Six years ago, a little-known project called Independent Birmingham was born. Initially a website designed to shine a light on Birmingham’s marvellous independent culture, and champion the city as a whole, it quickly evolved into a movement – a revolution of local.
Soon after, the Independent Birmingham Membership Card was created. A wonderful piece of locally-designed artwork for your pocket, its sole purpose to encourage the people of Birmingham to fall in love with their city all over again and to be rewarded for supporting the diverse and energetic independent businesses that define Birmingham.
The Independent Birmingham Membership Card is now owned by over 18,500 people eager to support local independent businesses and entitles you to amazing year-long discounts and deals at over 110 of Birmingham’s very best independent cafes, bars, restaurants, theatres, pubs, cinemas, hotels, shops and experiences.
The website itself is a go-to source for independent culture in the city, boasting a highly-engaged social media platform of over 95,000 followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram – alongside mentions in national newspapers (The Guardian, The Independent), being named by Twitter UK as one to follow to discover Birmingham, being named by The Birmingham Post as one of the 250 most influential people in the region, and named as one of Birmingham Live’s 30 Under 30. Add in a few massive food and drink festivals for good measure, held at iconic locations and attended by thousands of people, and Independent Birmingham has helped pave the way for new (and old) independent businesses to thrive in the city.
The Independent Birmingham App is the next step of this mission to champion local.
After countless requests, the Independent Birmingham Membership Card is now available as an App! The IB App is designed to engage the people of Birmingham in a new and exciting way – and entitles you to fantastic discounts and deals at over 110 of Brum’s very best independent cafes, bars, restaurants, theatres, pubs, cinemas, hotels, shops and experiences – right at your fingertips.
With features that include:
– A full list of all participating independents and their discounts/deals
– The ability to navigate deals by what day you wish to use the App, by category, and by area
– The ability to view all participating independents on a map of the city, with their precise locations
– A ‘Near Me’ function, which when the IB App is opened will automatically show you your closest 10 independents on a map of the city (a feature that will hopefully enable and encourage users to discover new independents they may not have heard about or visited before)
Discounts include: Digbeth Dining Club, The Electric cinema, The Wilderness, Carters, The Indian Brewery, Birmingham Hippodrome, Adam’s, 18/81, Zindiya, The Meat Shack, Baked In Brick, Harborne Kitchen, BoneHead, Simpsons, Purnell’s Restaurant, Bodega Bar And Cantina, Stirchley Wines And Spirits, Wayland’s Yard, Purnell’s Bistro, Buffalo and Rye, Midlands Arts Centre, Gaijin Sushi, 40 St Paul’s, The Plough, Hare and Hounds, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, The Jekyll And Hyde, Bourne and Co., The Rose Villa Tavern, Cherry Reds, The Prince of Wales, The Loft, Laghi’s Deli, Medicine Bakery, The Paper Duck, Town Hall Symphony Hall, The Clean Kilo, The Early Bird Bakery and many more.
Joe Schuppler, founder of Independent Birmingham – “The IB App is something I’ve been looking at doing for a few years now. I created the IBcard almost 6 years ago when I was 22. For me, this is the next step and a natural progression for Independent Birmingham. Over the past few years we have had countless requests for an App-based card. And now I’m delighted to announce that we can deliver on that – with the hope that it heralds a new era for Independent Birmingham. The fact that it can be downloaded instantly is also huge, as it means access to discounts and deals has never been easier. It’s been a long time coming, but the IB App is finally here!”
There are currently over 110 of Brum’s very best independents on the Independent Birmingham App, with more added all the time. The App will work on a monthly subscription basis and is available on both Apple and Android devices. Best of all, it can be downloaded instantly – meaning that you no longer have to wait for your card to arrive to start enjoying the perks of being an IB member!
What’s more, they also plan to introduce one-off exclusive discounts and deals to the IB App – giving you EVEN more reasons to download the App and start supporting local.
The IB App costs just £2 a month to become a member, which is less than the price of a coffee and allows you to save loads of money whilst supporting local Birmingham independents.
Download the Independent Birmingham App today and then get out there and rediscover your city, one hidden gem at a time.
Download the IB App now on Apple here.
Download the IB App now on Android here.