The Halls are alive!

Iconic Wolverhampton venue gets ready for its grand reopening

Seven years after it closed for what was supposed to be a six-month refit, the newly refurbished, and slightly renamed, The Halls Wolverhampton finally reopens next month. The project to upgrade the iconic Civic Halla Grade II-listed building - and its Wulfrun Hall neighbour has faced a catalogue of delays and setbacks, including the discovery of asbestos, major structural issues and even the original contractor going bust. The issues saw costs spiral from an original estimate of around £10million to more than four times that amount. Work is now virtually complete, with the City of Wolverhampton Council handing over running duties to new operating partner AEG Presents. A subsidiary of AEG, the world’s leading sports & liveentertainment company, the international organisation operates tours, live shows and venues across the globe, including California’s famous Coachella Festival, BST Hyde Park and London’s O2.

It’s a pretty big deal for such a global giant to be running the venue - on a 25-year lease, no less - but one that has been prompted by a very local connection. AEG Presents’ CEO, Steve Homer, hails from Stourbridge and attended dozens of gigs at the venue as a youngster, including his first.

“It’s incredible to be able to bring an iconic venue back to life,” he says, “and as a local lad, this is all the more special. I saw The Clash perform here in 1978, and it was an event that forever cemented my love of music. We can’t wait to open the doors of The Halls Wolverhampton and bring the world’s best artists to the West Midlands stage.” Steve says he jumped at the chance to work with the venue as soon as the opportunity arose, but admits he had to convince his American colleagues that it was worthy of their support.

“Most of them couldn’t pinpoint Birmingham on a map, let alone Wolverhampton, so it was starting from a very basic level in terms of familiarity and knowledge of the site.”

That familiarity spans five decades for the lifelong music fan, who admits he still proudly displays old concert tickets on his wall. During our conversation, he reeled off an array of bands he’s seen at the Civic and Wulfrun over the years, from the likes of Stiff Little Fingers, OMD and Elvis Costello while he was still at school, to grunge and Britpop acts in the 1990s - a time when it wasn’t even his local venue.

“I was living in Sheffield in the ’90s and I was coming down to see the likes of Offspring, Nirvana, Primal Scream and Oasis. I always used to come back to the Civic to watch them because you knew you were going to have a good gig. I could’ve gone to Manchester, as it was easier to get to, but I knew the Wolves gig would be better.

“There’s something in the DNA of the venue and the audience which means that Wolverhampton Civic has always been a good gig.”

That reputation is true for artists as much as fans, and it’s something Steve says he’s already capitalising on, with many acts keen to return to a favourite hunting ground. “One of the things I’ve found since we’ve reopened the diary is the amount of artists that say this is one of the best gigs they’ve ever had.

“We had a stab at putting on a headline show by Siouxsie from Siouxsie And The Banshees, because she’s doing a festival in LA with our company, as well as Latitude and a few other things in Europe. When I put in an enquiry, they came back and said she’s going to do it because it’s her favourite venue she ever played with the Banshees.”

Tickets for that show sold out within an hour of going on sale. A cursory glance at other upcoming shows - June is packed with big names such as Leftfield, McFly, James, Sparks, Sugababes and comedy-magicians Penn & Teller - reflects the appeal of the two venues as well as the ambition of the promoters. By the end of the month, Steve expects to have had more than 50,000 people come through the venues, now officially titled ‘The Civic at The Halls Wolverhampton’ (capacity 3,404) and ‘The Wulfrun at The Halls Wolverhampton’ (capacity 1,289).

“We’ve got every recognisable promoter involved in our opening month. The shows are all selling really well, and some incredibly well. Selling tickets also gives us confidence to put other shows in place. We’re comfortably and confidently seeing a great uptake in acts, but it’s obviously only a startwe have to maintain that and then start taking things away from Birmingham.”

The latter is clearly the nature of the business, but Steve’s under no illusion about the initial challenge of getting people to come to a venue that’s been shut for so long,

by Steve Adams

- to What’s whether that’s returnees or first-time visitors. “Being closed for seven years means you’ve got a hill to climb,” he admits, acknowledging that people familiar with the venue will need to be re-educated and reenergised, and that there’s a generation gap to be bridged for those who have never been.

“If you were 14 when you went to your first gig, you’re now sat there as a 21-year-old and you’ve never been to a show in Wolverhampton.”

With that in mind, Steve is keen to book more pop and urban acts aimed at younger audiences.

