The austerity-hit council's decision to stop funding the arts is a calamity for a city whose rich contribution to the UK – from the Rep, the Royal Ballet and Tolkien to heavy metal and the Streets – is such a vital source of civic pride

The Birmingham Rep altered the course of Britain’s cultural history. Opened in 1913 by the dramatist Billie Lester, the company’s ambition to champion formally innovative work and new writing attracted the likes of Laurence Olivier, who joined in 1926. The Rep hosted British premieres of works by Anton Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy. The current theatre building is one of Birmingham’s finest examples of mid-century architecture – designed and built in 1971 by Graham Winteringham, its glossy, futuristic front conceals an interior that still carries the excitement of an airport departure lounge in the early days of flight. But today, the fate of the building and its activity hangs in the balance. Closure is possible, with funding from local government to be withdrawn completely by 2025. The theatre’s artistic director, Rachael Thomas, tells me that the situation is dire, “a microcosm for the hollowing out of civic life that is taking place across the city”.

Birmingham city council declared itself in effect bankrupt in 2023. Austerity measures imposed by the Conservative government had finally created an intolerable climate for one of the largest local authorities in Europe. Due to an enormous funding deficit, cuts of £300m are planned to take place over the next two years, including reduced waste collections and dimmed street lighting. All funding to local arts organisations, including the Rep, Ikon Gallery and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, will be scrapped by 2025, with a 50% reduction already imposed this year. The decision has been condemned by figures such as Birmingham Royal Ballet’s director, Carlos Acosta, the musician Actress, members of Duran Duran and Napalm Death, and Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, among many others.

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The term evokes cosiness, affordability and community. But it’s being used as a cynical marketing ploy

What makes a neighbourhood restaurant? The phrase itself is evocative, bringing to mind the types of local trattorias or ocakbaşları or tavernas that punters return to regularly. The definition might vary from person to person, but surely a neighbourhood restaurant is defined by some combination of its longevity in the community, an accessible feel and affordable prices.

Over the past six months, though, I have seen the “neighbourhood restaurant” label deployed constantly in PR emails previewing a very different sort of establishment. The aim, I imagine, is to evoke a sense of cosiness and community – but there’s something off about it.

Lauren O’Neill is a culture writer

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Young people are slowly stopping attending Dalston mosque that could be forced to accept developers’ offers, says owner

Nestled among the kebab shops, Caribbean takeaways and flashy new-build flats in Dalston, north-east London, sits the UK’s first Turkish mosque. Like many things built by and for the deep-rooted communities in this heavily gentrified part of London, it is fighting for survival.

“Our bills have tripled, costs to maintain the building have soared and we are not collecting enough money,” said Erkin Güney, 59, who runs and owns Masjid Ramadan, also known as the Shacklewell Lane mosque. He said the mosque could be forced to close its doors by next Ramadan.

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Campaign to save UK’s oldest working cinema and designate Station Street ‘a historic asset’ launched amid redevelopment plans

There are growing calls to protect a street in Birmingham that was home to the UK’s first purpose-built repertory theatre, a pub that hosted Black Sabbath’s first gig and the country’s oldest working cinema, with two of the three venues now closed down.

The closure last week of the Electric cinema on Station Street, 114 years after it opened its doors as the first movie theatre in the city, has prompted outrage among residents and claims that it could become a victim of cultural vandalism.

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Residents were shocked when Tower Hamlets council shuttered a much-loved resource in the gentrifying area

In the summer of 1896 work was completed on a groundbreaking public laundry in London’s east end, part of what is thought to be the first-ever social housing estate.

The communal facilities to wash clothes on the estate evolved over the decades but have now been abruptly halted by the local council who have closed down the community launderette.

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The west London hotspot is famed for its bohemian, Afro-Caribbean character but, having lived through many changes already, locals are worried about plans for Portobello market

She was only a girl, standing in front of a boy asking him to love her, but would Anna Scott and William Thacker recognise the Notting Hill that exists today, 25 years on from their fictional meet-cute?

Parts of the west London district in which the film was set were down at heel and bohemian – a far cry from much of today’s Notting Hill, where it was revealed this week residents received more in capital gains from 2015 to 2019 than the combined populations of Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle.

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Aysen Dennis, who accused Southwark council of ‘social cleansing’, continues court challenge over Aylesbury estate plans

The bulldozers will soon be out for the south London council flat that was Aysen Dennis’s home for 30 years. After leading a fierce battle against the council and developers, claiming their plans to fill much of her estate with private homes amounted to “social cleansing”, she has finally moved.

Dennis, 65, has been relocated to a swanky new flat in a development bought back by Southwark council. She claims it paid £690,000 for her ninth-floor flat with panoramic views of the park – and is convinced it was an attempt to shut her up before a legal challenge.

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#Toulouse : Communiqué de soutien au squat de l’avenue de fronton

https://iaata.info/Communique-de-soutien-au-squat-de-l-avenue-de-fronton-4636.html

A propos de #squat et de l’affaire « Roland » : #Solidarité de classe contre toutes les expulsions ! : https://iaata.info/A-propos-du-squat-route-de-Fronton-et-de-l-affaire-Roland-Solidarite-de-classe-4632.html

“Les médias justifient la création de petite milices fascistes ravis de se montrer en sauveur des pauvres gens. Ils savent bien quelle violence leur campagne peut entraîner et s’en ravissent, ça fera du clic sur leurs torchons !”

N’est pas sans rappeler l’affaire “Maryvonne” en 2015 à Rennes : https://www.liberation.fr/societe/2015/05/08/maryvonne-la-proprietaire-delogee-par-des-squatteurs-qui-excite-l-extreme-droite_1299214/

#logement #lutte #urbanisme #gentrification #précarité #HauteGaronne #extrêmeDroite #LaDépêche #milice #harcèlement #social #société #politique

How do you open a bar in a rapidly gentrifying area without feeling like part of the problem?

A cheer erupts at Sydney’s newest music venue, though there’s no band playing. It’s opening night at the Great Club in Marrickville, a bar and venue with a post-Covid capacity of 300, but management has decided to soft launch with a handpicked group of neighbours, local politicians and members of the Greek-Australian community.

The people, that is, who it is wise to keep on-side if a venue in a residential area is to thrive. In Sydney, especially, where noise complaints from residents carry undue weight. “As soon as we signed the lease,” says the Great Club’s director, Alison Avron, “we were like ‘We’ve got to get an acoustic report. We’ve got to get the neighbours on side’.”

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