Glynn’s new venue is the plates to be

Birmingham’s first Michelin-starred chef has opened ‘Plates by Purnell’s’, just one street away from his flagship restaurant in Birmingham’s Colmore Business District.

Glynn Purnell, who holds a Michelin star at Purnell’s, is now bringing classic Spanish tapas inspired food and drinks to the bar, which is on the site of the former Spanish café bar Pinchos on Edmund Street.

Named Plates by Purnell’s, the tapas bar will be run by Purnell, who has won the acclaim of Michelin judges and graced TV screens on Saturday Kitchen and The Great British Menu, and his team.

The venue has been empty since closure during the COVID pandemic and has now been transformed by the Purnell’s group. Plates by Purnell’s has around 28 covers inside and a small number on the pavement outside. It serves sharing plates inspired by classic Spanish tapas with influences from Purnell’s time training and working in northern Spain. The menu includes small plates such as anchovies on toast, chorizo in red wine, cheese croquettes, grilled octopus, and Crème Catalan.

Purnell said it had been a long-held ambition to expand his brand in his home city of Birmingham: “Having worked in northern Spain, I have had a soft spot for pintxos or tapas for many years. In Spain, I used to spend my days off eating and drinking in small tapas bars, which is the same philosophy we want to breed here at Plates by Purnell’s.

“Guests are welcome to stay for two or three hours and graze, or nip in for a quick drink and a small plate of food. In the current climate, people are very conscious of what they’re spending, and I wanted to be able to provide an offering for anything from a full gastronomic evening, a pitstop while shopping or a pre-theatre bite.

“My award-winning team and I have worked hard on making this a stunning venue which will serve some amazing dishes. There will be some recognisable tapas dishes on the menu – all with an added sprinkle of Purnell’s magic. The food will be tasty, satisfying and will put a smile on people’s faces. Whether you’re celebrating a birthday, an engagement, a graduation or just celebrating life itself, we look forward to welcoming you for delicious drinks and fantastic food in a place where you can have lots of fun and make lasting memories.

“I have been overwhelmed by all the support and well wishes we’ve had so far since we opened our doors to the public on Friday 10 February. Plates by Purnell’s underwent a stunning refurbishment before we opened, and the team have worked incredibly hard and gone the extra mile to ensure the venue looks absolutely beautiful.”

Bookings for Plates by Purnell’s are now open via the website (www. platesbypurnells.com). Reservations can be made for Wednesdays to Saturdays between 12pm and 3pm for lunch and between 6pm and 9pm for dinner. Reservations can also be made via telephone on 0121 461 9254.

As part of Reneé Porter-Fraser and Alishaba Iman’s Level 3 Business course at University College Birmingham (UCB) they are required to do a work placement in the city. Here, the students talk about their placement with Colmore BID, which started in October 2022.

“Since joining the skilled team, we have gained many employability skills and they have made us feel a part of this team.

Our first day with Colmore BID was the second day of the ‘Welcome to Birmingham’ week of events. It was amazing to see how the BID interacted and encouraged young professionals to thrive in a new environment. Even though we were only there for one day we were able to be a part of some events such as the TAG How to Network event. This was our first networking event, and it was amazing to see an overview of how events like these are run and understand how to network.

Following on from this event we were also involved in opening night of ‘Christmas in Cathedral Square’ where we interacted with many vendors and those who attended. We had to get involved with the team to ensure the event ran smoothly and helped hand out umbrellas quickly when it started to rain!

We are excited to have the chance to work with Kelsey on the Colmore Food Festival which is taking place on Friday 21st and Saturday 22nd July. By attending and having hands on experience with events have significantly guided us with our course and one unit which is ‘Managing an Event’. In this unit have learnt about what it means to be an event planner and working with the BID has allowed us to see first-hand and use this experience to apply to our work.

We feel having this opportunity at Colmore BID is allowing us to experience different aspects of the working world and help us shape our future aspirations.

Our goals may be different, but this placement is supporting us both and showing where this experience along with our qualification can take us. Not only this but it shows us what it’s like to work in an office and the importance of having a good rapport with clients.

Placement is a brand-new experience to the both of us and is among our top and most beneficial experiences. We just want to say thank you and appreciate this opportunity to work in such a great community.”

COULD YOU HELP? UNPAID INDUSTRY PLACEMENTS – UNIVERSITY COLLEGE BIRMINGHAM

University College Birmingham is looking to collaborate with Birmingham-based businesses that would like to benefit from taking on Business, Finance and Marketing Level 3 students for unpaid industry placements.

If you are a business that could offer experience in Administration, HR, Finance, Accountancy, Sales, Marketing, Procurement, Management, Events or Customer Service, UCB want to hear from you.

Taking on a student for industry placement can offer you a free spare pair of hands, a fresh set of eyes, and maybe even an opportunity to develop a pipeline of talent. Students must complete 45 days of placement over the two years of their course and will be based with a business for one day a week and several block weeks Monday- Thursday. Students are ready to start placements from late October/ early November 2023. If you want to learn more email J.Otoole@ucb.ac.uk