Birmingham's still amazing despite bin strike - poet

Casey Bailey says people should remember the good things about the city

People should not lose sight of what they love about Birmingham during the ongoing bin strike, says the city's former poet laureate.

Casey Bailey, who was Birmingham's poet laureate from 2020 to 2024, said the city "doesn't look beautiful" at the moment, but it was "still amazing".

His comments came during the seventh week of the union Unite's all-out bin workers' strike, which led to thousands of tonnes of uncollected waste piling up on the city's streets.

"We sometimes have an ability to focus on one negative and lose sight of everything else," Mr Bailey told BBC Radio WM.

"Of course, the city doesn't look beautiful with the bin strikes at the moment, but it's still Birmingham, it's still amazing, and we can't lose sight of that."

Mr Bailey is known for writing the poem Dear Brum – structured in the form of a love letter to the city – a number of years ago.

He updated the poem in 2022 ahead of the Commonwealth Games in a bid to inspire civic pride in Birmingham.

Tonnes of uncollected waste has piled up on Birmingham's streets since the strike started

The poet said he has never been embarrassed to be from Birmingham, although he admitted there were times he thought the city was "rubbish, even when it didn't have rubbish in it".

He said the things people loved everywhere else sounded nicer in the city "because it's got a Brummie accent".

"I never shy away from the fact it's not perfect, but I love it, and I always talk about both of those things," he added.

Meanwhile, former West Midlands mayor Sir Andy Street echoed Mr Bailey's call for residents to be more positive about the city.

"Our reputation has taken one hell of a hammering in the last few weeks but the underlying points are still there and we have to get out there and sell the story very positively," he added.

Sir Andy Street sad Birmingham's reputation had "taken a hammering"

Sir Andy pointed to recent sporting successes in the West Midlands like hosting the 2025 Kabaddi World Cup and described Birmingham's art scene as the best outside of London.

"We all need to understand that Birmingham and the West Midlands is a hell of a lot more than the city council and its difficulties," he said.

Unite said this week that a deal could be "in touching distance" and agreed it would attend mediation talks with conciliation service Acas to resolve the dispute with the council.

Birmingham City Council confirmed there had been an agreement to hold further discussions at the end of next week "under the auspices of Acas".

The all-out industrial action started on 11 March, with more than 300 workers walking out in a dispute over pay, centred on a decision to remove the Waste Recycling and Collection Officer role.