Category archive for: Custard Factory

A video by Melinda Schwakhofer featuring music by Hang Playing Hedge Monkeys.

via Digbeth is Good.

News reaches me today that the Custard Factory theatre is going to be renamed The VAAD Theatre, taking the same name as the gallery on the other side of the lake, as part of a move to get some proper co-ordinated programming of events in there. Which is good, but what the hell does VAAD mean anyway?

Wikipedia tells us that a vaad is “a Hebrew term for a council of rabbis” but a little bird tells me the name is taken from 60’s gay slang. Strangely it didn’t come up in any searches but Hugh Young’s Lexicon of Polari has “varda” which other Polari guides also spell “vada” and which means to see or look. That makes sense for a gallery and theatre. Except we’re spelling it “vaad”. I guess the rest of the world is wrong then.

We’re getting a new food outlet to compliment Rooty’s and The Kitchen. Yumm Deli is opening here in late October and they’re looking for staff. Here’s the flyer with all the details.

Thanks to Tom at Substrakt for spotting this while playing with Google’s 2001 archive.

The Birmingham Post and Mail published a supplement today celebrating 100 Great Things About The West Midlands and put the Custard Factory at number 37:

The example they chose to represent the complex is Capsule’s Supersonic Festival which they describe thus:

Most established of these is Capsule, two switched on women, who constantly host nights of the world’s most cutting edge music and provide a platform for local bands. Capsule’s Supersonic Festival, held every July at the Custard Factory is a world-class event and perfectly sums up the whole Custard Factory Vibe.

The whole supplement is available to read online.

Dave Harte is moving jobs from Digbeth to the Jewellery Quarter and gives a ten point link-baiting report on the Custard Factory quarter. Here’s the headlines, reprinted without context:

1. Less galleries, more cafes.
2. Shut the Custard Factory newsagents.
3. Build another carpark.
4. Calm the traffic on Heath Mill Lane.
5. Make Fazeley Street the main route to Digbeth.
6. Signposts Please.
7. Start selling stuff people need.
8. Open a restaurant.
9. Move the bus stops outside Digbeth Cold Storage.
10. Gentrify/Don’t Gentrify - make your mind up.

For the rationales, and the opportunity to tell him he’s right or wrong, go check his blog. There’s some good stuff in the comments already.

Found in the archives, a promotional video made, I believe, by Maverick, promoting the Custard Factory in the mid-1990s, now uploaded to the Internets for your nostalgic pleasure.

Recognise anyone?