Southside BID Birmingham
SPOTLIGHT
January 2017
10
tips to avoid Cybercrime
Chinese New Year of the Rooster
Special Offers Inside
Welcome to the New Year edition Southside Spotlight
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s 2016 - and the first year of our Southside BID2 - comes to a close, we have a bumper Southside Spotlight for you. In our first edition for 2017 we take a look inside Lobby on Hill Street, the latest cocktail and street food bar to open in Southside, see the totally transformed the Loft and also take a peek at the preparations for biggest ever Chinese New Year celebrations, coming January 29 2017. We’ve celebrated a number of fantastic successes in 2016; our Southside Green Wall is thriving along the A38, while Chinese New Year, Mid-Autumn Festival, International Dance Festival Birmingham and Birmingham Pride all saw a record number of visitors. We even built a beach on Inge Street for Summer in Southside. We’ve also seen unprecedented growth in our part of the city and welcomed some great new businesses to the district.
Contents January 2017 4
Southside Celebrations Welcome Chinese Year of the Rooster
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Southside Bullion Dealer makes £1 Million in Two Hours
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All New Loft & Scattered
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Green Projects
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Top 10 Tips to Avoid Cybercrime
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Transport News
Here’s to 2017 Southside!
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The Lobby on Hill Street
Julia Chance BID Manager
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What’s On
With work starting on our new public space, Southside Square, a Pocket Park in the Gay Village, Business Rates Revaluation across the area and plans to double the size of our Chinese New Year celebrations, 2017 is already shaping up to be a busy one. If you picked up a copy of this magazine and would like your own sent to your place of work or home, get in touch with us on 0121 643 3720.
Designed and produced by GEM Media www.gemmedia.co.uk
January 2017 | SPOTLIGHT
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Southside celebrations welcome Chinese Year of the Rooster
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s the Year of the Monkey comes to a close, Birmingham’s Southside will once again play host to the city’s Chinese New Year celebrations as thousands of festival-goers descend on the area and welcome in the Year of the Rooster.
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SPOTLIGHT | January 2017
Taking place on Sunday 29th January between 11am and 4pm, the 2017 celebrations are going to be much bigger than normal, with Hurst St and Ladywell Walk closed to traffic and transformed into a festival space, complete with two performance areas, market stalls, fairground rides, games area and Asian Street Food Fair. Visitors will see traditional Chinese music, lion dancers, acrobats, martial artists and more take to the main stage on Hurst St, in the heart of Southside.
The festivities will spill out into Ladywell Walk with the Arcadian centre lined with street food and traditional market stalls, selling their wares to visitors as well as a games alley on Thorp Street providing fun for all the family. Organised by the Birmingham Chinese Festival Committee (BCFC), the 2016 festival welcomed over 20,000 visitors with numbers set to increase again this year. Traditionally a quiet time for businesses, the event helps increase footfall to local businesses by up to 200%.
James Wong, chair of the Birmingham Chinese Festival Committee, said: “Chinese New Year is the biggest event in the Chinese calendar. Due to support from the local community and partners such as Southside and The Arcadian, the festival has grown year on year, positioning it as one of the top festivals in Birmingham’s extensive events calendar. “As well as the traditional lion dancers, acrobats, singers and dancers, the 2017
festival will also be much bigger than in previous years, with the introduction of a new community stage, more fairground rides and a games alley where visitors can win prizes, making it a truly familyfriendly affair.” Julia Chance, Southside BID manager, said: “Each year the Chinese New Year festivities bring thousands of new and returning visitors to Southside’s Chinatown. Despite its continued and growing success, last year the festival lost its funding from Birmingham City Council as part of the ongoing budget cuts happening across the city. Despite this hit, spirits haven’t been dampened and the entire Southside community has come together in support to raise the much needed funds to plug this gap. The
action taken is a true testament to the community spirit of the people who live, work and visit Southside and we’re truly touched by their continued support.” Lina Higuita, centre manager for the Arcadian, said: “The Chinese New Year celebration is a highlight on The Arcadian Centre’s events calendar and we are very pleased to be able to support and host this fabulous occasion once again. It’s a great day for all the family and we are looking forward to welcoming thousands of people to this most colourful and vibrant showcase of Chinese culture again.” For more information about the Chinese New Year celebrations in Southside, please visit www.enjoysouthside.co.uk or www.cnybirmingham.org.uk January 2017 | SPOTLIGHT
Photographs by James P Maher
2017 (the 4714th year in the Chinese calendar) is the year of the Red Rooster. The Chinese apply five elements to the calendar: metal, water, wood, fire and earth. The colour connected to the fire group is red; therefore 2017 is the Red Fire Rooster Year
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Southside bullion dealer makes £1 million in two hours
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ritain’s biggest online bullion dealer is bucking the Brexit trend and making the most of the US election results right here from Southside.
