I am 19F from Essex, and I am living in California now. Everyone I know from England and the states alike hates on Birmingham. My English cousin 35F was chatting with our guide yesterday at my mum's wine tasting and was talking about how horrible Birmingham was, and when I chimed in and said I absolutely loved it and asked her when she last went because it probably has changed loads, she said she's never even been! SO many people I have met do the same thing and say they'd NEVER go because of how bad they've heard it is. I guess that makes it better for me because one of the things I love most about it is how few tourists there are, along with its beautiful museums and canals and libraries and shops and China district and gay village. I seriously love Birmingham, I did my A-levels in Stourbridge while I stayed with my aunt and would go into Birmingham everyday for my ballet classes. I literally loved going so much, even just going to the Birmingham station into the huge mall, I would eat dinner with friends or walk around if we didn't have time to go out into the city. It's just so lovely, and I just don't understand where the hate for it comes from! Is it just a lack of knowledge, or having not been in recent years? I've heard it wasn't quite nice back in the 90s and 00s, but now it's great, and people are always surprised when I say so or even will downright tell me I'm wrong ! Anyone have any info on this? xx
Had a boss who was from birmingham (I'm in Tasmania now but this was in sydney 10 years ago). He was new and found out I was in and out of hospital with crohn's (and couldn't keep most jobs and was not just paycheque to paycheque when not sick but couch to couch as I couldn't get out the money hole before I got sick again). Instead of cancelling my casual (zero hour in UK, I think its called), he interceded and handed me a laptop, mobile phone, and let me work, and side stepped HR for 3 years letting me work when I could. I wouldn't have been able to afford to finish uni, get a mortgage (and pay off), and have my daughter.
Anyone from birmingham gets the benefit of the doubt until otherwise from me :)
The city centre was brutalised in the 60s and 70s, with a lot of characterful victorian landmarks getting demolished to make way for concrete slabs- the past 20 years have seen a big turnaround though, the city centre is WAY nicer than it used to be.
General poverty and deprivation, its a big industrial city and a lot of the industry left. I find that every problem the country is currently facing is magnified in Birmingham, like crime, cleanliness, and general quality of public services.
Large Asian population, and people are overtly racist about this.
Now, to be fair, the South of the city is really nice, you could draw a huge arc on a map, starting in Bearwood and curving round to end at Hall Green/Solihull, and you have loads of nice neighbourhoods, like Harborne, Edgbaston, Bournville, Moseley, combined having a population of like 400k. Birmingham's also really fun, loads to do, places to eat and drink. Also importantly, theres a strong jobs market here, and the education institutions are fantastic.
Its absolutely not some mundane "forgotten" town, and it only ever annoys me when people compare it to places like Stoke or Luton, (I.e. small and not much to do)
Large Asian population, and people are overtly racist about this.
According to birmingham.gov.uk, the three most deprived wards in Brum are Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East, Bordesley Green and Lozells while the least deprived are places like Bournville and Sutton Coldfield. No prizes for guessing the respective demographics of both areas.
Considering how it’s always hammered that diversity is supposedly our strength, I don’t see any issue pointing out those discrepancies.
People in Peshawar or Lahore probably wouldn’t be very pleased if native Pakistani ethnic groups weren’t a majority in those cities too!
Have you ever considered maybe its not the immigrants fault for being in the deprived places? They worked just as hard as anyone else to get there. You don't complain about the other person when you lose the race.
I don't know why you're being downvoted here, you're right.
If people expect someone with little money coming to make a life in a new country wouldn't start off in a deprived area, then they're delusional.
My mom was from Sparkbrook when it was still white British. It was a ghetto then too.
I’m glad to see our greatest strength has turned it into such a prosperous area the- oh wait, no, it’s even worse off now.
Moving Pakistanis to those wards in Birmingham just made the city a colder, rainier version of their homeland.
Can you hear a dog whistle?
I get a weird feeling that there's a dog whistle going off somewhere whenever I read one of your comments. Strange.
Nothing wrong in pointing out discrepancies in media narratives :)
If you want to provide a counter, then learn how to make better arguments.
They worked just as hard
You want to compare unemployment stats in Birmingham by ward as well?
I don’t think you’ll like that one either!
I would think about why people from Peshawar and Lahore are even linked to England/UK in the first place too.
Colonialism dumbass
Was it not clear that's what I was alluding the commenter I replied to should think about? That last sentence is comparing apples and oranges.
