Article by David Marks

The Birmingham Chilli Festival is held Brindleyplace Central Square near the centre of Birmingham. Admission is free and to be be quite truthful, any admission charge would be wasted money.

This totally independent guide from GardenFocused is intended to provide you with information about the show to help you enjoy it more.

For 2019, the show will be held again at Brindleyplace Central Square in Birmingham. It lasts for one day in mid September (exact date to be confirmed). Opening hours are from 11.00am. The official website doesn’t say what time it closes but scheduled activities seem to cease after 4.30.

Entry to the festival is free and in truth, you wouldn’t really want to pay for this festival! In previous years there have been more stalls and the chilli eating contest has now been dropped.

The review below is for the 2018 festival to give to you a taste of what to expect for 2019. As soon as more details emerge of the 2019 show we will update this article.

Below is a 30 second video of the festival area and it clearly demonstrates our comments below. The street musicians are doing an excellent job with their music but with the lack of people there is simply no atmosphere at the event.

Video of Birmingham Chilli Festival

WHAT’S ON AT THE FESTIVAL

What’s on at the festival? Not a lot is quick answer. There are some performers and ban playing throughout the day. They do their best but the lack of people means it lacks any atmosphere.

We counted about 12 stalls selling street food and chilli related products. There were no stalls selling chillis.

Brindleyplace, Birmingham Chilli estival

We were very disappointed with this chilli festival. There was one redeeming factor however which was the walk along the surrounding canals. Very attractive and interesting, far more interesting compared to the festival.

View of canals in Birmingham