In less than two hours after Donald Trump was announced the next President of the United States, BullionByPost made sales of a staggering £1 million, making it the biggest day of trading in the business’s eight-year history. BullionByPost was established by Birmingham-born entrepreneur Rob Halliday-Stein in 2008. Set up on £10,000 from his mother’s will, the company now employs 25 staff and has handled over 100,000 deliveries with the sole aim of offering private UK investors a straightforward, secure way to buy bullion at low margins. www.bullionbypost.co.uk
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SPOTLIGHT | January 2017
All New Loft We’re delighted to bring you the all new Loft in the heart of Southside. Gone are the plush sofas and in comes a new industrial inspired feel, with bespoke low lighting, antique doors and urban vibes. With a brand new menu of locally sourced food, inspired by new head chef Andrew Walker with a selection of grazing delights, light plates and more, we’re confident the new food menu offers something for everyone and our new Sunday lunch has got to be seen to be believed with a choice of beef, pork, chicken or veggie roast! The Loft has also introduced a wide selection of speciality gins and spirits and an amazing new choice of cocktails. Our speciality ‘Super Duper Gin n Tonic” is a must for gin lovers everywhere. Open from 4pm daily Monday - Thursday and from 11am Fri - Sunday, if you liked the old Loft Lounge, you’ll love the all new Loft! 143 Bromsgrove St, Digbeth, Birmingham B5 6RG. Phone: 0121 622 2444 www.theloftbrum.co.uk
Spellbinding performance! Scattered Tue 31 Jan - Fri 3 Feb Special offer of £12 per ticket (standard £18) to the first performance using the code Southside12 Scattered combines Motionhouse’s highly physical trademark style with entrancing digital imagery in an extraordinary interaction between film and live performance. This astonishing production explores our relationship with water, a fundamental force in our lives. Seven dancers delve into the majesty and savagery of water, plunging into an ocean, tumbling down a waterfall and sliding on an avalanche to a frozen landscape of arctic beauty. Scattered uses projection technology, daring choreography and a ground-
breaking set to create an extraordinary world where dancers and images interact seamlessly. Capturing the imagination with its spellbinding and ingenious choreography, Scattered is a great family night out. Press & audience feedback “Motionhouse leave their audiences gobsmacked....” THE GUARDIAN “The performance is practically jet-propelled – the quicksilver cast almost never stops moving. Dazzling.” THE TIMES Motionhouse is supported by Arts Council England. The Old Rep Theatre, Birmingham T: 0121 359 444 E: info@oldreptheatre.co.uk W: www.oldreptheatre.co.uk January 2017 | SPOTLIGHT
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Green Projects from Southside
ow established on the A38 Bristol St, the Southside Green Wall continues to clean the air from harmful pollution, locking potentially hazardous particles into the leaves, ensuring local people have cleaner and safer air to breathe. IIn addition to this in 2017 Southside will install an Urban Pocket Park. This pocket sized park will be installed
on Bromsgrove St in a unique project collaboration with Atkins Global and the Future Cities Catapult. Special sensors within the park and in the doorways of local businesses will track peoples movements around the park to discover whether green spaces change the behaviour of local people and traffic. Furthermore Southside BID holds a Southside in Bloom competition annually with prizes for the businesses with the best green spaces. 2016 winner for the third year in a
Southside in Bloom Winner Eden 2016 8
SPOTLIGHT | January 2017
row was Eden Bar who achieved this honour for their immaculate outdoor areas. Runners up included the Loft, Dragon Inn and The Fox on Essex St for their outstanding green enclaves in Southside. Combined with a ÂŁ20,000 annual investment by the BID in flower troughs, hanging baskets, planters and branded purple planted boxes placed around the BID area, Southside will be packed with colour and greenery for 2017.
In Bloom runner up Fox Bar
tips to avoid Cybercrime 10from Southside BID
Top
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ne of the fastest growing types of crime at the moment is cyber crime. To prevent you or your business becoming a victim, take a look at our top 10 tips on how to frustrate the criminals and keep you and your business safe.
