Menyu

Local guide · West Midlands, England

Birmingham restaurateurs: your menu, for a city with a median age of 34

Birmingham had 1,176,960 residents in mid-2025 and a median age of 34.1, against 40.6 for England. Overseas visitors made 927,000 overnight visits in 2024. Keep the printed menu at the door; a QR code on each table opens your dishes on the guest’s phone, with allergens marked and a translation to hand.

Put my current menu online from its linkPrint an allergen chart for my dishes

Café table on the pavement of a red-brick Victorian street in Birmingham at sunset, with a red QR code stand, a balti in a steel bowl with naan and a glass of red wine
AI-generated illustration

Key facts

Birmingham in figures

residents of Birmingham in mid-20251
1,176,960
median age of Birmingham residents in mid-2025, against 40.6 for England1
34.1
overnight visits by overseas visitors in 2024, fourth among UK towns2
927,000
for a new pavement licence, which lasts one year; £350 to renew it3
£500

Growth

Six years younger than England

Birmingham had 1,176,960 residents in mid-2025, with a median age of 34.1: more than six years below England’s 40.6.1

In the year to mid-2025 births outnumbered deaths by 6,186 and international migration added 9,703 people, while 21,850 more residents left for the rest of the UK than arrived. The population ended the year 5,960 lower.1

For your menu

With this many arrivals and departures every year, word of mouth only goes so far: a menu people can open on their phone does part of the introducing.

Visitors and languages

Visitors from abroad, other languages at home

Overseas visitors made 927,000 overnight visits to Birmingham in 2024, fourth among UK towns after London, Edinburgh and Manchester. VisitBritain warns that town figures outside London rest on small samples.2

At the 2021 census, the West Midlands had England’s highest share of people with Panjabi as a main language: 1.4%, or 83,000 people.4

For your menu

Translate for the guests you actually serve, and check that their language is on the list before you count on a tool.

Local food

From the balti to two MICHELIN stars

For Birmingham and its surroundings the MICHELIN Guide lists 23 restaurants: one with two stars, Opheem, six with one star, two Bib Gourmands and 14 selected addresses.5

The guide flags vegetarian options at 19 of those 23, vegan options at 15 and halal options at 13.5

The balti has a file of its own at DEFRA: on 23 October 2013 the UK applied to the EU for Traditional Speciality Guaranteed status for the Birmingham balti.6

For your menu

Halal, vegetarian or vegan: the questions guests ask at the table can be answered on the menu itself, dish by dish.

Local rules

A pavement licence for one year at a time

Birmingham City Council charges £500 for a new pavement licence, for a change of owner or when a licence has expired, and £350 to renew or change an existing one. The fees follow the change in the law of 31 March 2024.3

Each licence lasts one year. A renewal comes from the current holder, for the same premises and on the same terms, and can be sent up to two months before the licence expires.3

The licence covers removable furniture next to your premises, for customers or to sell food and drink. Street trading needs a different licence; if you are unsure which one applies, the council answers at [email protected].7

For your menu

Note the renewal date two months ahead: once the licence has lapsed, you pay the £500 of a new application again.

According to the guides

Six MICHELIN addresses, from Summer Row to Moseley

All six are in the current MICHELIN Guide selection for Birmingham and its surroundings: the city’s two-star table, a one-star restaurant, two Bib Gourmands and two selected addresses, one vegetarian and one Peruvian, priced from ££ to ££££.

None of the six is a Menyu customer, and we did not approach them. Their distinctions come from the MICHELIN Guide, and on 21 October 2026 the website of each showed bookings, menus or opening times.

  1. Opheem

    Summer Row8 · Indian, contemporary · ££££

    • 2 MICHELIN Stars 20268

    Aktar Islam, born and raised locally, cooks modern takes on Indian recipes, such as a Lucknow-inspired ‘Gajar’ built around the carrot.8

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website9

  2. Adam’s

    Waterloo Street10 · Modern cuisine · ££££

    • 1 MICHELIN Star 202610

    Adam Stokes’ restaurant is best tried through one of its two tasting menus, with dishes such as Cornish brill, white asparagus and a grapefruit sauce.10

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website11

  4. Riverine Rabbit

    Stirchley14 · Modern cuisine · ££

    • Bib Gourmand 202614

    After a run of pop-ups, Ash cooks behind the counter while Erin runs front of house; the set menu comes in two lengths, with touches from Ash’s native South Africa.14

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website15

  5. Land

    Great Western Arcade, Colmore Row16 · Vegetarian, Asian influences · £££

    • MICHELIN Guide selection 20265

    A set menu of vegetarian dishes, largely vegan, that changes with the seasons, with pan-Asian touches from carrot char sui to sake lees.16

    MICHELIN Guide listingRestaurant website17

With Menyu

Menyu in a Birmingham dining room

Menyu puts your menu online at a fixed address and gives you the QR code that leads to it. Here is what that does for a Birmingham restaurant, with the gaps stated where they apply.

  • Translations, and the languages missing from the list

    Menyu translates your dishes into 25 languages, Polish, Romanian, Arabic and Chinese among them, and you check each one before it goes live. Panjabi is not on the list: for those guests, your staff and the printed menu still do the explaining.

