A new café bar selling craft beer and boasting what is claimed to be the country's first ever "pinball hall concept" could be opening in Birmingham city centre.
Tilt Brum, a new company founded earlier this year, has brought forward plans to open the bar in a vacant unit in the Grade II*-listed City Arcade off Corporation Street.
The firm is hoping to renovate the existing ground-floor and basement space to create a café called 'Tilt' serving eight drafts beers, around 35 bottled brands and a rotating selection of coffee beans.
A design statement accompanying the application said: "The business vision is to open a modern, multi-functional venue that will develop the concepts of espresso-based coffee drinks and craft beer bar which is supported by a pinball hall concept that will be the only one in the UK.
"There will be an extensive and high quality beer range from UK and European breweries and a selection of coffee beans independently selected from UK coffee roasters."
Completed in 1901, City Arcade was the work of TWF Newton and Cheattle which also designed other Birmingham buildings such as The Fighting Cocks in Moseley and city centre addresses 143 Edmund Street, 41 Church Street and 56-60 Newhall Street.
Originally constructed as two separate buildings, only one remains today as the other was destroyed during bombing in 1941.
Unit 2, where Tilt would be based, was previously occupied by clothing shop Candy Store and the area benefits from high footfall due to its proximity to New Street station and Bullring.
Co-founder of Tilt Brum Kirk Sadler told the Post: "Even though the arcade has been refurbished, it has attracted a lot of small businesses which don't last that long.
"We want to continue bringing independents back into Birmingham. It's a beautiful building and we're keen to breathe a bit of life back into the units there and we hope we'll encourage other artisan businesses to come in.
"If people don't use these spaces, then they just get forgotten. The ground floor is in good condition but the basement needs a little work but we're taking a stripped-back approach - the look we're going for is 'industrial'.
"If everything goes well and we can secure the planning permission, I expect us to be able to open sometime during September."
Mr Sadler said he expected to create four jobs initially with the venture and was planning to run training schemes and scholarships in due course.
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