Medicine Bakery opens its ninth site inside Ikon Gallery

Few Birmingham brands have reinvented themselves quite like Medicine. Once a fixture of the city's nightlife, it is now known for pastries, coffee and beautiful spaces, and in spring 2026 it opened its ninth venue inside Ikon Gallery at Brindleyplace.

The story began at Medicine Bar in the Custard Factory in Digbeth. After the bar closed in 2011, the team turned to baking, opening a bakery, deli and café in Codsall near Wolverhampton. The brand says its offering may look a little different from 30 years ago, but the people behind it remain the same.

"Medicine began in the Brum nightlife scene with Medicine Bar in the Custard Factory, so it feels fitting to continue expanding into cultural, iconic spaces," he said when the Ikon partnership was announced.

Art has always been central to Medicine. Its New Street venue, at 69A New Street, occupies the former home of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, a first-floor room with a soaring curved roof and skylights, filled with plants and a changing display of work by local artists. It even won Best Physical Space at the 2021 Brian's Coffee Spot awards, with coffee from Iron & Fire pulled on a lever machine made by Birmingham firm Fracino.

Medicine and Ikon had worked together before, on a 2018 collaboration called Young Birmingham Ikon artists: 1960s. The new café, which opened in mid-March 2026, brings brunch, coffee and Medicine's full drink and cocktail offering to one of the city's most striking cultural buildings. There is also an outdoor terrace.

"Brunch is what we're known for, but we're excited to also showcase our full drink and cocktail offering at Brindleyplace," said Simon Jones.

Ian Hyde, chief executive of Ikon, was equally enthusiastic. "With the cherry trees about to blossom and our new exhibitions opening on 25 March, we can't wait for the café to open," he said.

Ikon was established in 1964 by a group of artists and remains free to visit, so a pastry and a wander round the latest exhibitions makes for an easy and inspiring afternoon in the city centre.

Menus and venue details for all Medicine sites are on the Medicine Bakery website, and Ikon's exhibition programme is listed at ikon-gallery.org.