When a customer of mine mentioned BBB months ago I was initially very intrigued. He described it as a marketplace for fetish items and toys and my workaholic brain instantly thought it would be a good way to meet up with traders to stock new products. He promised to take me when he was off work, and as BBB only runs on a Sunday (my one day off) I couldn’t wait.
We decided to take my girlfriend and housemate with us to make it a proper day out. My housemate isn’t into kink but is very enthusiastically into the culture of sexual freedom and any excuse to wear underwear as outerwear. My girlfriend is also not particularly into kink and was mostly just unimpressed at the “no jeans” rule. This rule only applies to the after party once the market stalls have finished in the evening and from what I could tell, was not heavily enforced.
Choosing outfits was the goal of the week with everyone raiding my workplace (an adult store). My housemate changed her mind approximately every three hours and my girlfriend (who may actually be allergic to dresses and skirts) decided to spend half her paycheck on a leather catsuit. My work outfits are questionable at best so I just decided on one of them- PVC trousers, a blue lace bodysuit, and a micro cropped hoodie. Anything would be welcome at BBB- streetwear was fine although outweighed by fetish wear. The most important thing to remember is how you’d be getting to the venue- although we drove there was a short walk from the car park and if you get dressed at home consider wearing a big coat (we attracted some looks when we stopped off at the service station). The venue does have a cloakroom and changing area to switch up your outfit if you’d be using public transport but don’t want to miss out on dressing up.
We arrived and presented the lateral flow tests we’d already taken and had been asked to show on entry, purchased wristbands for the market and afterparty later, then I clipped a lead to my girlfriend's chest harness (don’t want to lose her in the crowds) and we headed inside.
Three floors of traders, most of them small businesses with handmade items filled the building. The theme for this month was “Mad Max” so there were several people with post-apocalyptic themed outfits entering the costume contest. The stalls didn’t just stock fetish items- there was one trader selling taxidermy items (I bought a tiny bird spine in a glass case to make into a necklace) and others selling bags with adorable prints. Everyone was clearly dressed in a way they felt comfortable- littles in kawaii sailor outfits and rompers mingled with dommes in full latex.
I spent a silly amount of money in total having been excited and saving for weeks to splurge out on anything that caught my eye. Unfortunately I had to leave behind a stunning pair of latex short shorts with a mermaid design, and a glitter leather harness that was out of my budget.
There’s a bar and mini café where we stopped to grab chips (my housemate wanted to go out for a meal and cocktails but I not so gently pointed out nowhere was likely to let us in dressed as we were) and then the venue closed for an hour to get ready and set up for the after party. This is probably a good chance for people to grab food and drinks but we opted for an hour's sleep in the car with my housemate loudly practicing Russian in the passenger seat. I hit her with my newly acquired riding crop and we settled down to nap.
We arrived at the after party groggy and in my case, stroppy. After necking a couple of drinks we all felt better and settled in to watch and observe everything going on around us. No genital nudity is allowed outside of the play area, and even in that area, no genital touching is allowed. There was dungeon furniture set up for impact play and we sipped our drink while watching a sub get his backside reddened in time to Fall Out Boy (his domme had excellent rhythm).
Upstairs was a Littles Lounge we kept threatening to drop my girlfriend off at (she’s the youngest of us) and a pet play area (also used to threaten her as she was in cat ears). We didn’t frequent those areas but peeked in the Littles Lounge which looked very fun with everyone engaged in an activity- I’ve heard they also run separate competitions and games in there if you’re into that.
The main area upstairs was a rope tying demonstration which my friend immediately began showing off in (me and him have practiced a lot of ties together, see the blog post Learn The Ropes for more detail). If you’re wanting to join in with the play area or demos then bring your own rope or impact toys, although the furniture is there to use, everything else must be your own.
There is so much more on offer at BBB than I’ve mentioned. Meet A Mistress is also on during the day and raffles for prizes, but there was only so much we could fit in that day so some of it went unexplored. The next BBB is on the 19th December and we will definitely be returning!
BBB is held on the 3rd Sunday of every month at the Nightingale Club on Kent Street in Birmingham. You must be 18+ to attend. No cameras or photography allowed except for in the allocated selfie spot by the entrance.
