Birmingham Gay Village
The Birmingham Gay Village is an LGBT district or "gaybourhood" next to the Chinese Quarter in Birmingham city centre, centred along Hurst Street, which hosts many LGBT-friendly businesses. The village is visited by thousands of people every week and has a thriving night life featuring clubs, sports bars, cocktail bars, cabaret bars and shops, with most featuring live entertainment including music, dancing and drag queens. The 2017 gay, lesbian and bisexual population of the West Midlands was recorded at 2.2%<ref>Office for National Statistics, [https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/sexuality/bulletins/sexualidentityuk/2017 Sexual orientation, UK: 2017], Office for National Statistics (21 January 2019), 2019</ref> or 128,920 of the estimated 5.86 million residents of the West Midlands region. In 2009, the gay and lesbian population of Birmingham was estimated to be around 6 per cent or 60,000 of the estimated 1.03 million residents. Formation and development The area expanded from just the Nightingale Club and Windmill bar in the 1980s, to multiple bars and venues in the surrounding streets, with the area first curtained off from the rest of the city by the Smallbrook Queensway section of the Inner Ring Road. This took place in the 1950s, when the area was a little warehouse district with a few small businesses. The area was expanded in the 1980s when land to the east of Hurst Street was cleared for the building of the Arcadian Centre, with the only surviving building being that of the Missing Bar. The Gay Village finally took its form in the 1990s after the number of venues increased and gave the area more of a boundary, while the increasing number of bars resulted from an increasing number of customers and amount of diversity offered. The starting point for unhindered growth of the gay village was the partial decriminalisation of gay sex between males with the Sexual Offences Act 1967. A victory for gay rights and a reflection of attitudes changing towards gay people, the act became a springboard for a gay liberation movement in Birmingham and countless lesbian and gay organizations were created over the following decades to challenge attitudes. At the end of May 2009, Birmingham City Council approved plans for a environmental improvement scheme at the heart of the city's Gay Village area. The changes included extending the avenue of street trees to the full length of Hurst Street and parts of Kent Street; widening pavements to create space for café bars to provide outdoor seating and brighter street lighting with decorative lanterns. Village events Birmingham Pride Annually over the Spring bank holiday weekend upwards of 70,000 people flock to the area for Birmingham Pride. Birmingham Pride was the largest free Pride event in the UK before 2013, when an entry fee was introduced for entry to the Gay Village. Usually there are entertainment acts, market stalls, fairground attractions and a parade, and until 2012 it was completely free. In 2012, for the first time, charges were introduced for access to the entertainment marquees, tents and certain areas of some bars. In 2013, the