Small but significant improvements that the Custard Factory should make..?
The Custard Factory in Birmingham has become a bit of a joke. It’s looking run-down, and suggests no-one really cares anymore about promoting it as a vibrant space, and no-one really goes there (except for loud music at weekends).
Simon Gray just tweeted a small but important change that would vastly improve accessibility for visitors:
“My advice to the custard factory, btw – a big sign in the window saying ‘reception’ would be a massive bonus for visitors…”
And that’s just one thing that would make a big difference: I’m sure there are many more. I think it’s high time we compiled a list of little but important changes that could be made, and then lobby for them to happen.
So if you have any please add them in the comments below.
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Make it obvious where it is? Looking over from afar you can see cool buildings and colours.
But when you are up close, you can just walk by, it’s an alleyway.
I too have got confused by the lack of obvious reception,
Perhaps some clear signage showing what is where?
A real cash machine, y’know, one that goes in the wall and doesn’t charge you half of your withdrawal? That’d be nice.
There should always be a place to get decent food at any time during the working day. Yumm’s great but it closes at 3, and the Kitchen does rotten food and only seem to open when whoever’s on that day crawls out of bed. Oh, and they never have any Coke.
And I’m sure we’d all be happy with toilets that aren’t dripping in disease!
A big welcome sign near the entrance on Digbeth High Street with a list of all businesses (a la industrial estate, but a bit cooler and more creative obviously).
Also a massive, welcoming archway over the entrance, like the Carnaby Street one, perhaps. Sure someone creative could come up with something stunning.
Anything to make people realise that there is a whole lot of stuff going on behind the scaffolding and small pedestrian entrance to the site.
For starters the ‘boardwalk’ around the pool is in serious disrepair and i saw some poor woman get her stilletto caught down in it only last week, it’s a lawsuit waiting to happen. Thing is i don’t reckon it’s that expensive a job to sort out so it appears priorities might be askew. It also needs a sign on Digbeth High Street, the amount of times i’ve been standing right outside it and had people enquire it’s whereabouts is laughable.
A nice sign halfway down the high street encouraging you to keep going to get to the Custard Factory. When the Custard Factory was used as a venue for artsfest a couple of years ago a number of people said that although it’s only 600 steps from the bull ring the Custard Factory feels further away.
When you advertise the flea market, make sure it happens.
Decent strength free wifi would be great.
There’s ALWAYS a big van parked right in front of the main entrance to the courtyard when I go. I know they have to unload stuff somewhere but it obscures what limited visual lead-in there is. If they improved the signage at street level or spruced up the alley it might not be such an issue, but as it is…
Oh yes, and the toilets actually made my four-year-old cry.
The toilets make grown men cry, the maintenance try their best but typically after a weekend allnighter the doors are broken/hanging off, paper holders smashed, lights/driers damaged, etc…Again, plenty of room for improvement if they want public footfall.
The Custard Factory just feels quite neglected these days. There seems to be no obvious effort put into the premises or the community.
Nicer toilets, I know it’s been said but it needs saying twice. I remember going to the loo at Space2 in Supersonic that had no lock or bog roll, my feet were in a deep puddle and water was dripping onto my head from a leak in the roof. It was possibly the worst wee I’ve ever had.
Mark’s suggested a cashpoint – is there some sort of weird law that means they’re not allowed in Digbeth unless they charge you £1.50?
More tenant care and attention. Some tenants I’ve spoken seem to have felt rather neglected of late. There was talk of weekly socials and a tenant newsletter and the like to try and reinforce a sense of community, has that happened? They need to invest in helping that community develop, it’s one of the key things that’s meant to set the Custard Factory apart from other studio-type spaces.
A big noticeboard (with a little cover to stop the rain) near reception which would be free for everyone to post stuff on, events, lost cats, specials at Yum etc, oh and you could even put a map on it, so people could find their way around digbeth…
I actually worked for the Custard Factory for a while so had a bit of an insight into this stuff, though I don’t anymore and am certainly not representing them so anything I say should be taken with a huge pinch of salt. And, of course, it’s all my own opinion. And so on.
There are a couple of issues here. The first is that all the attention and money has been piled onto new developments, specifically Fazeley Studios and Devonshire House (currently covered in scafolding and due to open later this year, I think). They are, I believe, very aware that the old Custard Factory doesn’t compare well to these new spaces (not to mention other competition emerging such as the Rhubarb building next door) and that sorting it out will be the next project.
