Nightclub Snobs set for another city centre move
Long-running indie club Snobs is moving down the road from its current Broad Street premises.
Nightclub Snobs is preparing for yet another move in the city centre.
Snobs will leave its current home on Broad Street on 17 September, relocating a short distance away to join sister bar Eimear's Irish Pub.
The long-running indie club has had several homes since it first opened in 1972. It moved to its present site in March 2024 after plans were announced to demolish the Ringway Centre and replace it with flats.
Wayne Tracey, who bought the nightclub in 2002, said there had been a redevelopment threat at the existing venue. "The stress of redevelopment again... I couldn't take the risk of trying to find another venue," he said.
Snobs left its home in Smallbrook Queensway in 2024 after the site was earmarked for redevelopment.
This will be the club's fourth move in its 54-year history. It was first forced to leave its original home, opposite Paradise Circus, in 2014 to make way for a hotel and apartments.
Ten years later, the nightclub relocated to the former Velvet Music Rooms on Broad Street.
The new venue will occupy three rooms across two floors in the old Players Bar. Its design will include features from the old club, with visitors entering at street level and then going downstairs past the famous wall of faces into the main room.
"The last time that we had to move from Smallwood Queensway, Snobs was very close to closing down altogether because I couldn't find anywhere to house anywhere of that size."
Wayne said the club's "heyday" was during its time at Paradise Circus, and he wants to recreate that atmosphere in the new location.
"The original Snobs [at] Paradise Circus, that's where my heart is."
The "Snobs faces" coming out of the walls has long been a hallmark of the club.
"I've done it every time that I've moved. I've tried to reproduce what everybody loves about Snobs, and yeah, I'll be bringing everything possible I can to make it feel like home again."
Snobs was opened by the Berrow brothers in the 70s and built a reputation as an indie venue, hosting the city's longest-running student night, Big Wednesday.
The venue has won over many of the people who have passed through its doors, with plenty meeting their partners there.
During the Coronavirus pandemic, Jordan Hooper, Jaymz Goodman and Elijah Woakes missed it so much they were inspired to recreate it in Minecraft.
Tom Cullen from the magazine I Choose Birmingham called the club "the best nightclub in the UK's history."
He described the original Snobs from 30 years ago as a "hot, foggy, sticky" venue that put fun ahead of strict musical genres.
"Manchester had the hacienda, the birthplace of music in the 90s. We had snobs, the birthplace of fun in the 90s," he said.
The opening night of the new venue will be 17 September.