Our neighbours in Stirchley have an exciting new initiative that we thought worth sharing with you:

South Birmingham is fast becoming a hotbed for grassroots food activities. An exciting new partnership between Birmingham City Council’s Town Centre Partnerships, local arts group Stirchley Happenings, South Birmingham Food Co-op and local cookery school and community bakery Loaf, is now about to add a vibrant community market in the city suburb of Stirchley to that melting pot.

The market joins local stalwarts such as the multi-award winning Moseley Farmers Market, Leverton & Halls organic cafe and Birmingham’s first organic butcher Rossiters in Bournville, in helping Birmingham’s grassroots food scene punch it’s own weight with the likes of Manchester, Bristol and London.

Stirchley Community Market, which launches on Tuesday the 27th July with it’s first market outside Stirchley United Working Mens Club on the Pershore Road (map) from 4-8pm, will feature stalls selling wholefoods, bread, hot Bangladeshi food, wood-fired pizza, artisan preserves, afro-caribbean produce, cupcakes, local fruit and vegetables, and local arts and crafts. The market will give the local community, as well as commuters on their way home from work, an opportunity to find out what Stirchley has to offer, meet some excellent food producers and craft makers from within Birmingham, and pick up some tasty groceries for their weekly shop.

The market has been established by individuals who live and work in and around Stirchley, so it will have a strong community feel to it, and several of the businesses attending the market operate as social businesses. Nancy Langfeldt the founder of South Birmingham Food Co-op, who will be selling wholefoods and store cupboard items at the market, said “Stirchley Community Market is a great opportunity for the Food Co-op to start selling directly to the public, and a brilliant chance for people to come down to Stirchley after work or school to enjoy some hot food, ethical shopping and community spirit!”

Stirchley has a long history as a place of interest, having formerly been a vibrant and important shopping centre for Cadbury’s workers, and the birthplace of the Midlands Cooperative Society. Despite suffering a similar fate to many suburban high streets in the recent economic downturn, Stirchley still offers a unique mix of independent shops and now a vibrant monthly market. Town Centre Manager for Stirchley, Cotteridge, and Selly Oak Matthew Powell said “a local community market is great news for Stirchley, and will support existing local businesses trying to promote Stirchley as a unique shopping destination”

The market will take place on the 4th Tuesday of the month from 4-8pm in July, August, and September 2010.

More information on Stirchley Community Market can be found on their website http://stirchleycommunitymarket.wordpress.com. Stirchley Community Market can be contacted on stirchleycommunitymarket@yahoo.co.uk