Loads to do? Could you give me a list?
I've found for a city that big, it has very little to do in the centre. I'm thinkimg tourist/sights
Birmignham Museum and Art Gallery, Ikon Gallery, the Jewellery Quarter Museum & Jewellery Quarter in general, St Paul's Square, Council House & Victoria Square, Town Hall & Chamberlain Square, Central Library & Centenary Square, Brindley Place, Canals & Gas Street Basin, Think Tank Sciene Museum, Birmingham Cathedral & Square, Colmore Row & surroundings, Digbeth for street art, Custard Factory, Back to Backs National Trust, Coffin Works Museum, Pen Museum, Police Museum, RBSA gallery
I LOVED the ikon gallery ! Such beautiful exhibits when I went and free entry (you can leave donations though:)) !
OP, drive in Birmingham and then tell us how great it is.
I'd bet a large sum you don't drive.
Drive in New York, or London or any major city, is it any different? I drive, when I go to Birmingham I prefer to take a train. I can have a drink, I don't have to worry about parking. You're not surgicaly attached to your car seat are you?
Yeah, Bath is one of the worst places I've driven in but I wouldn't hold that against the town because it's great otherwise
Bath is a beautiful town. Fucking nightmare to drive in though
Are the two things linked…?
Very old town with very old street system, not really designed for modern transport. So, I'm gonna say... yes?
It's a lot easier to get around NYC or London without a car though. Try a journey between two random bits of Birmingham without a car. And that lack of good public transport might be one of the reasons people don't like it.
It's easier to walk around the centre of Birmingham as it's so condensed, and the major terminals of bus and train are smack in the middle.
I wouldn't say no to a great subway system to join up the suburbs but that boat has sailed, and as my statto friend keeps explaining to me, the foundations of Birmingham are both too hard and too soft to tunnel efficiently.
I live on the outskirts of Walsall. A bus to the train station and one train in. If I lived in London, I'd be in zone 2 in equivilent distance. Very similar travel time.
Rating a city based on how it is to drive through is moronic.
It’s such a car brained comment. The nicest cities are the ones with the least vehicles, designed for people to live and visit, not cars to speed through as quickly as possible.
Besides the madness of spaghetti junction, traffic is no worse than any other big city.
Coventry with its stupid exit on both sides ring road has entered the chat.
Oh god. The horror of the ring road! I went through there once and had no idea that such a system was in place.
I’m guessing you don’t drive if you’re singling out Birmingham as being bad
Birmingham is one of the worst cities to drive in. I give it credit only for convincing me to ditch the car for cycling.
It's also absolutely shit for cycling as well but at least you can get around.
The overall combination of driver aggression, poorly maintained roads, dense population, too many motor vehicles, insufficient public transport options and hostility to active travel options makes it one of the worst in the country.
My counter to you is that if you don't see this perspective, I'd guess that you might never leave the house or one of the drivers who don't mind making it shit for every other road user.
I think the point is more that Brum isn’t bad for a big city - it’s not worse than London or LA
Despite being orders of magnitude larger than Brum, London is a much better environment for transport all around, including driving. In London, owing to the availability of public transport and multiplicity of options for alternative transport to cars, driving a personal owned car is an option and not a necessity.
Birmingham is addicted to cars and ruined by them. Most people don't or can't think beyond their vehicle and so a city with narrow roads and dense population is choked by cars, resulting in frustration and aggression that's unmatched in other UK cities.
The problem is that it will take significant investment into infrastructure to neutralise the toxicity around active travel and provide decent alternatives. The pedestrian and cyclist deaths will keep mounting in the meantime.
LA is useless as a comparison.
It’s OK to have a different experience and a different opinion to other people.
I don’t think Birmingham is worse to drive in than London, Bristol, Oxford or Cambridge.
I do think it’s worse to drive in than Manchester, Liverpool and Glasgow.
That's fair comment but in your middle 4 cities you can get around well without a car (Bristol possibly stretching this) and this makes them feel aggressive. Being on the road, although not in a car, feels quite sedate in these cities whereas in Brum it's just a thoroughly nasty experience.
What about these cities feels worse to drive in for you?
It is worse than London. I’d argue it also worse than Manchester.
It’s not all shit but it’s laughable when people try to compare it to London.
