Birmingham Colmore works in close partnership with the Hollie Gazzard Trust to promote personal safety, reduce vulnerability and create a District where everyone feels safe to work, visit and socialise. This long-standing collaboration supports Birmingham Colmore’s wider commitment to tackling violence, abuse and intimidation, particularly against women and girls, through prevention, awareness and practical safety measures.
A key element of this partnership is the integration of the police-approved Hollie Guard personal safety app across the District. Birmingham Colmore was the first Business Improvement District in the UK to make safer hospitality venues visible within the app, allowing users to locate nearby safe spaces through interactive mapping. This includes venues participating in nationally recognised schemes such as Ask for Angela and the Licensing Security and Vulnerability Initiative (LSAVI), helping people quickly access support if they feel unsafe.
Through collaboration with BIDBase and the Trust, venue location data is securely shared with Hollie Guard, ensuring that accredited safer spaces are clearly signposted to app users. In practice, this means anyone using the app in the District can identify and navigate to a participating venue, reinforcing confidence and reassurance while out and about.
The partnership also extends into workplace safety and staff wellbeing. Birmingham Colmore supports the Trust’s Supporter Organisation Scheme, helping businesses and organisations access training, guidance and tools to raise awareness of domestic abuse, improve safeguarding practices and empower employees with the knowledge and confidence to look after themselves and others.
Alongside digital tools and training, Birmingham Colmore and the Hollie Gazzard Trust work together on engagement and awareness initiatives that bring safety conversations into the public realm. Activities such as guided safety walks, venue-led engagement and collaborative events help highlight the network of safer spaces across the District, promote partnership working, and encourage collective responsibility for personal safety.
This work is overseen through Birmingham Colmore’s long-established Safer Colmore Working Group, which focuses on creating a secure environment for businesses, employees and visitors. By combining technology, training, trusted partnerships and visible safer spaces, Birmingham Colmore and the Hollie Gazzard Trust continue to strengthen personal safety across the District and support a culture where safety is shared, proactive and accessible to all.
Birmingham Colmore works proactively with Stamp Out Spiking, the UK’s leading charity focused on ending drink spiking through education, prevention and support. This partnership forms part of a wider commitment to personal safety across the District and reflects a preventative approach, raising awareness and building confidence, rather than responding to known issues.
There are no specific concerns or identified patterns of spiking within the District. Instead, this work is about ensuring that businesses, employees and visitors are well informed, know how to look out for one another, and feel confident enjoying Birmingham Colmore’s hospitality offer.
By joining Stamp Out Spiking, Birmingham Colmore strengthens the safety measures already in place, including promotion of the Ask for Angela scheme, support for Licensing Security and Vulnerability Initiative (SAVI) accredited venues, and the delivery of targeted safety messaging during busier periods and major events. Together, these initiatives help create an environment where people feel supported, alert and empowered.
Stamp Out Spiking provides specialist training, trusted guidance and national awareness campaigns that help challenge myths, improve understanding and promote practical steps to reduce risk. Through this partnership, Birmingham Colmore shares resources with businesses and venues, encouraging consistent safety standards and informed conversations around personal safety.
Education is central to this approach. Clear information is provided on what drink spiking is, how it can occur, and the signs to look out for not to cause concern, but to ensure people can act quickly and appropriately if someone feels unwell or unsafe. Simple guidance encourages people to stay with friends, speak to venue staff if they are worried, and seek medical help where necessary.
By focusing on awareness, partnership and prevention, Birmingham Colmore aims to make drink spiking an issue that is understood, talked about and actively discouraged, supporting a safe, welcoming and confident District for everyone, day and night.
