Prit, centre, with the Primitivo team
‘Birmingham has developed so much over the past 25 years and Colmore has become a little neighbourhood’ PRIMITIVO OWNER PRIT SAGOO REFLECTS ON A QUARTER OF A CENTURY OF GOOD FOOD AND DRINK AT ONE OF THE DISTRICT’S MOST POPULAR VENUES Interview: Paul Fulford
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AUTUMN 2021
It’s mid-afternoon on a sunny Thursday and, in a side street tucked away in the Colmore Business District, people are outside enjoying the late summer warmth. People, their jackets off, cold drinks in front of them, sit chatting and laughing at the tables outside Primitivo bar and restaurant in Barwick Street. Its wide doors are thrown open, revealing more customers enjoying themselves in its elegant, understated interior. It’s relaxed and grown up – a place that brings an almost European or City of London vibe to the area. And it’s one of the oldest hospitality businesses in the area, having just celebrated its 25th anniversary. It marked the milestone by donating to Birmingham Hippodrome and Nice, the charity that supports children with neurological motor disorders. Owner Prit Sagoo says it’s important to give something back to the community. She’s understandably proud of what she and her team have created over the past quarter-of-a-century. It’s become a favourite lunchtime and evening spot for many members of the business community in the District. “We have customers who have been visiting us the 25 years we’ve been open,” she says. “Senior managers brought in their junior staff and now those people have been promoted and are bringing in their colleagues.” We’re sitting in the Barwick room, a relatively new extension to Primitivo that’s a fabulous venue for meetings or private functions. The Colmore area has evolved hugely since Primitivo arrived all those years ago, taking over a premises that had previously been a hairdressers and then Birmingham’s first trendy sandwich shop before morphing into a bar. Prit took the helm after managing fashionable city centre bars such as Quo Vardis and Carpe Diem and becoming known and respected among the business community. At that time, the Grand Hotel was still operating before closing for several years and undergoing its massive redevelopment. Drinking spots like the Cathedral Tavern, Sub Lounge and Hugo’s Bar were familiar names among Birmingham’s movers and shakers. The Eye Hospital stood in the heart of the
