[1] The venue also used to house "Un-Plug", an intimate club with a capacity of 400, located in the building's cellar.

People known to have made speeches at the Digbeth Institute include Neville Chamberlain, Henry Usborne, Florence L. Barclay and Herbert Hensley Henson.

Digbeth Civic Hall hosted the likes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1983).

It also played host to other events such as: Atomic Jam, Uproar, Slinky, Sundissential, Athletico, Ramshackle, Insurrection, Inukshuk and Panic.

In 2005, Channelfly Company bought the downstairs "cellar" room, and turned it into the Birmingham Barfly.

[12] In 2015, the venue was acquired by Live Nation, and re-branded as O2 Institute Birmingham, as part of the O2 Academy Group.

The grey terracotta forms the more ornate features of the façade including the three towers, the 1.65-metre tall allegorical figures and the window and door frames.

The six allegorical figures are believed to be the work of John Evans, the chief modeller for Gibbs & Canning.