I visited Birmingham Broad Street at first light and didn't want to hang around

Most Brummies have enjoyed a night out on Broad Street - it's been the golden mile of the city's nightlife scene for decades - but how many of you have been down there during the day?

Admittedly, it's been a good few years since I last danced into the early hours on Broad Street, not since the early days of PRYZM, but I remember the scenes like it was yesterday. Crowded dancefloors, strobe lights and music blasting inside the busy clubs and bars along the row. Outside, streets packed with excited revellers queuing to get in, or for a kebab before the taxi home, the pavement littered with discarded chips, takeaway boxes and the odd nightclub-reject who'd had a few drinks too many.

It only occurred to me recently that I had no memory of seeing this lively part of Birmingham city centre in the light of day. Is it a street that never sleeps or does it turn into a ghost town when the sun comes up? I had no idea, so I went to find out.

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At 8.30am mid-week, the area was unrecognisable from the buzzy Saturday nights I remembered and yet it was a far cry from the messy morning-after I'd envisioned. I can't vouch for what it looks like at this time on a Sunday, but today at least, the street was spotless.

It was quiet, but not in the eerie way you might expect. The golden first light and sound of birds chirping in the trees made it feel peaceful. There were still some people about, but none wearing heels and going-out dresses, rather suit-wearers with laptop bags slung over their shoulders, walking with purpose on their way to work.

I couldn't see anyone coming in or out of the buildings lining the street and for good reason - most places were closed. O Bar and the Coyote Ugly Saloon were locked up, the TV was on in Walkabout but the bar was empty and the doors remained firmly closed.

Cleaners were at work in Rosie's and the new Snobs and the lights were out in all of the takeaway shops. Even the Solomon Cutler Wetherspoon pub, which opened for breakfast half an hour earlier, was uninhabited.

Some of the buildings had obviously been out of use for a while - the old Players bar, which shut down in 2022, was still vacant, as was the Rocket Gentlemans Club, which closed that same year. But the street was obviously well-looked after, the only remnants of its weekend antics were the hundreds of splodges of chewing gum that were now a permanent part of the pavement.

The only places open for business at this time of day were the little Sainsbury's Local and the Odissi coffee shop, which our Kirsty will tell you is pretty special. In contrast to the rest of the street, a row of units opposite Heidi's Bier Bar looked to have been abandoned. Fallen branches were strewn in front of a closed beauty clinic, the old Love Milano Coffee unit was still unoccupied a year on and there was rubbish dumped out the front.

The Brasshouse and O'Neill's pub would open within the hour, the big Cineworld starts showing films late morning and some of the other locked-up venues on the street open for lunch service - restaurants like Qavali, Del Villagio, Nando's and Five Guys - while the rest stay closed until the after-work rush.

Further up the street, the beautiful Exchange café opens at 8.30am and the wider Centenary Square has been taken over by The Big Wheel and Ice Skate Birmingham for Christmas, while down on the canal-side at Brindleyplace, there are a few coffee stops open earlier. But at that time of the morning, on Broad Street's main strip, there didn't seem to be a whole lot going on.

Photos show Birmingham Broad Street in a different light

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I didn't fancy hanging around, not because the street felt unsafe or looked unpleasant - it didn't - but because there wasn't much of a reason to. I'd seen Broad Street in a new light, literally, and I reckon there's a lot of potential on this side of town for more morning trade. With two new supermarkets scheduled to open, perhaps other new additions will follow.

Brian Hughes, chairman of Westside BID, said: "Broad Street has so much to do in the daytime for visiting tourists and families, and for those travelling to and from work. There's everything from multiplex cinemas to a free art gallery, one of the city's best furniture stores and, of course, our world-famous Black Sabbath Bench."

Talking about the wider area he added: "Then there's the iconic Library of Birmingham in Centenary Square, along with the Rep Theatre and The Exchange event centre and café opposite. Broad Street itself and the neighbouring Brindleyplace also have many cafes open from early morning, popular pubs and bars open for brunch, and restaurants open from lunchtime onwards. Plus the canal-side underneath Broad Street leads directly to the nearby National Sea Life Centre and Legoland, as well as a direct pedestrian route into the city centre."