Well, it has plenty to offer in the way of culture: theatres, museum, art galleries, an amazing library. It's our nearest big city, so we go there quite often. New Street station used to be dreadful but it will be hugely improved when the redevelopment is finished next month. They are even starting to catch up with Manchester with the introduction of city centre trams!
I think you mean Manchester is catching up with us !!
Seriously, Brum is a great place and I think the OP is being very, very rude about the City, there's good and bad in all areas. You will also find some of the most friendly, kind hearted people in Brum and my area the Black Country. I am very proud of where I come from and my accent!
Anyway OP, if Brim is so bad then please do us a favour and don't bother coming here, we don't want you.
Though have to say the gravitational effects are a bit of an anomaly as rather than an attraction and irristable pull, the inverse happens and there is rejection and a irristable force pushing you to escape.
Are you sure that wasn't Moor Street? I use the Chiltern daily to Birmingham and get off at Moor Street - one stop before Snow Hill. Not sure Chiltern go to New Street. Anyway Moor Street isn't too bad, far worse before it was re-developed.
Yeah I was a bit hurried in my reply.
Originally when I started work I needed to be at the Brindleyplace office by 0800. The closest I could get was a Cross Country (aka 'Sardine can from hell') that arrived at New Street at 0750. Thankfully after a couple of months my boss allowed me some flexibility which meant I could use the Chiltern service through to Snow Hill and arrive at 0830. An all round more pleasant experience. Nice airy carriages. Rarely crowds of people. Trains are very punctual. In the evenings it was particularly nice because the train starts at Snow Hill so was often parked there waiting to go when I arrived.
Moor Street isn't too bad but it triggers bad memories of the rare days when there was service disruption. CR sometimes turned trains around(*) at Moor Street when there had been a problem and getting to Snow Hill only to find I had to run to Moor Street or wait another hour was unpleasant. On at least one occasion I ran from SH to MS only to find out that I had to run over to NS to use the Cross Country service. Talk about seeing the sites
I also don't like the location of MS because I'm not keen on crowds. As people who know me said at the time - trust Andrue to find out how to get from a train station to his office and only pass three people on the way
(*)Figuratively speaking. There's no room to actually do that so instead the driver walks round to the cab on the other end
My nephew lives in Moseley, nice there, he likes some parts of Birmingham. Now sure if it is a place I would live in, but then I do not like big cities
A city of over 1 million people, Britain's second biggest city by population. With a city that big, what does it have to offer? Their two most 'famous' exports other than their crappy football clubs are Ozzy Osbourne and Jasper Carrot. That's EMBARASSING for a city that big. Everyone rightly mocks their silly accent and the place has become a multi-culty hell hole.
I wouldn't say it's the Detroit of Britain but it's not a particularly good place either. It's just a mediocre city. And there's nothing in life that irritates me more than mediocrity.
Cities in the UK that are smaller than Birmingham like Manchester, Leeds, Edinburgh, Newcastle and Liverpool all punch above their weight. Birmingham produces nothing of real relevance. And especially compared to other global cities of a similar size like Barcelona, Calgary and Adelaide, Birmingham is pitiful ^_^
Historically Birmingham was never meant to be a big city let alone the second largest in Britain. Before the industrial revolution it was a quaint market town in the Black Country famous for its cottage industry of making swords and knives.
Traditional cities like York, Bath, Cambridge, etc were far bigger than Birmingham.
Then the industrial revolution came along and made it centre for manufacture, thousands of people who'd worked in the countryside flocked to Birmingham for reliable work, endless rows of terraced and back to back houses were built for them. In just a few decades the city had quadrupled in size. By the 20th century overcrowding was a problem.
What little that was left of a Birmingham's original identity was destroyed, not by the Luftwaffe but by thoughtless architects and post war planners, who turned the place into a concrete jungle housing its residents in tower blocks and streets in the sky. Sense of community was lost. As industry declined residents had little pride for their high rise homes which fell into disrepair and crime. People had little pride left in Birmingham, considering it wasn't really their native city as they'd only been there about 150 years, prior to industrial revolution, they lived in thatched villages.
Then in the 1980s along came a real Thatcher who got rid if what little industry that remained, putting thousands onto the dole.
