Custard Factory

The Custard Factory is an arts and media centre located in Birmingham, England ().

=Development=

==Phase one==

It is set in five acre (20,000 m²) of industrial factories, originally constructed by Sir Alfred Bird, the inventor of instant custard. At one time, a thousand people worked at the factory, making Bird s Custard. After the company s departure, the buildings were redeveloped in 1990.

Phase one is now home to a community of hundreds of media companies, artists and small creative enterprises. There are around 200 studio workshops, a café, a retro antique shops, meeting rooms, dance studios, holistic therapy rooms, a small art gallery in the foyer, a record shop, sculpture (a huge iron dragon crawls up the exterior of the Medicine Bar), and intricate fountains with a central pool area which is sometimes emptied to allow for dance music events. The Medicine Bar has provided a stage for many musicians, DJ s and rappers, and for the Air nightclub which hosts the house music event God s Kitchen.

==Phase two==

The second phase - originally named The Greenhouse , but often called the more businesslike Gibb Square - completed in 2002, is focussed on new media and media businesses. It includes a hundred studio/offices, a ring of poolside shops, galleries and restaurants plus the Green Man, a 40ft-high (12m) sculpture contining the tradition of the Green Men of Birmingham.

==Future plans==

There are many plans for the future Custard Factory. The student flats, cybercafe, 24-hour access, and a creche - all promised for the first phase - have yet to materialise. Currently promised are a luxury hotel and apartments, a riverside walk and new bridge over the River Rea, and an exhibition centre.

=Co-located media training=

The presence of the Custard Factory has enticed two media training agencies to locate nearby. The old Trades Union Studies Centre, very near, is now a media and arts annexe of South Birmingham College. In 2005, the VIVID media centre has moved from the Jewellery Quarter to a site very near the Custard Factory.

About 800 yards away from the Factory is the new Progress Works complex, opened in 2005 as part of the Custard Factory quarter, on Heath Mill Lane.

=Location=

It is in the industrial suburb of Digbeth, about a half-mile from the city centre. Parking is limited in the narrow backstreets around the Factory.

==Nearby attractions==

Nearby is the Old Crown, Birmingham, a half-timbered building dating from the 1400s. Also nearby is the Digbeth Coach Station, Birmingham s main coach travel station, and the Birmingham Irish Centre.

=External links=

[http://www.custardfactory.com/ Custard Factory site]