Devonshire House should help with some of the obscurity issues as it’ll be on the main street and provide a new entry point to the complex. It’ll all be all new and shiny and lovely. This is in effect a transitional period for the complex and will be kinda messy and awkward. (At this point you can invoke the “difficult economic climate” if you wish too).
But the main issue, and this is definitely my own opinion, is the use of the venue as a nightclub and the management of the Factory Club and The Kitchen. The business seems to be geared completely towards night time events meaning there’s no impetus to run a decent daytime service. Given Yumm and the Old Crown are doing great business there’s no excuse for FC and Kitchen to be rubbish during the day unless the business model isn’t geared in that direction. The same goes for Space2 which seems to be used more for nightclub events which push it’s service ethos in that direction (get them pissed and they won’t care what the toilets / service are like).
This dominance of nighclub activities also affects the daytime ambience of the complex. I don’t know if you’ve seen a nightclub when the lights come up but it’s not a pretty site. The state of the Custard Factory is partly due to neglect but also because it’s been filled with drunk teenagers every weekend.
That said, I understand the clubbing is being limited from now on. The pool won’t be drained except for significant events (ie Supersonic) and Factory Events night will mostly happen in Space2. If the club nights are completely moved away from the CF complex (into a new space like Air on Heath Mill Lane) and the site is given a bit of attention, this coupled with the opening of Devonshire House should go a long way to making things better.
Like I said, my opinion based on things I’ve heard, some over a year ago. I could be very wrong about any “facts” in there.
When I first moved to Birmingham a few years ago there was talk of the Custard Factory being this amazing, vibrant and creative space. The reality hit me on my first visit. No decent cafe’s, no where nice to sit outside if the weather is good, no wi fi and the toilets – I wont even go into that!
I now work in the Custard Factory and it seems more and more tenants are leaving in favour of Fazeley Street and places in the Jewellery Quarter. It can actually be embarassing when clients arrive for meetings and suggest having lunch somewhere nearby and you then have to tell them there isnt anywhere.
Yes, there is Yumm which has great food and friendly service but they are now often so busy there is a huge queque going out the door. The Kitchen isnt worth bothering with- in the Winter its cold and the food is consistently poor. Rootys was great when it was around, I’d often see friendly faces down there working away on their laptops but now that building is just a shell of its former glory.
What the Custard Factory needs is a real sense of community – tenants should be able to get to know each other in a relaxed environment, I remember getting emails about the Newsletter but as far as I know nothing has ever happened. High Tea like what they have at Fazeley is a brilliant idea.
At the moment the Custard Factory looks sad and tired, it isnt vibrant and creative – it feels abandoned and cold. That’s the saddest thing, the potential for the space is great yet it has been overlooked and indeed, neglected.
Try opening shops weekdays, I’m fed up of walking all the way down there for nothing. Image isn’t averything, it draws you in then frequently fails to live up to expectations.
I’m not even sure it draws you in..!
I’m not even sure there’s an image…
I’m so pleased someone started this discussion because the Custard Factory drives me bonkers.
Working there can be something of a nightmare, particularly from an organisational point of view.
The toilets…are interesting. What might help ever so slightly is if they turned the lights off and shut the windows at night, then I wouldn’t have to wee with moths watching. I can think of several occasions when there’s no toilet roll for days, so it’s quite obvious they’re not regularly cleaned. There have also been numerous times when they leak!
At the moment with the building work on it’s something of a health hazard, particularly the car parks which are being used as a building site/storage facility for the builders. The lorries, vans and cars in the lane do make it dangerous particularly of a morning.
For what I once heard was the ‘largest arts centre in Europe’ it’s extremely bad at being at the forefront of global issues. We’ve no recycling scheme, not even for paper. Accessibility is quite frankly, shocking. I have found people trapped in the lift. I have seen two people using the stairs with crutches because the lifts are out of order.
While I do like the changing nature of the Custard Factory, pond by day, stage by night, it does create chaos. They decided to put on a rock concert for under 18s during the middle of the working day, which we didn’t receive any warning for. We also couldn’t make any phone calls, or even hear each other and basically lost a day’s time working. Plus they don’t seem to make any repairs after the event.
Some members of staff are less than helpful. There seems to be a new person on reception (aside from Frankie who is an absolute treasure) every two weeks. We’ve missed deliveries because they haven’t told us we have to sign for something. I visited the Kitchen once and I’ll never go back because the member of staff in there was rude and unhelpful. Organisationally they regularly phone us tenants and ask us how much we’re meant to be paying, it takes forever to get a reply or to get something signed by them. And it really does wind me up that there is no sense of community between organisations – I’d love to know who else is in that building and what they do, and if we can work with them!