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Realize that you are an attractive target to hackers. Don’t think, “It won’t happen to me.”
Practise good password management. Use a strong mix of characters, and don’t use the same password for multiple sites. Don’t share your password with others, don’t write it down, and definitely don’t write it on a post-it note attached to your monitor.
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Never leave your devices unattended. If you need to leave your computer, phone, or tablet for any length of time – no matter how short – lock it up so no one can
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use it while you’re gone. If you keep sensitive information on a flash drive or external hard drive, make sure to lock it up as well.
drives, external hard drives, and even smartphones.
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Always be careful when clicking on attachments or links in email. If it’s unexpected or suspicious for any reason, don’t click on it. Double check the URL of the website the link takes you to: bad hackers will often take advantage of spelling mistakes to direct you to a harmful domain.
Sensitive browsing, such as banking or shopping, should only be done on a device that belongs to you, on a network that you trust. Whether it’s a friend’s phone, a public computer, or a cafe’s free WiFi – your data could be copied or stolen. Back up your data regularly, and make sure your anti-virus software is always up to date.
Be conscientious of what you plug in to your computer. Malware can be spread through infected flash
Watch what you’re sharing on social networks. Criminals can befriend you and easily gain access to a shocking amount of information – where you go to school, where you work, when you’re on vacation – that could help them gain access to more valuable data. Offline, be wary of social engineering, where someone attempts to gain information from you through manipulation. If someone calls or emails you asking for sensitive information, it’s okay to say no. You can always call the company directly to verify credentials before giving out any information.
Be sure to monitor your accounts for any suspicious activity. If you see something unfamiliar, it could be a sign that you’ve been compromised.
For fun, Fitness & FRIENDS
DanceXchange offers a variety of dance styles to suit all ages and abilities. • Spring term Monday 9 January – Saturday 1 April 2017 • Pay-as-You-Go and Bulk-Buy options are available. • Studios conveniently located in Birmingham Hippodrome.
For details visit: dancexchange.org.uk Funded by Dx registered charity no. 1045364
#dxclass @dancexchange
New Year Offer Bring a Friend for free in January See website for further details.
Bike Security Getting your bike security marked and registered is a visible deterrent to bike thieves. They know that if they are caught in possession of a registered bike, the rightful owner can be traced and they will be arrested. This is why Southside BID has invested in a number of registration kits and is offering cyclists who work or live in Southside an opportunity to have their bikes registered FREE of charge whilst stocks last. Once you register with Bike Register, your details are held on the secure online database, which all UK Police Forces have secure access to. If your bike is stolen you can ’flag’ it as stolen on the database, via your online account. Registering your bike does not cost anything as the cost of the kits is met by the BID. If you work or live within the district, get in touch with us on 0121 643 3720 or via email on information@southsidebid.co.uk and we will book an appointment for a Police Officer to come and register your bike in the scheme. Further information is available at www.bikeregister.com/advice/how-it-works
Fair Fare How do you know how much you should pay for a journey in a taxi or a private hire car? Taxis In Birmingham a taxi is a black cab. You can get a taxi by waiting at a taxi rank, flagging one down at the roadside or by phoning a taxi radio network. Taxi fares are calculated by a meter in the vehicle. Fares are approved by the City Council’s Licensing & Public Protection Committee and every meter is checked for accuracy and sealed by the Council’s Licensing service to prevent it being tampered with. The only times that a driver can charge a fare that isn’t calculated by the meter is if you negotiate a fare before the journey starts or if the journey ends outside the city boundary, when the driver should ask you to agree a fare beforehand. Private Hire Vehicles Private hire vehicles can only pick 12
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up passengers that have booked a journey through a private hire operator by telephone or using a mobile app. If you take a journey in a private hire car that you have not booked in advance, the driver’s insurance is invalid for that journey and you are putting yourself at risk. Overcharging Passengers who take journeys in private hire cars that have not been booked through an operator are often charged much higher prices than they would pay if they had booked the journey properly. Without a record of the journey, drivers are acting illegally and they will potentially charge whatever they think they can get away with. If you have a complaint about the fare you have been charged or anything else to do with a Birmingham City Council licensed taxi or private hire driver or vehicle please contact Licensing on 0121 303 9611.