Birmingham went from boom to bust. It attracted hundreds of thousands of farm labourers etc from villages to power industry and create an unsustainable population once industry had gone. The descendants of these farm workers now live jobless in run down concrete tower blocks in Britain's benefit sanction capital. If they'd just stayed as farm labourers their descendants could be living in £500,000 cottages, not dependant on foodbanks in some crumbling high rise
if Birmingham had not be subjected to the industrial revolution it may have remained a delightful English town, not a concrete deprived mess
the new library is a disaster , ugly building , they've no money , hardly any staff left and they're getting rid of more , they can't afford to buy books .
I've only been to Birmingham a couple of times, both short walks from New Street station.
What I saw was the usual grey, boring metropolis, but nothing especially awful, and certainly nothing that even begins to compare with the stifling horror that is central London in the rush hour.
Historically Birmingham was never meant to be a big city let alone the second largest in Britain. Before the industrial revolution it was a quaint market town in the Black Country famous for its cottage industry of making swords and knives.
Birmingham was never part of the black country, infact the term black country wasn't even around until the industrial revolution when it referred to the soot and smoke from the factories.
Birmingham went from boom to bust. It attracted hundreds of thousands of farm labourers etc from villages to power industry and create an unsustainable population once industry had gone. The descendants of these farm workers now live jobless in run down concrete tower blocks in Britain's benefit sanction capital. If they'd just stayed as farm labourers their descendants could be living in £500,000 cottages, not dependant on foodbanks in some crumbling high rise
Major generalisation and fairly inaccurate. Birmingham is now throwing off the concrete jungle tag and redeveloping vast parts, especially of the city centre.
Birmingham is now throwing off the concrete jungle tag and redeveloping vast parts, especially of the city centre.
Agree on that. I travel in each day on the train from the south of the city and when the low morning sunlight hits it, it makes for an impressive modern day skyline - if you like that sort of thing that is.
Yes there are still some terrible looking concrete buildings but they are gradually changing.
I still have a soft spot for brum even though I left 40 years ago. OP you talk bull.
Born in Birmingham Edit
Walter Abbott – (Footballer)
Gabriel Agbonlahor – (Footballer)
Moeen Ali – (England cricketer)
Dennis Amiss – (Cricketer & Warwickshire Administrator)
Keith Arkell – (English Chess champion, 2008)
Stephen Arlen – (Opera manager)
Ian Ashbee – (Footballer)
Francis William Aston – (Nobel Prize winner, Physicist)
Ian Atkins – (Footballer)
Albert Austin – (Silent film star)
Jack Badham – (Footballer)
Kenny Baker Actor R2D2 in Star Wars
Sir Michael Balcon – (Film director)
Pato Banton – (Reggae artist)
Dave Barnett – (Footballer)
Simon Bates – (DJ)
Blaze Bayley – (Musician - former vocalist of Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden)
Edward White Benson – (Archbishop of Canterbury)
Bev Bevan – (Musician)
Alfred Bird – (Inventor of custard powder)
His son, Sir Alfred Frederick Bird – (Food manufacturer and chemist)
Daniel Boone – (Musician)
Sarah Booth – (Actress)
Matthew Boulton – (Pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society)
Jon Bounds – (Blogger, humorist)
Peter Bradley – (Politician)
William Bragge – (Civil engineer/Antiquarian)
Edward Burne-Jones – (Pre-Raphaelite painter & William Morris Associate)
Trevor Burton – (Musician)
Geezer Butler – bassist of (Black Sabbath)
George Cadbury – (Son of John Cadbury, Founder of the Cadbury chocolate company)
John Cadbury – (Founder of the Cadbury chocolate company)
Richard Cadbury – (Son of John Cadbury, Founder of the Cadbury chocolate company)
Pogus Caesar – (TV Director and Photographer)
Ali Campbell and Robin Campbell – (Musician, UB40)
Duncan Campbell – (Musician)
David Cannadine – (Historian)
Bob Carolgees TV Presenter Tiswas and Surprise Surprise
Lee Carsley – (Footballer)
Darren Carter – (Footballer)
John Carter – (Musician)
Barbara Cartland – (Novelist)
Jasper Carrott – (Comedian)
Austen Chamberlain – (Politician)
Neville Chamberlain – (Prime Minister)
Gary Childs – (Footballer)
Major generalisation and fairly inaccurate. Birmingham is now throwing off the concrete jungle tag and redeveloping vast parts, especially of the city centre.
It's also attracting some good jobs in the IT and banking sectors. Brindleyplace has large buildings for several well known banks and they make up most of it.
