How a Kings Heath Comedian Invented a Gay Village — to Annoy a Man Named Greg

It began with a man named Greg saying something Joe Lycett didn't like.

Lycett, the comedian and television presenter, had moved into a house in Kings Heath in 2014. Shortly after, a friend brought her boyfriend Greg — a estate agent — to visit. Greg walked into the kitchen, looked around, and told Lycett he'd overpaid by £20,000 to £30,000. Lycett knew Greg was right, which made it worse, because he had taken a profound dislike to Greg. "Greg cannot win," Lycett later told audiences. "So I've spent the last four years trying to get my house price up simply to f**k off Greg."

What followed was one of the most elaborate, meticulously planned comic stunts in British entertainment history — and it happened right here in Kings Heath.

Lycett created a fake organisation called The Gayborhood Foundation, ostensibly dedicated to identifying the world's most LGBTQ-friendly neighbourhoods. To prevent anyone connecting him to it, he registered a limited company under a false name — Ken Roberts — bought a burner phone using money from the company bank account, and began operating entirely under this alias. The Gayborhood Foundation published a list of the world's great gay neighbourhoods: San Francisco's Castro, Paris's Le Marais, and — slipped in among them — Kings Heath, Birmingham.

When local news outlet Birmingham Live picked up the story, the neighbourhood was understandably baffled. Birmingham already has a prominent gay village in the city centre. But rather than dismiss the claim, the community embraced it. Local businesses started displaying rainbow stickers. People started using the hashtag #Gayborhood. The neighbourhood began referring to itself, with cheerful irony, as Queens Heath.

Then Lycett, still operating as Ken Roberts, organised an actual Pride parade in Kings Heath — with just two weeks' notice. The police became involved, concerned about an unpermitted gathering. Lycett, as Ken Roberts, dodged their calls. Two thousand people showed up to the first Queens Heath Pride on York Road.

When he finally revealed the stunt in his 2022 stand-up tour — More, More, More! How Do You Lycett? How Do You Lycett? — the reaction was equal parts astonishment and recognition. But Queens Heath Pride had already taken on a life of its own. It runs every year now, free to attend, genuinely local, genuinely joyful — created partly to push back against a wave of anti-LGBTQ protests outside Birmingham schools at the time. The joke became something real.

As for the house price: a local estate agent told Lycett that Queens Heath Pride had undoubtedly increased property values in the area. Lycett declared victory. Greg, presumably, remains unaware he is responsible for one of the most beloved community events in south Birmingham.