Absolute garbage. Have driven around both Birmingham, and London. London drivers are more aggressive. London has 20 mile an hour zones everywhere. London has more traffic. London has fewer alternative routes for drivers and so you get filtered onto nightmare A roads such as the circular. It does however have better public transport.
Last time I was in London it took me 45 min to make the last 3 miles of a journey.
guessing
You guess wrong. I don't need to ask you to know that I drive more miles than you do every year(unless you're a trucker), and that I've been driving for longer than you. I hate insurance websites that only allow me to put "20 years plus" no claims bonus. I have more than that.
Funny reaction for someone who assumed someone else's driving history
Sounds like you’ve been doing the same round trip from Northampton to Birmingham for the past 25 years
Maybe he's just not a very confident driver, cut him some slack. Birmingham is pretty easy to navigate compared to most cities, but if you are of a certain age, I imagine all the tall buildings and traffic can be overwhelming.
yeah, but driving anywhere is shitty unless you live in a small town or in the country. In LA, it takes me an hour to drive to work, and I only work 14 miles away from me. If we are basing the niceness of a city on its drivability, then most bigger cities are rotten.
You’re absolutely right, Birmingham is much nicer to drive in than LA or London, no idea what this guy is talking about
I drive and drive through Birmingham regularly. It's perfectly fine, unless you've a rotting car brain.
The concrete collar was killing the centre, I'm glad those roads have been demolished, it's opened up so much more of the city.
That's quite a bizarre way to judge a city. Oxford is shit to drive in. So is Bath. So is London. Most of our best cities aren't good to drive in.
In fact, I'd say if anything correlation is the opposite. The cities that are the best to drive in tend to be worse. Basing a city around prioritising driving tends to work against many of the factors that make for a great city.
Hagley Road from M5 , park at Brindley Place, done, where's the problem?
It's the same as any major city in the UK, the only major difference is the density of people around the centre. I've lived in Birmingham for 25 years and the majority issue is the city is a jack of all trades, master of none, so it kinda offers everything without anything being standoutish
- Manchester offers rich art / music scene.
- London has a lot more choice in food and things to do and better transport.
- Sheffield has a cozy town village feel while still being a city and the peak district is next door.
- Any sea-side City has the bonus of being by the sea and is (usually) not far from a nice village/beach area.
Tonnes of big bands from Brum, but they don’t bang on about it like bands from Manchester do
Being the origin of Black Sabbath and half of led zeppelin will give musical currency it ever needs in my book.
And Duran Duran!
but they don’t bang on about it
I have a theory that a large part of Birmingham's underratedness stems from the character of Brummies. Mancunians or scousers or basically anyone from anywhere in Yorkshire will chew your ear off if given half a chance about how great their city is.
Brummies aren't given to self-promotion. They're more likely to make a self deprecating joke about Birmingham. The Brummy character is quite sardonic, which doesn't give itself to bigging up the city the same way people from other cities do.
Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Glasgow all had bad reputations, and culturally reinvented themselves since 80/90s. Still a lot of smaller cities like Cov and Wolvo that are stuck in limbo.
Bristol is by far the best UK city 🤌🏻 Loads of art, culture, music, things to do, etc. I would love to live there. Its not too far from my home town, but I live in Germany now. But ive heard Bristol is very expensive
No one's said it? I'm gonna say it. The accent. 😆
Hard to defend that one, although I'd say that since Peaky Blinders came out it's been much better to be greeted by strangers with a Tommy Shelby impression rather than a shit "Buuuurming'um" in a black country accent
I think there is some truth to this. The general Birmingham/Black country accent is perceived negatively and hence people and place get tarred by association.
It's interesting to understand why. The accent has a falling tone across the speech. So when a non-local hears a Brummie say "No, I'm really really happy" it can sound to them - in terms of tone - as if they are saying "No, I'm really really depressed". By contrast, typical Australian accents often have a rising tone so when an Aussie says "oh yeah, I'm really depressed" the chipper upward tone can make it sound to non-Aussie listeners like "oh yeah, I'm doing fine".
Stand in the middle of Birmingham and listen to people talking as they walk passed. Finding a Brummie accent is like finding hens teeth. There are so many students (both British and international) and first generation imports that you'd be hard pressed to tell where you were just by sound alone
Did this the other day. Its black country yam yam which is the bad one. Dont hear many people say Julie Walter's and John Oliver have a horrible accent and they are from Brum
My impression is that people like the accent, it's endearing. It does make you sound a bit simple though.
