Pop-up Birmingham market showcases streetfood, art and music

Over 50 traders signed up to serve artisan food, beer and local art in the shadow of Selfridges.

The three young founders of a Birmingham streetfood business announced today they are staging the most exciting food, music, art and design festival ever to be held in the city.

The inaugural Spring Market will be held on Saturday 12th April 2014 from 12pm to 6pm at the Bond, the canal-side venue at Fazeley Street, Digbeth in the heart of Birmingham Arts Quarter. It will showcase a selection of the country’s most unusual food traders, arts and crafts specialists and live music in a stunning location less than a mile from Birmingham’s busy shopping district.

More than 50 hand-picked traders will serve a huge selection of food, including buffalo burgers in freshly baked brioche buns served from an Airstream caravan, homemade pies with elk and kangaroo fillings and award-winning coffee from a converted Morris Minor.

Birmingham-based artists and designers will also exhibit some their ground-breaking work and local DJs and musicians will perform indoors and outside.

The one thing all the exhibitors share is imagination, creativity and a sense of fun.  Today’s traders combine locally-sourced products with entrepreneurial flair to create street theatre for the 21st century.  Spring Market will bring the best of them together in one place for one day just as the weather starts to warm up and the long winter fades from memory.  The founders of Spring Market want to welcome the sun back to Birmingham by hosting a huge celebration and throwing a city centre party to which everyone’s invited.

Spring Market is being organised by the Bournville Waffle Company, which was set up in January 2013 by Jennifer Deeley, Paul Desmond and David Robinson, three friends from Birmingham who have become familiar faces on the UK’s burgeoning streetfood scene. Jennifer Deeley said: “We have been lucky enough to travel all over the country with the Bournville Waffle Company and we’ve sampled some incredible food, met some inspiring traders and heard some great music.  We came up with the idea for the Spring Market because we wanted to bring the best of them back home so Birmingham for everyone to enjoy.”

She added: “The response to Spring Market has been truly phenomenal. We have signed up some of the most exciting and exotic traders from across the country and we are hoping to attract thousands of visitors from across the city”.

Jennifer, Paul and David formed the Bournville Waffle Company in January 2013 after being inspired by memories of the waffles they ate as tasty snacks on childhood holidays in France. Since forming the company over a year ago, they have toured the country in their specially converted 1970s Mustang caravan called Sally, serving Waffles with bespoke new toppings including Rocky Road, Lemon Meringue and Banoffee Pie.

The Birmingham Waffle Company’s distinctive waffle van has become a familiar fixture at major music festival such as Festival Number 6 at Port Merion. It has also served waffles to appreciative crowds at Polo Matches, outdoor cinemas and local events including the Moseley Jazz Festival and the Moseley Folk Festival.