Digbeth residents complain of graffiti, fly-tipping and crime as regeneration continues

Mixed · 2Residents and workers in Digbeth, a district of Birmingham once described as "Britain's coolest neighbourhood", have complained of graffiti, fly-tipping and feeling unsafe, according to reports in the Daily Mail and the Daily Mirror on 4 October 2026. 1 2 Mixed · 2Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight opened a studio in Digbeth in October 2025, and the area has been named one of the best places to live by the Sunday Times and has received multi-million pound investment aimed at making it "better" than Salford's Media City. 1 2 Mixed · 2Natalie Freeman, 39, who works at the Custard Factory creative offices, said regeneration had been a "double-edged sword" that had "torn the heart out" of Digbeth, with smaller independent businesses moving out because of rising costs and parts of the area becoming run-down and dangerous at night. 1 2

Mixed · 2She said graffiti tagging, once street art, now goes unchecked, that rubbish is dumped constantly, and that money had been "pumped" into projects in a small radius; she also said she did not always feel safe at night and used the word "slum" for the rest of the district. 1 2 Mixed · 2An unnamed office worker said they would not let their daughters come into town and that Digbeth was "attracting the wrong crowd", while a resident named Jamie said the graffiti had "got out of hand" but that some places had been kept clean. 1 2 Mixed · 2The city's John F Kennedy mosaic, commissioned by Birmingham's Irish community and in place since 1968, was recently defaced, and photographs show graffiti on multiple buildings and dumped rubbish. 1 2

Mixed · 2Both papers recall violent deaths in the area: footballer Cody Fisher, 23, was stabbed to death at the Crane nightclub on Boxing Day 2022 and Remy Gordon and Kami Carpenter were convicted of his murder; Chinese national Jinming Zhang, 41, was killed in a flat earlier that year and his killer remains at large; and Ashley Day, 20, was stabbed at a flat party the previous year. 1 2 Mixed · 2Digbeth is in a 20-year regeneration programme meant to make it Birmingham's main creative and media hub across 11 development sites on 35 plots, launched in May 2025, and West Midlands Mayor Richard Parker has promised it will be "bigger, better and bolder" than Media City. 1 2 Mixed · 2The BBC is due to move into a new flagship HQ, The Tea Factory, part of a recently completed £69.3 million development; the Mail says this is next year and the Mirror says 2027. 1 2

Mixed · 2Birmingham City Council was approached for comment; the Mirror says it did not respond, and the Mail reports no response. 2 1