If you happened to be walking through Digbeth last Sunday, and stumbled across a crowd of ‘well-to-do’ looking men & women in tailored suits and bow ties; sporting unusually perfected moustaches, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d taken a wrong turn and wound up in 1920’s Britain. It was in fact the day of the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride- where over 92,000 riders worldwide teamed up, put on their best attire and took to the streets to raise funds ($4,590,661 so far) for prostate cancer & men’s mental health.

 

 

We dropped into Mutt Motorcycles- supplier of hardware, motorcycles and good coffee, early Sunday morning to get set up for our pop-up shop, and to ensure that we didn’t miss the array of bikers rolling in as they arrived for Mutt’s afterparty following the Birmingham ride. What would of been quite a dull afternoon in the ordinarily solitary backstreets of Digbeth, was replaced with charitable spirit and the roar of two wheels (and a few car alarms).

 

Though many headed straight to the bar, inside there was the opportunity to get a haircut from old school barbers- Black Market Company, browse the rails of Monday Mo.Co, and get a new ink from tattooist Ethan Jones. A selection of tattoos were priced at just £30… but there was a catch- throw a dart and whatever you get, you get!!! It’s for a good cause!

 

The sheer number of people that gave up their Sunday’s resting at home to help raise money and awareness for DGR & the Movember Foundation was truly heartwarming (and no, that wasn't just the beer). Oh and we mustn’t ignore their willingness to pose, pipe in hand, for a photo or two. Gents!