Agree on that. I travel in each day on the train from the south of the city and when the low morning sunlight hits it, it makes for an impressive modern day skyline - if you like that sort of thing that is.
Yes there are still some terrible looking concrete buildings but they are gradually changing.
I think the city centre really needs to be totally re-modelled to give it some identity. The Bull ring redevelopment was not enough and was spoilt by that silver blister which is Selfridges. I personally think it looks weird and no doubt in 30 years most people will think its hideous.
My plan
If I was to redevelop the city centre I'd go for Georgian yellow stone architecture like in Bath and Cambridge etc with gothic style windows and arches.
Tear down all 1960s office blocks unless they can be given a stone facade.
Arrange the city centre into sectors: 1) for main retailers, 2) Restaurants and eateries, 3) Independent retailers 4) novelty area. Cottage industry such as pottery, furniture making, glass blowing, bicycle making etc for people to watch and buy.
All centred around a 'Covent Garden' style entertainment area.
The city market would be housed in a new building with Georgian or gothic style arches and high cathedral like roof arranged in aisles, providing different areas with an international food market.
A 'China town' designed by Chinese architects to be one of the biggest in Britain, located close to the city centre.
Make use of the Canals, restaurants etc to be located along canals and in some areas Venetian architecture to be used. Canals are an important feature of Birmingham and the city centre should embrace them as bringing water and boats into the city, even if that means extending them. I'd even go as far as having a city centre quayside and marina surrounded by Georgian gothic architecture.
All buses and trams to be painted in a dark red and cream colour to look respectable not brightly coloured and tacky like at present. Birmingham buses and trams will be seen as an identity for Brum just like the red London buses are for London.
And there's nothing in life that irritates me more than mediocrity.
How do you cope with reading your own posts?
As far as Birmingham is concerned, we need look no further than the late, great, cultural commentator, Telly "Kojak" Savalas, for whom Birmingham is "My Kind of Town".
Some bloke on US telly said that its not safe to go there if you are white as its a strictly muslim only area of the city, he was shot down in flames and called a racist however people that actually know the place know he wasn't entirely incorrect in his assumptions. - but wont say anything for fear of being called a racist too.
Historically Birmingham was never meant to be a big city let alone the second largest in Britain. Before the industrial revolution it was a quaint market town in the Black Country famous for its cottage industry of making swords and knives.
Birmingham has NEVER EVER been in the Black Country. >:( Only someone who knows nothing about the BC could make that mistake.
I think the city centre really needs to be totally re-modelled to give it some identity. The Bull ring redevelopment was not enough and was spoilt by that silver blister which is Selfridges. I personally think it looks weird and no doubt in 30 years most people will think its hideous.
My plan
If I was to redevelop the city centre I'd go for Georgian yellow stone architecture like in Bath and Cambridge etc with gothic style windows and arches.
Tear down all 1960s office blocks unless they can be given a stone facade.
Arrange the city centre into sectors: 1) for main retailers, 2) Restaurants and eateries, 3) Independent retailers 4) novelty area. Cottage industry such as pottery, furniture making, glass blowing, bicycle making etc for people to watch and buy.
All centred around a 'Covent Garden' style entertainment area.
The city market would be housed in a new building with Georgian or gothic style arches and high cathedral like roof arranged in aisles, providing different areas with an international food market.
A 'China town' designed by Chinese architects to be one of the biggest in Britain, located close to the city centre.
Make use of the Canals, restaurants etc to be located along canals and in some areas Venetian architecture to be used. Canals are an important feature of Birmingham and the city centre should embrace them as bringing water and boats into the city, even if that means extending them. I'd even go as far as having a city centre quayside and marina surrounded by Georgian gothic architecture.
All buses and trams to be painted in a dark red and cream colour to look respectable not brightly coloured and tacky like at present. Birmingham buses and trams will be seen as an identity for Brum just like the red London buses are for London.
Would the Brummies be dressed in Georgian clothing? I can see them going about their 'traditional' occupations while being stared at and photographed, like some West Midlands Amish. *rolleyes*
Comments
I think you mean Manchester is catching up with us !!
Seriously, Brum is a great place and I think the OP is being very, very rude about the City, there's good and bad in all areas. You will also find some of the most friendly, kind hearted people in Brum and my area the Black Country. I am very proud of where I come from and my accent!
Anyway OP, if Brim is so bad then please do us a favour and don't bother coming here, we don't want you.
Time slowing down to the point of standing still.