    • Dishes translated into 25 languages, to reviewIncluded
    What the Menyu menu does

  • Allergens and diets, written on each dish

    Mark each dish with its allergens from the list of 14 that UK food law uses. Guests can narrow the menu to vegetarian dishes, or leave out the allergens they choose. Halal is not one of the filters: say it in the dish description.

    • 14 allergens, dish by dishIncluded
    • A vegetarian filter and one for each of the 14 allergensIncluded
    Make an allergen chart from my dishes

  • A QR code on every licensed table

    Print the QR code in your colours, with your logo, for the tables your licence allows. It always points to the same address, so a new dish or a new price appears without reprinting. Set the currency to pounds in the settings first: prices are typed in £ and never converted.

    • QR code with your colours and logoIncluded
    • Same QR code, menu updated at any timeIncluded
    • Prices in pounds sterling, chosen in the settingsIncluded
    Create my table QR code

  • A reason for new neighbours to come back

    With Premium, a game on the menu, a wheel, a scratch card or dice among nine, sends the winner a single-use prize by e-mail and can point them to your Google listing. Choose a free dish or a percentage off as the prize.

    • Nine games, a prize sent by e-mail, valid oncePremium
    Try the games

Limits

What Menyu does not do

  • Your menu can show prices in pounds, but the plans are billed in euros: €49, €79 or €149 a month.
  • Once you choose UK time, the opening status follows Birmingham’s clock, but it is written in French, ‘Ouvert · Jusqu’à…’, even on an English menu.
  • Online payment needs an account opened in France, so a Birmingham restaurant cannot take payment through the menu; Premium orders are settled at the counter.
  • The optional phone field at sign-up expects a ten-digit French number and refuses a UK one: leave it empty.
  • Menyu orders have no line for a tip or a service charge.

Questions

Questions and answers

How much is a pavement licence in Birmingham?

£500 for a new licence, a change of owner or a licence that has expired, and £350 to renew or change an existing one. Each licence lasts one year, and you can apply to renew up to two months before it expires, on the same terms and for the same premises.3

What allergen information must my menu give?

For food that is not prepacked, the Food Standards Agency asks for allergen information on every item that contains any of the 14 allergens: in writing, on the menu or a chalkboard, or verbally with a clearly visible notice telling guests how to ask.

Menyu lets you mark the 14 on each dish. The full rules are on the United Kingdom page.20

UK rules for your menu
Can Menyu translate my menu into Panjabi?

No. Its 25 languages include Polish, Romanian, Arabic, Chinese and Turkish, but not Panjabi. The menu’s buttons stay in English.

Can guests filter the menu for halal dishes?

No. The filters cover vegetarian dishes and each of the 14 allergens. Write halal into the description of the dishes concerned.

Does Menyu work in pounds and on UK time?

Yes, once you choose both in the settings: prices show in pounds, as you type them, and the opening status and time-based categories follow UK time. The opening status reads in French, though. The plans are still billed in euros, €49, €79 or €149 a month, and online payment needs an account opened in France.

Everything Menyu does and doesn’t do in the UK
Will my UK mobile number work when I sign up?

No. The field is optional and only takes a ten-digit French number; a UK mobile, eleven digits with its leading 0, is refused. Leave it blank.

Do the restaurants on this page use Menyu?

No. They are taken from the MICHELIN Guide, which lists 23 restaurants for Birmingham and its surroundings, and none of them was contacted. Each entry links to its source.5

Method

How this page was made

Prepared by the Menyu team, a publisher based in Montpellier, France, from the pages cited, each read on 21 October 2026: the Office for National Statistics, VisitBritain, Birmingham City Council, DEFRA, the Food Standards Agency, the MICHELIN Guide and the restaurants’ own websites. None of the restaurants listed is a Menyu customer. The picture was generated by AI and shows no real place.

Sources

  1. Office for National Statistics, Mid-year population estimates, England and Wales, mid-2025 (MYE25)ons.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  2. VisitBritain, Inbound visits and spend: trends by UK townvisitbritain.org · accessed 21 October 2026

  3. Birmingham City Council, Cost and duration of pavement licencesbirmingham.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  4. Office for National Statistics, Language, England and Wales: Census 2021ons.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  5. MICHELIN Guide, MICHELIN restaurants, Birmingham and surroundingsguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  6. Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Protected food name: Birmingham balti (TSG)gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  7. Birmingham City Council, What is a pavement licencebirmingham.gov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  8. MICHELIN Guide, Opheem, Birminghamguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  9. Opheem, Opheem, official websiteopheem.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  10. MICHELIN Guide, Adam's, Birminghamguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  11. Adam’s, Adam’s, official websiteadamsrestaurant.co.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  12. MICHELIN Guide, Tropea, Birminghamguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  13. Tropea, Tropea, official websitetropea.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  14. MICHELIN Guide, Riverine Rabbit, Birminghamguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  15. Riverine Rabbit, Riverine Rabbit, official websiteriverinerabbit.co.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  16. MICHELIN Guide, Land, Birminghamguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  17. Land, Land, official websiteland.restaurant · accessed 21 October 2026

  18. MICHELIN Guide, Chakana, Birminghamguide.michelin.com · accessed 21 October 2026

  19. Chakana, Chakana, official websitechakana-restaurant.co.uk · accessed 21 October 2026

  20. Food Standards Agency, Allergen guidance for food businessesgov.uk · accessed 21 October 2026