While I’ve said all this, I do love coming to work and part of that reason is because of the Custard Factory, there’s a certain charm about it (to me) that makes it very different from working somewhere corporate and I do appreciate that. But it could be so much more and I think that’s what annoys me so much.
Maybe there is one and I just haven’t noticed it, but it would be nice to have some kind of notice board / tenants list somewhere prominent that would serve to advertise the kind of creative industries that do still use the Custard Factory and that it’s supposed to be supporting and promoting. When you stand in the courtyard it just seems like a derelict space and gives very little sense that anything’s going on within. I’d love to know who’s based there and what they do.
Re: community Emma makes a good point, working in the ‘frontline’ retail bits it’s pretty easy to know who everyone. Once you’re inside it’s like a rabbit warren of anonymous doors which i imagine is not very welcoming for newcomers and visitors. Maybe some sort of floor plan would be in order, hopefully Devonshire house will have a more open plan design. The point about daytime events is also valid, that particular day (as well as others) did affect the Genral Store’s business as casual visitors and regulars has issues gaining access.
I suggested and designed a four-storey archway built of light a few years ago for the junction of Gibb Street and Digbeth High Street/Deritend. The archway had space to list retail outlets. I also suggested a cheap advertising campaign and a website – b94aa.com – to go with it. But the money wasn’t available.
Steve, how much would it have cost?
The ad campaign – around £20K to £30k. Very low-key. The gateway – around £80k: we would have looked for sponsorship from the electricity companies in return for preferential access to the businesses in the Custard Factory.
I don’t work there so I’m possibly being very naïve, but Is it something that CF businesses could do themselves? Club together to meet, say, half the cost, and use that to find match funding?
I think part of the problem is that not all businesses stay there. You wouldn’t want to make that investment when you probably won’t be there forever.
I’ve heard a lot of rumours about Devonshire House and to be honest I hope some of them are true. I was told a few months ago the intention was to put in a bistro, more places to eat and turn one of the bars in the current set up into a jazz bar. As someone who lives in Digbeth, that’d be brilliant. Like I said though they’re just rumours and I suppose that’s half the problem, even as tenants we don’t know what the intentions are for the new building.
Oooh and I just remembered there was talk of shops and florists and things.
And can I just mention that the car park – whilst just right in so many ways has a disproportionately hardline clamping company on it – working for the Custard Factory and really there must be a better, more creative (meetings sometimes go over) way of running it…
This reminded me to look a the list I created a year ago on this topic. I didn’t so much have a problem with the Custard Factory bit (except the newsagents/cashpoint stuff), rather it’s lack of connectedness to the centre.
I thought there’d be more tension in these comments around the potential of creeping gentrification to spoil CF’s unique atmosphere. When I worked there I enjoyed the serendipity of bumping into folk I knew or at least half-knew. As busy and (way) more vibrant as the JQtr is lacks CF’s village feel.
As I wrote elsewhere:
“The Custard Factory feels like a place that is incomplete, like someone started to gentrify it and then gave up, realising it was just too far from the centre of Brum for most people to bother with it. That’s what I quite like about it.”
I’m not sure the Custard Factory even has that now. It certainly feels like a wasteland when I go in at Sunday lunchtime, or during a weekday. Occasionally lost people come in asking for shops that no longer exist or a flea market that’s been advertised but doesn’t materialise. I agree that a year or so a go the Custard Factory had a bit of charm, but I don’t find that any more.
some of the above should be tackled by the council’s curious ‘digital digbeth’ initiative. I understand that they have some ERDF money which is best spent on physical infrastructure improvements (signs, arches, mobile phone masts, possibly cash machines). Can Dave Harte enlighten us on how to access this before he leaves?
I had a surreal lunch meeting in the Kitchen the other week – i couldn’t work out whether is was more Acorn Antiques or Fawlty Towers, the food (chicken burger) seemed to come from a Ramsay kitchen nightmare.
There’s something wrong about car parks that don’t allow you to pay _afterwards_ — it’s almost like they want you to overpay or get clamped. It’s rare more that one of the machines in there is working either.
I emailed Bennie Gray about this discussion, who replied almost immediately with:
‘good idea lots imminent in the pipeline words on screen within a few days’
So I suppose we watch the Custard Factory space for news to come!
@willperrin – I’m not at heart of Digital District project but I know there is a plan to bid for ERDF Priority 3 (Sustainable Urban development) but application at early stage I think. It’s likely to be targeted on improvements to digital infrastructure rather than other aspects of on-street infrastructure.