Though have to say the gravitational effects are a bit of an anomaly as rather than an attraction and irristable pull, the inverse happens and there is rejection and a irristable force pushing you to escape.
So it's all good then.
Originally when I started work I needed to be at the Brindleyplace office by 0800. The closest I could get was a Cross Country (aka 'Sardine can from hell') that arrived at New Street at 0750. Thankfully after a couple of months my boss allowed me some flexibility which meant I could use the Chiltern service through to Snow Hill and arrive at 0830. An all round more pleasant experience. Nice airy carriages. Rarely crowds of people. Trains are very punctual. In the evenings it was particularly nice because the train starts at Snow Hill so was often parked there waiting to go when I arrived.
Moor Street isn't too bad but it triggers bad memories of the rare days when there was service disruption. CR sometimes turned trains around(*) at Moor Street when there had been a problem and getting to Snow Hill only to find I had to run to Moor Street or wait another hour was unpleasant. On at least one occasion I ran from SH to MS only to find out that I had to run over to NS to use the Cross Country service. Talk about seeing the sites
I also don't like the location of MS because I'm not keen on crowds. As people who know me said at the time - trust Andrue to find out how to get from a train station to his office and only pass three people on the way
(*)Figuratively speaking. There's no room to actually do that so instead the driver walks round to the cab on the other end
Definitely. The more Asian the UK becomes, the better. We have much to learn from them as Cameron stated.
He sounds like a typical Northerner. "There's nowhere better"... zzzzzzzzz.
Historically Birmingham was never meant to be a big city let alone the second largest in Britain. Before the industrial revolution it was a quaint market town in the Black Country famous for its cottage industry of making swords and knives.
Traditional cities like York, Bath, Cambridge, etc were far bigger than Birmingham.
Then the industrial revolution came along and made it centre for manufacture, thousands of people who'd worked in the countryside flocked to Birmingham for reliable work, endless rows of terraced and back to back houses were built for them. In just a few decades the city had quadrupled in size. By the 20th century overcrowding was a problem.
What little that was left of a Birmingham's original identity was destroyed, not by the Luftwaffe but by thoughtless architects and post war planners, who turned the place into a concrete jungle housing its residents in tower blocks and streets in the sky. Sense of community was lost. As industry declined residents had little pride for their high rise homes which fell into disrepair and crime. People had little pride left in Birmingham, considering it wasn't really their native city as they'd only been there about 150 years, prior to industrial revolution, they lived in thatched villages.
Then in the 1980s along came a real Thatcher who got rid if what little industry that remained, putting thousands onto the dole.
Birmingham went from boom to bust. It attracted hundreds of thousands of farm labourers etc from villages to power industry and create an unsustainable population once industry had gone. The descendants of these farm workers now live jobless in run down concrete tower blocks in Britain's benefit sanction capital. If they'd just stayed as farm labourers their descendants could be living in £500,000 cottages, not dependant on foodbanks in some crumbling high rise
if Birmingham had not be subjected to the industrial revolution it may have remained a delightful English town, not a concrete deprived mess
What I saw was the usual grey, boring metropolis, but nothing especially awful, and certainly nothing that even begins to compare with the stifling horror that is central London in the rush hour.
Agree on that. I travel in each day on the train from the south of the city and when the low morning sunlight hits it, it makes for an impressive modern day skyline - if you like that sort of thing that is.
Yes there are still some terrible looking concrete buildings but they are gradually changing.
