AIR is a 2,000 capacity superclub located in Digbeth,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. AIR started as a spray shop for

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, when in 2000 the building was bought by

Godskitchen Godskitchen is an international superclub brand which is associated with dance music and organises events, particularly in the UK and US. The company used to run a club night of the same name at their nightclub AIR, in Birmingham. Godskitchen ha ...

and converted into a club, originally named CODE. In June 2003, CODE closed for a complete refit and reopened in late September 2003 under the new name of AIR. Improvements included an extra room of music being added to the two already in use (resulting in a lowered ceiling of the main room). Along with the club's name change, the 3 spaces inside were named the Oxygen Arena, the Nitrogen Room and the Carbon Lounge. The club features state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems. In 2002, Fergie (a resident DJ at the club for Godskitchen and Polysexual events in the early 2000s) said "It is one of the best oundsystems I've ever played on, throughout the whole world". In addition to Friday night's Godskitchen, AIR has hosted parties by Helter Skelter, Babooshka, Polysexual, Raveology, Hardcore Til I Die &

Atomic Jam Atomic Jam is a techno event in the United Kingdom. Its home is the §Q Club, a converted Birmingham Methodist Central Hall, Birmingham, Methodist Church. The club, a three-storey red brick and terracotta Grade II* listed building with a distincti ...

. AIR is situated in an area of Digbeth synonymous with club culture, the "Custard Factory Quarter", named after the nearby

Custard Factory The Custard Factory is a creative and digital business workspace complex, including independent shops, cafes and bars, on the site of what was the Bird's Custard factory off High Street, Deritend, in the Digbeth area of central Birmingham, Engl ...

, a centre for music and arts. Adjacent to the Custard Factory is the O2 Institute (formerly the

Digbeth Institute The O2 Institute (originally known as the Digbeth Institute) is a music venue located in Birmingham, England. The venue opened in 1908 as a mission of Carrs Lane Congregational Church. It has also served as an event centre, civic building and ...

), the original home of Godskitchen. The 20-year lease contract originally taken out by Angel Music Group remains in place but, since 6 May 2012, the club has remained closed due to the slow demise of the Godskitchen brand caused mainly by a lack of direction and leadership and the high costs imposed by the Custard Factory landlords making it far cheaper to keep the doors closed than to open them. The venue's owners Angel Music Group (also owners of Godskitchen and Global Gathering) ran 2 outdoor events utilising the car park area adjacent to its venue AIR in Birmingham in 2010 (Godskitchen Afresco) and again in 2012 (Godskitchen SixFiveTwelve). After the outdoor car park was successfully licensed by the then licensee and operations manager Nash Gooderham (when previous applicants had failed), both outdoor events were a success with capacities of 4000+ people and were arguably the first of their kind to take place in the city which set the precedence for similar events at other nearby venues. The 2012 event was the last time the venue was utilised before being closed and mothballed for almost a decade prior to the end of its lease with the Custard Factory. Godskitchen has since moved to several venues including the O2 Institute, The Rainbow Warehouse textile factory and Boxxed in search of a new home for its brand and loyal fanbase. In early 2022, the UK dance music brand Ravers Reunited announced that they were to hold an event at the venue in conjunction with Clubland X-Treme, an offshoot of the original Clubland brand. This event was held on Sunday the 1st of May. It has subsequently been announced that Ravers Reunited will hold their new year's eve event at the venue in 2022, entitled Ravers Reunited Presents AIR NYE.

References

Nightclubs in Birmingham, West Midlands {{England-stub