Cheese & wine bar in trendy Birmingham neighbourhood under fire due to red light district link

It’s due to be the latest arrival in the trendy Independent of Stirchley in Birmingham.

But not everyone is happy with the plans for a cheese and wine bar due to be called Cheddar Road from the owners of hugely successful Stir Stores.

For generations Cheddar Road in Balsall Heath was the place where men went to visit sex workers, many of whom suffered appalling abuse and violence at the hands of their customers.

Stir Stores announced the opening of its "naughty little sister" Cheddar Road on social media. They posted: "Launching Friday, May 10. Pershore Road. Stirchley. For all those looking for a night and day of naughty indulgence." However the link to the instagram page wasn’t available today (Sunday, April 28) while posts about the new opening remained on the Stir Stores page.

Natasha Fox posted on Instagram, she said: "You are taking the p*** out of Cheddar Road, which is in Balsall Heath. It's not respectful to the memory of the sex workers who were based there in the 60s-80s, the violence that they went through. Appalling."

Another Instagram user posted: "Am I reading this right?! Not the best connotations." One woman, who wanted to enjoy artisan cheese at Cheddar Road and changed her mind, who did not want to be named, said: "A group of female friends are on a WhatsApp group and I posted a link to Cheddar Road, Birmingham has been crying out for something like this.

"But a few of the older women on the group were really offended but younger ones did not make the link. I have decided against going, it just seems a bit weird and creepy to mention 'naughty little sister' when it's named after a red light district."

Cheddar Road was eventually cleared of sex workers after residents fed up with the crime and disruption began holding protests in the late 1990s. They began shaming the men who would visit the area to buy sex.