Venue: Digbeth Institute
Town: Birmingham, GB

The Digbeth Institute (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the O2 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 nightclub. It has three main rooms: the 1,500-capacity main auditorium called O2 Institute1 (formerly "The Institute") which has two seated upper balcony levels, the downstairs room which holds up to 500 people called O2 Institute2 (formerly "The Library") and the 250-capacity upstairs room O2 Institute3 (formerly "The Temple"). The venue also used to house "Un-Plug", an intimate club with a capacity of 400, located in the building's cellar. The space formerly operated as the "Midland Jazz Club", "Jug 'O Punch Folk Club", Dance Factory and "Barfly". Designed by Arthur Harrison, it was officially opened 16 January 1908 by the wife of the Pastor of Carrs Lane Church, John Henry Jowett, as an institutional church associated with Carr's Lane Congregational Church. In the week that followed, it hosted a variety of acts. The area which surrounded it was predominantly slums and industrial buildings. In 1954, the building was put up for sale by the trustees as they felt the building was not needed for its originally intended use. It was bought by Birmingham City Council in 1955 for £65,000 and was used as a civic hall. People known to have made speeches at the Digbeth Institute include Neville Chamberlain, Henry Usborne, Florence L. Barclay and Herbert Hensley Henson. The Church relocated to Yardley as Digbeth-in-the-Field Congregational Church. In the late 1950s and early 1960s it housed the Midland Jazz club. Wrestling was held at the venue when it was known as Digbeth Civic Hall. Digbeth Civic Hall hosted the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1983). In 1987, the building was used as a film studio by the Birmingham Film and Video Workshop for the Channel 4 film 'Out of Order'. The venue also played a part as one