This particular ERDF ‘package’ covers the Eastside area and A34/A41 corridor – Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, Springfield, Hall Green, Robin Hood, Tyseley/Greet, Highgate Road, Ladypool Road, Stoney Lane, Montgomery Street, Golden Hillock Road, South Yardley, Stechford, Yardley North, Shard End. It’s managed by Birmingham’s ERDF team.
If you want to lobby somone for the kind of infrastructure improvements you suggest then the East Birmingham North Solihull Regeneration Zone people are a good place to start. As they’ve at the heart of the process of regenerating this area for quite some time I’m surprised they haven’t tackled some of these issues before. Maybe they weren’t aware of the concerns cited here?
We are involved in the some of the event spaces at the Custard Factory (Space 2 and Old Library) and with a particular interest in corporate and daytime events.
We often struggle to sell the site and compete in the market on the Custard Factory’s profile as a ‘creative hub’ and on keeping our prices keen. We are in the process of investing around £100,000 in the 2 venues. This includes Space 2 toilets, which have been woefully inadequate since the we took the space on 18 months ago.
I can’t really discuss specific issues with the site in an open forum but I agree a lot of focus and investment has been in Devonshire House and Fazeley Studios over the past year or so and there has been many changes in senior management of the Custard Factory, which have compounded many issues including maintenance and investment in Scott House.
One of our main focuses is on the daytime economy at Custard Factory and we have an exciting project starting at the end of October, which will be announced on Wednesday. This will have a large marketing and communications budget and should attract a lot more visitors to the Custard Factory during the day.
We will be faced with all of the issues mentioned above but we are meeting regularly with the Custard Factory to try and address some of these including signage, general cleanliness, facilities and parking.
As Pete said there are plans afoot move the focus of the lakeside area away from night time events, but it should be noted, in my opinion that the Medicine Bar / Factory Club has hightened the profile of the Custard Factory and provided income for the site albeit at a cost.
I believe that Devonshire House (which is being renamed allegedly) is opening early 2010. Ever the optimist I hope that the opening will firstly add a new buzz to the place that has been missing for a while, mean that investment can resume in Scott House and new shops and cafes on the ground floor will increase the attraction of the site to a critical mass that will lead to a positive loop of more facilities attract more daytime visitors, which will attract more businesses and so on…or perhaps I am just a sanguine fool.
I just like to say sorry to William perrin for his poor chicken burger and anyone else who has had a bad experience in the cf Kitchen
My name is Steven and I run Pukka Nosh Catering and took over the CF kitchen back in May.
On the menu I tried to keep the prices low and offer value for your money. If anyone who like to suggest any food items they would like to see on the menu please let me know it would be really appreciated
This Friday we have an offer on Fresh Beer batter Giant Fish goujons and chips £3.50
If you would like to know more about the chef in the cf Kitchen please have a look at http://www.pukkanosh.com
Steven, thanks for commenting. Sorry it took a while to appear here (just me being busy and forgetting to check). I hope that people will take you up on the offer to suggest menu items.
I can see why Medicine Bar/Factory Club are there and I understand the concept of using these to generate income to support the business. I use to work for an arts organisation in Glasgow that did exactly the same thing. The difference is that they recognised the building has to be maintained. As staff at The Arches (Glasgow) we used to use the nightclub toilets during the daytime as they’re the closest to our offices but they were always absolutely pristine. It sounds like such a tiny insignificant thing, and it is in a sense, but I think it’s representative of the site as a whole. It’s degenerated to a point where it now doesn’t serve the purpose it was intended for.
As for generating footfall. We hold an awful lot of meetings off site because the Custard Factory isn’t accessible. We arrange a lot of events off site because the Custard Factory isn’t accessible. I’m surprised really that the Custard Factory haven’t looked more at expanding the rate of return from businesses within its walls, not just outside it.
Even by nightclub standards the toilets are disgusting. CF aren’t the only digbeth venue to share this problem either. I really don’t enjoy queuing up in a narrow corridor for half an hour, strategically stepping over puddles/wet toilet paper/sick, squeezing into a tiny (occasionally unlit) cubicle and then having to do some kind of amazing balancing act squatting over a filthy/non-existant loo seat and holding the door shut at the same time. Then there’s never any toilet paper….
Have been in plenty of other clubs elsewhere of the same ilk that manage to keep things much more pleasant, even pristine throughout the evening. Is it really that difficult?