“That’s a real challenge for us - to try to get younger, contemporary artists to come and play in Wolverhampton. There’s no resistance from agents or managers, but you have to be able to convince the audience that it’s something that will be a great event.

“In some ways parents who were familiar with the venue will feel comfortable with their offspring going to Wolves Civic or the Wulfrun as they know it’s a safe environment.”

Ultimately it’s all about the quality of the acts and the overall experience, and Steve expects the refurbished venues to deliver on both fronts. As well as being able to attract bigger and better shows, he says the two halls will offer visitors a vastly improved experience, with better seating, more bars, more areas to socialise, improved toilet facilities, enhanced wheelchair access and more accessible viewing points.

Both venues have also had additional balconies installed, with the Civic now looking more like a theatre than a concert hall from the stage - something which Steve believes adds a new and different dimension without detracting from its longstanding appeal.

“I think audiences are going to be very pleasantly surprised when they return to both venues. They’re going to see an improvement in the facilities, and a re-fresh of what was a successful operation before. It’s going to feel quite special.”

To find out what’s happening and when at The Halls, check out the website: thehallswolverhampton.co.uk

REVIEW: Wild Shropshire

There aren’t many restaurants you visit that coincidentally play one of your favourite albums from start to finish. This happened at Wild Shropshire. There was something quite emotional about tucking into a tremendous mystery dessert with Radiohead’s Reckoner playing in the background. It was one of those moments that will stick with me.

Headed up by owner & chef James Sherwin, Whitchurchbased Wild Shropshire is an award-winning terroir-led and micro seasonal restaurant which offers a tasting menu of British food. With a goal of becoming 95% self-sufficient, James grows, cultivates and produces plants, eggs, bees, trees and more on his Wild Shropshire farm, all of which are used in his dishes. At Wild Shropshire you get given the menu after you’ve eaten. Perhaps not everyone’s cup of tea, but I loved the concept. It gets people talking about something other than the sorry state of the country. The menu changes often. In fact, pay the restaurant a visit twice in one week and you will more than likely receive two different sets of dishes.

The decor is simple and unassuming, with an atmosphere to match. “We want you to feel like we’ve invited you round for dinner at our house,” explained the restaurant’s mixologist, Joe. They’ve hit the nail on the head there.

We started with a sparkling wine. An extremely quaffable Loxerel A Per Pet Nat, to be precise.

James introduced himself and explained how the dining experience, which takes around three hours, would work.

I ordered the mixed drinks pairing and let Joe choose for me. First up was a fresh and expertly made margarita, comprising Helena Koji Spirit, El Rayo Tequila, Shikuwasa Sake and a sour mix. Hints of nuttiness and citrus cleansed the palate, ready for the food that was to follow.

Our menu comprised nine courses. A toasted chicken-skin cracker topped with pickled ramson gel, pickled celeriac and burnt leek ash and hogget tartare with ramson and Old Winchester cheese arrived at the table. It was apparent from the first bite that James really knows how to use ingredients. The way he manages to encapsulate savoury, sweet, salty, tangy and sharp into almost every bite is admirable. James’ creativity continued in the form of a leek & sunflower seed offering. Delicate, creamy and beautifully presented, its flavours, although simple, had impressive depth. Nothing overcomplicated here; just a really tasty dish that I could have eaten 10 times over. The chestnut dish was intense - in a good way! Soft to the bite, it was served with fermented tomato, mustard and puffed rice for additional texture. Again, the sharp, sweet, savoury balance here was just perfection.

Next up was one of the most interesting dishes of the evening. A bread course accompanied by a nicely matched amber ale. A brioche and Japanese milk hybrid, glazed in thyme vinegar and honey, was served with butter and a bowl of cream to dip. You could see the puzzled faces around the room. At the end of the evening, James revealed that the sauce was made up of kelp, which had been roasted, infused into water, then reduced down to get a salty/umami stock. This had then been mixed with reduced cream. The result: a clever, creative and downright exceptional dish. More cream up next. And kelp. Potatoes cooked in kelp stock, blended with cream and butter, then aerated and whipped to create a light but flavour-packed dish. Cabbage roasted in plenty of butter and folded throughtwo classic British ingredients complementing each other nicely.

James admitted the dishes here are small. “Chips and curry sauce across the road for afters if you’re still hungry,” he jokingly said in his introduction. Needless to say, no such ‘afters’ were required. You’re paying £65pp here, not £165. Given the skill involved, and complexity of flavours, the price is not to be argued with.

