by It has become an area of Birmingham city center known for violent crime after a series of worrying incidents in recent years.
Dale End has been a hotbed of lawlessness and anti-social behaviour. A gun was fired outside a coffee shop earlier this year and store managers are still talking about two teenagers who were stabbed on the street in 2018. And, unfortunately, there are many more chilling incidents.
According to the latest crime figures from the police ADT, in the last 12 months, 268 violent crimes have been reported in and around the Dale End area. There have also been 54 incidents of antisocial behavior and 98 public order crimes reported.
The area was once known for its McDonald’s restaurant, which became a center of gang violence with reports of mass fights and stabbings. But this Maccie D’s has since been demolished and torn down in 2022 amid the city’s continued development.
However, although the fast food chain was a source of crime in Dale End, there are some business owners in the area who mourn its loss and say it also helped attract customers to the area.
The demolition of the former Dale End McDonalds has made way for the expansion of Birmingham Eastside Underground, but the area still looks derelict. Some shops on the town center street have also closed their doors in recent months, but some shops remain open in Dale End.
I hit the streets Monday afternoon (November 20) to talk to business owners about life in one of the city’s downtown crime hotspots.
The city center was vibrant when I arrived on Monday, and the German market once again brought more business to the center. But as I left the bustling High Street and turned into Dale End, you immediately realized that it is one of the quieter shopping areas in central Birmingham. The area, which is located almost below The Square shopping centre, certainly looks run down, and I suspected that the fact that the street is not so easy on the eyes was not helping the businesses in the area.
A little further up the road is the popular Forum music venue and the large HMV store, which replaced the old Ikea in 2019. But it’s the range of independent businesses located on the left side of the street, opposite the High Street tram. park, who have experienced antisocial behavior and violence recently.
The Peaky Blinder pub, later renamed The Garrison, opened in Dale End almost a decade ago, but the venue was closed and eerily empty on Monday. After walking along the street, which is home to shops such as Ocean Fish Bar, DFC Chicken and Long Nails, I instantly notice the closed shops, including the former Street UK store, which remains derelict.
I then walked into the Phone Giant Exchange phone store, where the owners told me that violence is still a big problem in the area and expressed concern about the lack of police presence.
The store’s owner, Mohammed Faisal, who runs the store with his brother, said BirminghamWorld: “We’ve been here for five years and the area used to have a large police presence, but there isn’t as much anymore. “Before Covid there was a big police presence, but now they will only come here if a major incident happens.”
Mohammed says the closure of McDonald’s has also had a detrimental impact on businesses in the area. “A lot of people said McDonald’s brought violence to the area, but it also brought us a lot of customers. Since it closed, it hasn’t been as good.”
He says businesses have also struggled post-Covid. “We have a lot of footsteps heading into Christmas,” Mohammed said. “But it has definitely decreased since Covid.” People’s priorities have changed with the rising cost of living. “Before we were doing very well, but Covid changed the nature of the business.”
I then walked into Dale End’s only cafe, Ngopi Coffee. The manager of the Indonesian coffee shop, which is a couple of doors from Phone Giant Exchange, had a particularly terrifying experience after violence spread to the store in July. He fired a gun at himself outside the cafe, before an off-duty police officer heroically began fighting with the gunman inside the Ngopi.
The officer bravely ran out of the store and attacked the gunman, managing to seize the firearm. CCTV footage even showed him restraining the man and keeping the gun out of his reach on the cafe counter until armed officers arrived minutes later.
Liam, one of the cafe managers, was working in the shop at the time when there were no customers in the shop. He told me, “There was a gunshot outside. At the time, I thought it was construction because it sounded like a metal machine falling, and then an off-duty officer came in. When the guy walked by, he grabbed him and they ended up here, basically fighting over the weapon”.
Despite the terrifying experience, Liam says those in the area still feel safe thanks to security outside the cafe. “There are some undesirables out there, but we have security in the area,” he said. “Some dodgy things have happened outside. There are also a lot of homeless people using the parking lot across the street. But there is always security, in addition to the security of the Square shopping center. I don’t think customers notice.” It’s too much. “They come to town and it turns out this is the dodgiest part of town.”
Scruffy Murphy’s rock bar is located on the corner of Dale End, within walking distance of the roadside shops. The indie rock bar has been in business for 20 years and has welcomed the likes of Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Noddy Holder and Motorhead’s Lemy as patrons over the years.
Bar manager Ollie Hunt said they are more than aware of the area’s reputation, but the impact of the pandemic has been the biggest problem for the business. “It’s not as good as before Covid, but we’re still here,” he told me. “Weekends aren’t what they were pre-Covid as everyone is a bit more aware, but in February we’ll be playing live music again.”
He says that crime in the area is not something that has affected them massively either. He said: “We see it, but generally it was the businesses a little further down the street that are no longer there where some of the problems occurred. This corner has a bit of a bad reputation because it’s technically Dale End, but all the problems “(crime) are never too close to this corner.”
Ollie said he has also noticed a decrease in antisocial behavior since McDonald’s closed its doors. “It was too far away for us to get any trades done, but it was a source of a lot of problems in this area.”
There is no denying that the area has been plagued by crime in recent years, but there are still a number of hard-working businesses in Dale End and doing everything they can to survive. The closure of the Dale End McDonald’s appears to have helped curb some of the violence in the area, but anti-social behavior and crime remain a concern for traders. It remains one of the most run-down areas of the city center and there is still much to be done to combat crime in the area.
West Midlands Police has been contacted for comment.
