside-the-p...

But the disappointed troops say something else is going on. They claim the party has been "hijacked" by former Labour leader of Sandwell council and Reform's candidate in Erdington, Rajbir Singh.

You see, the local party wants to professionalise.

A Reform UK spokesperson said, “we are determined to field only candidates who meet the highest standards of integrity, professionalism and political competence to represent the people of Birmingham.”

Reform says they're just bitter. “It’s a little bit akin to if you go for a job and you don’t get it, you might be frustrated,” said Jason West, the party's candidate in Highters Heath.

The disgruntled say Reform Birmingham has become a top-down controlled regime, has side-lined its devoted members and become just like their enemies: Labour and the Tories.

Adam Biggs is one of them. He says the party is "Victorian".

In short: long-term members who wanted to be candidates have been given the cold shoulder, while former councillors from local Conservative and Labour parties have quietly embedded themselves in the party.

Inside the power struggle at Reform UK Birmingham The party’s new recruits are locking horns with its old guard

Even as the Reform UK leader uttered those words, a bitter row was unfolding among members of his party in Birmingham. You can read the story here:
www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/inside-the-p...

"Nowhere is as broken as Birmingham,” Nigel Farage said in February. “We’re going to throw everything we’ve got at those Birmingham elections.”

🧵Wind down your day by catching up with what you've missed:

🎥Our weekend read was on The Electric cinema – and plans to save it.
🗞️Yesterday's briefing unpacked whether Birmingham is heading for a 'mad coalition.'

Both can be read on our website at the link below🔗

Can this man save the Electric? Ian Francis has a (fully-costed) plan. Now he just needs developers on side

There's still a lot of work to go — whether it be rallying public support, or convincing Glenbrook.

But for the first time in two years, there could be a glimmer of hope for the historic cinema.

🔗Click the link below to read more:

🧵The Electric cinema closed down in 2024 and was a huge cultural loss for Birmingham. Developers Glenbrook planned to build on the site.

📽️But now, there could be an alternative on the horizon. Flatpack festival have fully-costed plans to see the site reopen sustainably.

Some quality lines again in today's @birminghamdispatch.bsky.social 😅

Brummies, if you don't already know, get to know.

Is Brum heading for a ‘mad coalition’ on 7 May? The government thinks so A war of words heats up. Plus: £2m fake Gucci t-shirt Acocks Green operation busted

Also in this week’s briefing: quick news media picks from Concrete Mag and Private Eye, and your weekly to do list. Click below for more.

🧵Elsewhere in Brum: a secret counterfeit clothes factory in an Ackocks Green home has resulted in one involved being sentenced to six-and-a-half years in prison.

And, West Midlands police’s crackdown on drugs has led to the closure of 418 “drug lines” and 89 criminals jailed.

🧵“Treacherous,” is how Independent Candidate Alliance (ICA) leader Akhmed Yakoob brands the Green Party to the Times journalist Max Kendix, following a refusal by the Greens’ to step aside for ICA candidates.

🧵Your Monday briefing is here‼️‼️

Today’s top story is whether a coalition would be chaotic for Birmingham. We published a data report last week which suggested that was the most likely outcome, but an article in The Times suggested reluctance from key players.⬇️

Is Brum heading for a ‘mad coalition’ on 7 May? The government thinks so A war of words heats up. Plus: £2m fake Gucci t-shirt Acocks Green operation busted

🗞️ Government insiders have told the Times that Birmingham is heading for a "mad coalition" that could threaten the delivery of public services.

Is it fair?

Read our Monday briefing now for all the West Mids news you need to start your week.

We got data expert Joey D'Urso to crunch the numbers ahead of the local elections.

It's not looking good for Birmingham Labour. But what party is most likely to lead the city council after 7 May?

Read on to find out: www.birminghamdispatch.co.uk/data-report-...

Can this man save the Electric? Ian Francis has a (fully-costed) plan. Now he just needs developers on side

Francis thinks this sort of bold revamp sets the standard for Station Street, that they don't need to settle for faceless blocks of housing. We got experts to appraise the plans - they approved.

But to succeed, Francis needs momentum from the public, or Glenbrook to agree. Can he do it?

Two years on and a lot of consultations later, Francis and his team at Flatpack Film Festival have come up with three fully-costed proposals for the Electric.

They'd renovate and keep the cinema, while adding a new floor, a bar/restaurant and a co-working/event space.

Ian Francis wasn't convinced by their offer. He thought Station Street, and Birmingham, needed something more ambitious, that preserved the Electric as a cultural space - and evolved it.

But he knew he had to demonstrate that seriously. So he got to work.