Alum Rock, Birmingham

Alum Rock (known locally as "The Rock") is an inner-city suburb of Birmingham, England, located roughly 2 miles east of Birmingham city centre. The area is officially a division of Saltley. Rockwood Academy is a secondary school located in the area.

Alum Rock
Ward

Alum Rock centre
Alum Rock
Location within the West Midlands
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBIRMINGHAM
Postcode districtB8
Dialling code0121
PoliceWest Midlands
FireWest Midlands
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament
Councillors

Neighbouring areas

Alum Rock includes the connecting streets of the 3 km Alum Rock Road beginning at Saltley Gate and ending at Railway Bridge. Once through the main shopping area, Alum Rock Road continues towards Stechford, passing through Pelham, before joining Washwood Heath Road at the Fox & Goose the eastern part of the main road is in Ward End.

The area locally known as "The Rock" starts at Saltley Gate and ends at the junction with Highfield Road and Bowyer Road.

Singer-songwriter and founding member of Duran Duran, Stephen Duffy, was born and brought up in Alum Rock.

Alum Rock covers most of Saltley and so runs into many of Saltley's neighbouring areas, Bordesley Green to the south, Ward End to the north and east and Nechells to the west.

Washwood Heath Road, which also begins at Saltley Gate, runs loosely parallel to Alum Rock Road for a mile, before both main roads join up in front of the Fox & Goose.

Brummie rhyming slang

According to the historian, Carl Chinn, Alum Rock is the only place name in Birmingham that features in Brummie rhyming slang and refers to 'socks', e.g. "Pull your Alum Rocks up! This is actually all false and if it is real, very outdated.".[1]

Administrative area and census information

Until 2018 Alum Rock was part of the Washwood Heath ward.[2] Following boundary changes in 2018 the area is now included in eponymous Alum Rock ward.

Census Data from the 2001 Census identifies the ward as having a higher population density, lower average age and a significantly higher ethnic minority population against the Birmingham average.[3]

Community organisations

The Saltley Gate Peace Group is an organisation based in Alum Rock, taking its name from the local roundabout which leads to the areas main shopping area, Alum Rock road.

Buildings

Politics

Alum Rock ward is served by two Labour councillors; Mohammed Idrees and Mariam Khan.

Schools

Schools in Alum Rock include:

Crime

Alum Rock is a crime hot spot, "marred by shootings and gangland turf war."[5] Alum Rock is also notorious for numerous arrests for terror-related offences.[6][7]

In 2019 homophobic protests in both Sparkhill and Alum Rock were further supported by groups such as Hibz ut-Tahrir, outside primary schools.[8] In these protests teachers reported to have "received threats and [...] branded the protests as "aggressive".[9]

Many articles were also written about an incident involving racist graffiti which depicted the slogan "no whites allowed after 8pm".[10] Washwood Heath's Labour Councillor Ansar Ali Khan had stated in response to this that similar vandalism took place three years prior in neighboring district Saltley on lampposts.[10]

Sports

One step taken towards community cohesion comes in the form of sport. The Alum rock area has its own football club. Set up in the 90s by the late Farid Raja, Alum Rock FC takes part in the South Birmingham Football League every season. The club is now looking to expand and include youth teams along with its senior First XI.[11]

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References
  1. Laws, Roz. "Can you talk Brummie rhyming slang?". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  2. "Wayback Machine". web.archive.org. 30 September 2007.
  3. "Washwood Heath Ward". web.archive.org. 11 March 2008.
  4. Historic England. "Brookhill Tavern (1423497)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  5. Preece, Ashley (19 February 2019). "'Gun and drugs remain priority' in area plagued by shootings". birminghammail. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  6. "Birmingham man sentenced to life after trying to make a potential bomb at his home | News". West Midlands Police. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  7. Campbell, Darren (29 March 2017). "Two arrested on suspicion of terror offences in armed police swoop". birminghammail. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  8. Haynes, Jane (7 October 2019). "Extremists 'exploited LGBT school teachings tensions' to fuel hate". birminghammail. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  9. Kotecha, Sima (7 June 2019). "'Homophobic school protests must stop'". BBC News. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  10. "'No whites allowed' graffiti sparks outrage in Birmingham". uk.news.yahoo.com. Retrieved 21 May 2020.
  11. Alum Rock F.C. website Archived 6 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine. Alumrockfc.co.uk. Retrieved on 29 November 2011.
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