I am from Birmingham but my accent is mostly gone.
The big cities outside of London generally have this hate especially on Reddit. Some of it comes from "north south"/accent related. Most of it seems to be basic classism.
It's kinda astonishing at times how little UK people seem to have a look around in the UK. Saw a video the other day of Americans trying Kendal mint cake. So many Brits in the comments had no idea what it was.
Add to this that being proud of where you are from is really frowned upon in England. It's almost a requirement to hate where you grew up unless it was a "nice area". This completes a sort of reinforcing loop of negatives about a place.
Why would I take a trip to Birmingham for a £100 return train, £200 on a hotel and all the expense for a long weekend. When I could spend similar and go visit another country?
For the cost of a long weekend in Brmingham I could probably do a long weekend in Milan for not much extra.
There's research that shows just how accents can alter our opinion and perception of people. People were asked to rate interview responses, exactly the same response just different accents. This has been done several times over the decades. Received pronunciation still outstrips all the others, and Birmingham is really low.
It's a bit chicken and egg I suppose but I think a big reason is the accent.
Interestingly there’s also research that a shows a Brummie accent is perceived really positively outside of the UK - it’s only within the UK it’s seen as unattractive. So it’s more the cultural baggage that’s attached to the accent than the accent itself.
maybe I don’t find the brum accent bad cause I’m from Essex and LA so I’ve got this weird mixture of an Essex/valley girl accent, which I would rate the lowest of the low accents 😭😅
Growing up, I heard jokes that Birmingham was no different to places in the Middle East due to the influx of Middle Eastern/asians coming over.
There was also that infamous clip from FOX NEWS(?) in the US where a news anchor claimed that Birmingham was just for Muslims and no white Brits were allowed there.
I go there for the gay village. It’s nice there. Everywhere else is alright. Don’t think I’d want to live there purely because it’s just too busy for me.
Safe enough though (in my experience) and a nice day out. Cadbury world is also there.
Not sure if that’s a joke or not, but there’s a gay village in Birmingham next to Bullring. Very popular and loads of gay bars, clubs, and so on. Anyone can go there.
Lived/worked there for 18 months and came home on weekends. I enjoyed it there. Good food/pubs/bars and stuff to do. However… I stayed over a few weekends and man that place can change quick. Gone are all the business people and what’s left is thugs. Felt perfectly safe in the city during the week but weekends… nahhh. Felt like everytime I left the hotel on a weekend some dickhead would approach me and have something to say or be threatening. I’m just a normal average looking dude.
Worst thing to happen was one of my (white) work mates got beat up on a weekend by some Asians for kissing his (Indian) GF in public, cause “Muslim women shouldn’t date white men”, she isnt even Muslim, can only assume they saw her skin colour and just assumed she was from Pakistan or wherever. It wasn’t just the one time either, (well, he only got beat up once) he would get hate anytime he was out in public with her cause people would assume her race/religion and being with a white guy. Saw it myself, they were walking hand in hand and some random Asian guy came up and pulled her away from him saying it was haram. I’ve never seen anything like it. I worked in Bradford for years, which is another Asian heavy place, and I never saw any of that type of shit.
Bradford has some amazing driving these days, like the most dangerous zebra crossing.
https://youtu.be/Eb0g5DP3zcY?si=5KTOaemDKII2Cay9
To your other point that was also my (white) mates experience of dating and Asian lady. Her family were the worst for the racism he said.
There is a reason Bradford has one of the highest car insurance premiums in England. I have no idea where most of them got a licence, or if they have one, or if they hold insurance due to how expensive it is. The people are generally nice though.
Bradford in West Yorkshire (one in 57), and Romford in East London (one in 64) are also described as 'no insurance conviction hotspots'.5 Jan 2024
That’s 9694 people driving round Bradford with no insurance. Fun!
Good place for dodgy mechanics tho. A few work mates live in Bradford and drive fancy cars. C63, E63, RS3 etc. Very common practice to roll back the miles on the speedometer before the a MOT. Had multiple mates from Bradford tell me they can hook me up with their mechanic just before my Merc hit 3 years and needed a MOT. This was not solicited advice. I had no intention to do that yet still had people tell me they could hook it up.
Yeah I will say I’ve been approached by men a lot in the city, I wear big platform shoes a lot so I’ll be like this 6’4-6’9 teenage girl walking around the city lol and then I kind of have to ward off weirdos but I find that happens lots of places, I never found it to be any worse than LA or even London.