Accompanied by a Slovakian wine - made with two red and one white grape - came the final savoury dish: Hogget loin and hogget belly, cooked for 24 hours, pressed, then topped with James’ version of furikake, made with onion and thyme. The sharp pickled ramson gel made a welcome return alongside a creamy sauce made from fermented onions and quince kosho. Another perfectly executed dish. The food here is truly exceptional.

The first dessert, whilst almost exactly replicating the taste of an apple pie, couldn’t have been further from it in terms of substance. Liquid nitrogen is used. So is apple, cream and lacto koji. Another fine showcase of James’ increasingly enviable skillset and culinary precision. “I wish I could cook like this,” I said to my partner.

Hats off to Joe and sommeliere Jo for choosing such great pairings. I ended with a cocktail; a sharp and super-tasty mix of sea buckthorn, Whitchurch lemongrass and Shropshire apple brandy.

Titled Sake Lees/Black Apple Vinegar, the final dish was probably the most sophisticated of them all. Sake Lees is the byproduct of sake production, which is usually thrown away. Here, James makes it into ice cream. To create the vinegar, he slow-cooks apples for six weeks at 60°, then juices them. Both elements - which, yes, you guessed it, boast a mix of sweet, savoury and umami flavours - are combined with burnt white chocolate crumb and milk crisps. Light in texture yet indulgent in taste, it was an experience that I’ll remember for some time.

Wild Shropshire exceeded my expectations. Not because those expectations weren’t high, they absolutely were - you don’t get yourself a mention in the Michelin guide three years in a row if the standard isn’t abovepar - but rather because every aspect married up so nicely. The spectacular food & drink, intimate and relaxed setting, personable, knowledgable and welcoming staff, and of course the soundtrack, all played a part in making it a faultless dining experience from beginning to end.

Lauren Foster

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Wild Shropshire

25 Green End Whitchurch

SY13 1AD

Tel: 07766 685076

Food news from across the region...

La Mer Rouge takes over Shrewsbury pub

The owners of seafood & Mediterranean restaurant La Mer Rouge are taking over The Coach & Horses pub in Shrewsbury. The venue is currently undergoing a small refurbishment. The new owners have confirmed that they will be offering classic British cuisine with a modern twist, Sunday lunches, and local real ales, ciders and lagers. Sports will also be shown on screens. The opening date is yet to be announced.

Travelling food festival visiting Tettenhall

Brand-new travelling food festival Dine N Devour visits Tettenhall this month. Taking place on Saturday 13 & Sunday 14 May at Upper Green, the free-toattend event features a range of street food, artisan stalls, live bands and DJs.

Shrewsbury restaurant makes ‘kids eat free’ offer permanent

Shrewsbury restaurant The Beefy Boys has made its ‘kids eat free’ offer permanent, to help with the cost-ofliving crisis.

The offer is available from 3pm to 6.30pm Monday to Friday.

For every adult burger & fries (or side) ordered, customers can have one free meal from the kids’ menu.

The Beefy Boys use 100% Hereford beef in their burgers, which are made fresh every day.

Digbeth Dining Club to tour West Midlands this summer

Event specialists Digbeth Dining Club (DDC) have unveiled details of their summer tour around the West Midlands.

The tour runs until September and visits some of the most idyllic settings across Birmingham, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Wolverhampton and the Black Country. Traders taking part include the award-winning Greidy’s, Beef On The Block and Fat Snags. Resident DJs and special guests will also be in attendance.

Commenting on the tour, DDC co-founder Jack Brabant said: “For 11 years we have grown and expanded our offering to make the events that

Ludlow Spring Festival returns this month

Ludlow Spring Festival makes a welcome return this month, taking place at the Shropshire town’s Rugby Club from 12 to 14 May.

The popular event brings together over 60 food & drink producers, more than 100 real ales, 100 classic vehicles and live music.

Visitors can both buy and sample food & drink from an array of producers, including cheese mongers, bakers, sausage makers, winemakers, chocolatiers and creators of delicious ice cream! Panic Family Circus will be on hand to keep the kids entertained. Tickets for the event are available via ludlowspringfestival.co.uk we put on as accessible as possible for as many people as we can. This year is no exception, taking in more sites and hopefully delivering fun to even more people across the region.

“We go where the people are, and the new sites - Sutton, Sandwell and Bearwood - came off the back of public requests. So we spoke to the people in charge of the sites, and we all agreed it was a good idea to explore these and give people what they want.”

For full event listings and to buy tickets for any of DDC’s summertime stop-offs, pay a visit to: digbethdiningclub.com

by Diane Parkes