Born in Birmingham Edit
Walter Abbott – (Footballer)
Gabriel Agbonlahor – (Footballer)
Moeen Ali – (England cricketer)
Dennis Amiss – (Cricketer & Warwickshire Administrator)
Keith Arkell – (English Chess champion, 2008)
Stephen Arlen – (Opera manager)
Ian Ashbee – (Footballer)
Francis William Aston – (Nobel Prize winner, Physicist)
Ian Atkins – (Footballer)
Albert Austin – (Silent film star)
Jack Badham – (Footballer)
Kenny Baker Actor R2D2 in Star Wars
Sir Michael Balcon – (Film director)
Pato Banton – (Reggae artist)
Dave Barnett – (Footballer)
Simon Bates – (DJ)
Blaze Bayley – (Musician - former vocalist of Wolfsbane and Iron Maiden)
Edward White Benson – (Archbishop of Canterbury)
Bev Bevan – (Musician)
Alfred Bird – (Inventor of custard powder)
His son, Sir Alfred Frederick Bird – (Food manufacturer and chemist)
Daniel Boone – (Musician)
Sarah Booth – (Actress)
Matthew Boulton – (Pioneering industrialist and member of the Lunar Society)
Jon Bounds – (Blogger, humorist)
Peter Bradley – (Politician)
William Bragge – (Civil engineer/Antiquarian)
Edward Burne-Jones – (Pre-Raphaelite painter & William Morris Associate)
Trevor Burton – (Musician)
Geezer Butler – bassist of (Black Sabbath)
George Cadbury – (Son of John Cadbury, Founder of the Cadbury chocolate company)
John Cadbury – (Founder of the Cadbury chocolate company)
Richard Cadbury – (Son of John Cadbury, Founder of the Cadbury chocolate company)
Pogus Caesar – (TV Director and Photographer)
Ali Campbell and Robin Campbell – (Musician, UB40)
Duncan Campbell – (Musician)
David Cannadine – (Historian)
Bob Carolgees TV Presenter Tiswas and Surprise Surprise
Lee Carsley – (Footballer)
Darren Carter – (Footballer)
John Carter – (Musician)
Barbara Cartland – (Novelist)
Jasper Carrott – (Comedian)
Austen Chamberlain – (Politician)
Neville Chamberlain – (Prime Minister)
Gary Childs – (Footballer)
And the list goes on
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Birmingham
Much to my surprise a Google search turns up this surprising snippet
"Huge unemployment fall takes West Midlands' rate lower than London's"
While I was there it always seemed prosperous enough but it's interesting if that article is correct.
You don't hear a strong accent in the city, its more on the outskirts.
More canals than Venice
More parks than any other European city
Top class university
Top class teaching hospitals
First class shopping centre
Great curry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musical_groups_from_Birmingham,_West_Midlands
an unrivalled collection of Pre-Raphaelite art http://www.visitmuseums.com/collection/the-pre-raphaelite-collection-at-birmingham-museum-233
http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2014/feb/24/birmingham-new-technology-businesses
http://businessbirmingham.com/media-hub/latest-news/high-tech-hub/
The list goes on but I don't want to tire the OP out, clearly the cheese is slipping off his cracker
I think the city centre really needs to be totally re-modelled to give it some identity. The Bull ring redevelopment was not enough and was spoilt by that silver blister which is Selfridges. I personally think it looks weird and no doubt in 30 years most people will think its hideous.
My plan
If I was to redevelop the city centre I'd go for Georgian yellow stone architecture like in Bath and Cambridge etc with gothic style windows and arches.
Tear down all 1960s office blocks unless they can be given a stone facade.
Arrange the city centre into sectors: 1) for main retailers, 2) Restaurants and eateries, 3) Independent retailers 4) novelty area. Cottage industry such as pottery, furniture making, glass blowing, bicycle making etc for people to watch and buy.
All centred around a 'Covent Garden' style entertainment area.
The city market would be housed in a new building with Georgian or gothic style arches and high cathedral like roof arranged in aisles, providing different areas with an international food market.
A 'China town' designed by Chinese architects to be one of the biggest in Britain, located close to the city centre.
Make use of the Canals, restaurants etc to be located along canals and in some areas Venetian architecture to be used. Canals are an important feature of Birmingham and the city centre should embrace them as bringing water and boats into the city, even if that means extending them. I'd even go as far as having a city centre quayside and marina surrounded by Georgian gothic architecture.
All buses and trams to be painted in a dark red and cream colour to look respectable not brightly coloured and tacky like at present. Birmingham buses and trams will be seen as an identity for Brum just like the red London buses are for London.
As far as Birmingham is concerned, we need look no further than the late, great, cultural commentator, Telly "Kojak" Savalas, for whom Birmingham is "My Kind of Town".
Alum Rock isn't much better
Birmingham has NEVER EVER been in the Black Country. >:( Only someone who knows nothing about the BC could make that mistake.
Would the Brummies be dressed in Georgian clothing? I can see them going about their 'traditional' occupations while being stared at and photographed, like some West Midlands Amish. *rolleyes*
Well the Balti was invented here
It's a largely Muslim city. So aside from a whole bunch of mosques, I don't know what you'd expect it to offer. Loud prayers?
For your minority (country-wide) Islamic population, yes. Not for the rest of us.
Wars have been started for lesser comments ,we are two separate nationalities
I'd never had curry until I went to Birmingham. It was heavenly. And we got student discount too. Ker-ching.