You’re only describing a very smart part of Birmingham, which suggests you don’t really know Birmingham; if you were in Stourbridge then you didn’t see Birmingham.
The city centre has had lots of investment to improve it, and of course the museums and theatres are going to be nice.
Drive through to some of the other areas and see, there is some real deprivation in some community areas, rubbish everywhere and flytipping on high streets.
Having residents/gangs that would rather raw sewerage run through the street than letting us send in wrong ethnicity of engineers, so for safety we couldn’t send people in.
The crime rate in Birmingham is substantially higher than the rest of the West Midlands.
I don’t disagree, but aren’t Manchester and London the same in that regard? Moss Side and Peckham aren’t winning any awards
Peckham is actually getting gentrified to fuck. Same with Hackney.
Wouldn’t be surprised if Peckham is winning some awards tbf
Yes they are, all cities have got these areas and most towns to.
I think Manchester gets the same rep as Birmingham for the negative and bad areas and it’s certainly true.
Wait I’ve never heard of this. What ethnicity do they require the engineers to be to fix the sewer problems?
I was working on an STW contract a few years ago and fixing problems in alum rock got that bad crews weren’t allowed to go in just one vehicle, they were having stones thrown at them and racist abuse hurled at them for being white and trying to help.
We had to have people to watch the vans as they were being broken into whilst they were in the back. At the time it mirrored the problems the ambulances had over there.
We had police community liaison officers trying to use the good will they had to influence so we could attend. We had police support for jobs over there.
Out of the whole STW area it was the worse. I know you can’t judge a big city by one area but just an example why the city gets hate.
No I totally agree, what I am saying is that all big cities have good and nasty parts, but it seems that Birmingham is held in way lower regards than places like New York or London or Manchester or LA, even though they’re the same way
If it makes you feel better I hate Essex too.
HAHA well at least the hate is shared round other counties then, now just Birmingham 😅
I’m from the South West, I’ve only visited Birmingham once while on my way to Stourbridge, and decided to stay for a few hours before I made my way onwards. I admittedly stayed within the vicinity of the station, but I loved looking around (Ozzy the Bull!), and even chatted with a few locals, and they were all very friendly and welcoming people. I really liked Birmingham (locals, thank you for being lovely!), and had it not been for my mobility problems going downhill, I would’ve returned and possibly made a city weekend break there at some point.
People hate on Birmingham and have never been. Bullring, Mailbox and Canal basin are as good if not better than most UK cities for shopping and bars. There are a lot less empty shops than most high streets.
As someone who has lived in Birmingham his whole 35 years of life-
Knife crime, arson, burglary, shoplifting, drug related crimes, robberies and sexual assaults have been on a steady climb for as long as I can remember.
There is graffiti and rubbish literally everywhere.
Every major road is either covered in potholes or undergoing roadworks, all of the time.
Gangs of youths on dirt bikes driving at people on the pavement just to scare them, or revving their engines at 3 in the morning just to be a nuisance.
The entire city center has been one big building site my entire life.
People here can. Not. Drive. I can't stress enough how bad birmingham drivers are. Red lights are a suggestion and give way markers are not even that.
Every other business is a fast food restaurant. Every 3rd business is a nail salon. The vast majority of shopping districts will have 8btakeaways, 3 nail salons, 2 barbers, a vape shop and maybe a single co-op or tesco express if you're lucky.
And despite the fact that most of the city has been in a state of steady urban decay for 3 decades, rental and property prices have skyrocketed in that same time span.
This ☝️
OP, take it from someone who knows, Birmingham is a cesspit. Every year, it stinks worse and burns my nose. I still wear a mask when I go out because of the smell.
I lost my virginity in Birmingham.
2 days later, I had a bag stolen at the train station.
Needless to say, I have mixed opinions.
Well I'm from the West Midlands. I look at it like this, every single location has a stereotype. There's no extra hate for Birmingham. Welsh fuck sheep. Essex are all vapid like love island. All Home Counties people are posh twats ect. You can do it for anywhere.
Birmingham is in reality like most other places, it's 50 50, half shit, half nice, you can have great time, you can have a shit time.
So I think place it in context instead of try and make Birmingham seem nice, Birmingham is more or less like everywhere else (except Grimbsy of course, my hearts and prayers go out to everyone who has to live in Grimbsy.)