Lobby On Hill Street
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rom airy day-time den to stylish night time hotspot, Lobby On Hill Street is the hottest new cocktail bar and eatery to open in Birmingham. Serving an inspiring menu of innovative cocktails and street food style tapas dishes, the venue boasts quirky interior décor, an airy bar area, and a heated urban terrace. Open first thing in the morning until late every day, Lobby On Hill Street is the ultimate round the clock venue offering the whole package, from Starbucks coffee for the morning commuter, lunchtime offers for midweek catch-ups and cocktail happy hour for after work drinks. Visitors can expect to choose from an extensive drinks list including cocktails
such as the Flaming Zombie, Bubblegum Daiquiri and Make-Up Martini, as well as craft beers, fine wines and champagnes, high-end spirits, and a wide selection of alcohol free alternatives. The Hill Street Food menu features a variety of small street food inspired dishes such as Black Country Faggot Sliders, “Make Your Own” Pot Noodles and Posh Cheesy Chips, with diners choosing a selection of three dishes for just £14. There is be a wide choice of classic plates with a twist from the Dine All Day menu, including dishes from the grill, pizzas, sandwiches and salads, as well as brunch. Lobby On Hill Street also offer some fantastic drinks “Lobberati” packages and fun cocktail masterclasses starting at just £25 per person, making it the perfect start to a great night out in Birmingham. January 2017 | SPOTLIGHT
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What’s On January 2017 Dance
Art
Akaar by Sonia Sabri Company Old Rep Theatre 28/1/2017 7.30pm www.oldreptheatre.co.uk
Life Echo Birmingham Open Media Now until Jan 28th 2017 FREE www.bom.org.uk Art and Tech Social Birmingham Open Media 10/1/2017 6pm FREE www.bom.org.uk
Cabaret Big Name Cabaret Village Inn Every Friday 9.00pm www.villagebirmingham.co.uk
Dick Whittington Birmingham Hippodrome 19/12/16 — 29/01/17 Various www.birminghamhippodrome.com The Colour of Me Old Rep Theatre 21/1/2017 11am and 2pm www.oldreptheatre.co.uk
Film
Gary Delaney Glee Club 15/1/2017 7pm www.glee.co.uk
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RSC Live from Stratford presents the Tempest Electric Cinema 11/1/2017 7pm www.theelectric.co.uk
Best of Live Stand Up Glee Club Every Saturday in January 7pm www.glee.co.uk
Bfilm presents Rebecca with Professor Linda Williams Electric Cinema 14/1/2017 7pm www.theelectric.co.uk
Lucy Porter Old Rep Theatre 27/1/2017 7.30pm www.oldreptheatre.co.uk
T2 Trainspotting Electric Cinema From Fri 27/01/17 7pm www.theelectric.co.uk
SPOTLIGHT | January 2017
Chinese New Year Genting Casino 30-31/01/17 6pm-1am FREE + Prize Draw www.gentingcasinos.co.uk/casino/ chinatown-birmingham/
Music
Family
Chinese New Year Birmingham Chinatown 29/1/2017 11am- 4pm FREE www.cnybirmingham.org.uk
Comedy
Gaming
Beth Rowley Glee Club 18/1/2017 7pm www.glee.co.uk 2 door Cinema Club O2 Academy 24/1/2017 7pm academymusicgroup.com/ o2academybirmingham/ academybirmingham ExMagician Sunflower Lounge 25/1/2017 7.30pm www.thesunflowerlounge.com
Nightclubs Only After Dark (80s Club Night) Penthouse 21/1/2017 10pm til late www.facebook.com/pages/Only-AfterDark/200596303407885 Circle Sundays Levana Every Sunday 10pm til late www.levanabar.co.uk UV Party featuring Freejack Chic Nightclub From Fri 28/1/2017 10pm til late www.twitter.com/chic_club
EVERY THURSDAY
OUR OWN CREATION THAT INCLUDES A VARIETY OF PERFORMERS, THE WEEK’S GOSSIP, FUN AND GAMES, ANTI-SOCIAL MEDIA, A BIG SCREEN AND... A LITTLE BIT OF BUNTING!
EVERY FRIDAY & SATURDAY
WE BRING YOU THE VERY BEST COMEDIANS EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY FOR A FOUR ACT LINE UP THAT IS GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU LAUGH.
BUY ADVANCE TICKETS FOR ALL SHOWS ANYWHERE ANYTIME
GLEE.CO.UK
OR
0871 472 0400
2017 Year of the Red Fire Rooster Find out more at www.southsidebid.co.uk
Image credit Annatomix www.annatomix.com
恭禧發財 Happy New Year