00:00The shutters came down overnight without warning, without fanfare.
00:04For Decayde's Prairie Square and the Oasis Market offered an alternative to the corporate high street.
00:10Independent traders, vintage fashion, record stalls, tattoo parlours.
00:14It was scruffy, yes, but also soulful.
00:18That soul has now been gutted.
00:20The official reason of higher safety, a recent assessment flagged critical risks
00:24and the cost of fixing them was libelled unreasonable.
00:27Some had been here for 30 years, no compensation, no relocation plan,
00:34just lockouts, unanswered emails and for some, a complete loss of livelihood.
00:39Their shops were more than just businesses, they were identities, meeting points, anchors.
00:46The site sits inside Martin U Gallery's regeneration zone,
00:49an already approved scheme promising luxury flats, office blocks and a glossy public square.
00:55Just a few hundred metres from the planned HS2 station.
01:00Coincidence may be, but to those pushed out, it feels like a stitch-up.
01:05A cultural space shut down on safety grounds, but conveniently positioned for demolition.
01:11The council says the fire risks left them no choice and technically they might be right.
01:16But legality isn't the same as fairness, and the silence from those in charge only deepens the mistrust.
01:24Birmingham says it's building for the future, but futures aren't built from scratch.
01:28They're built on what already exists, what already matters.
01:33Independent culture is being priced out, local voices sidelined, progress it seems comes at a cost,
01:40and this time it's a piece of Birmingham that's been quietly erased.
01:44WWI доступ right to the future.
01:46Which means 486.
01:47A
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