This is my favourite answer! I agree wholeheartedly.
It's also... the midlands.
There's a shared experience in southern and northern cities. They'll feud with the neighbours, but close ranks when someone insults "The North" or "The South".
For whatever reason, the midlands doesn't have that, so we're fair game for jokes.
It’s because the midlands is essentially a dead zone. Northerners think you’re southern. Southerners think you’re northern. Neither wants you.
Also all the good cities are either in the north or south. As evidenced by your best one being Birmingham
Let's face it, so many Americans are taf. Years ago there was a "news" report that said there were no fo areas for white people or some such shizz. They are basing their opinion on that.
I used to go out in Birmingham loads back in the 90s. Bloody brilliant people, never had a bad time, even the "gangsters" that turned up at the club with a gun looking for someone were friendly and polite!!!
Reddits crap joke to say anywhere that isn't posh as fuck is a shithole lol it's nether funny or remotely original
I always say to this - Brum has more neighbours since it is so central. We love to express negative banter towards neighbours. More banter = more "hate".
Birmingham is large and in no way one locality. Hating (or loving) it is as subjective a feeling the same about London.
Why do people always ask this question when they just get mad or upset at the answer?
The fact that this question gets asked so often should be a clue in itself.
The town, imo, is a shithole. It looks like it's been neglected, and given that the council is broke, it probably has been. This isn't a slight against the people who live there, I'm sure they're great. But the town is very uninspired, ugly and dirty. It feels like the only thing there is the mall, and I hated that mall.
It's cool if you like it, but there's a reason why so many people don't.
Having said that, I really like Norwich, so take my opinion with a grain of salt.
I’m not mad! Opinions are opinions, thanks for sharing yours ! X
Sorry, I didn't mean you specifically. I've just seen this question asked a lot recently, and every time someone gives an honest answer, they receive a lot of salty replies.
Thank you for your chill response, though. It's nothing personal against Brummies or those who like the city.
I have been to Birmingham recently and it is still shit, walked from new street to the new curzon street build and saw about 50 homeless people. The streets were filthy, and it’s just a depressing place.
The main thing for me though is there is just an edge to it there that I can’t describe, I just don’t feel safe and you can’t put a price on that.
Ah yeah, i think maybe spending a lot of years in and out of LA (where it’s just v unsafe, cool but not safe), Birmingham feels much better in terms of safety. But it definitely isn’t the cleanest or safest, I agree with you.
Birmingham is a dump, if carlsberg did shitholes..... that would be it, even dogs hang about in gangs
This was asked last week too...
Oh sorry! I just joined this Reddit because I was thinking about it and wanted to ask, I’ll look through the Reddit next time I think I want to ask a question.
I love Birmingham. It's a beautiful, friendly place with lots of culture and interesting history, surrounded by gorgeous countryside. About 30 years ago I had BF with family there and it was pretty grim and soulless in those days; lots of concrete due to all the bomb damage in WWII, and, like a lot of other industrial cities, there was still a lot of poverty and unrest.
I prefer it to Manchester, which I find grim and depressing.
Same! I wasn’t much fan of Manchester when I went, I preferred Birmingham.
The accent
Birmingham is OK. More canals than Venice, apparently
but.... sounds like you mostly wanted to tell people about, your life in California, your guide at your mums wine tasting", your A levels, your Ballet classes, etc.
No I was just trying to explain why I felt the way I did! Sorry I didn’t mean to seem show offish 🤍
All of humanity 🤝 hating Birmingham
The centre is alright to visit.
My friend did her paramedic training there and had a gun pulled on her on more than one occasion and various other weapons
Was the guide specifically talking about UK Brum though? There's one in Alabama too...
Never been to it myself and I tend to not say I hate a place that I have never been...
Yes! We were talking about the English one x
As somebody from Wolverhampton who now lives in Manchester. I can safely say Birmingham is rubbish. Manchester has a nicer feel and more going on. The only thing Birmingham has going for it is the jewellery quarter. Nowhere in the uk is like it. If you are ring shopping, it’s great haggling between the shops.
Birmingham has been neglected by the government for years, so they can send that money to well off areas. Once you’ve bought weed off a 15 year old, you can see a little bit more than other people can.
I've only been to Birmingham three times, always using public transport, and having to run a gauntlet of alkies and junkies begging for money as I leave New Street Station is enough to put me off returning. The last time I was there was to attend an event at a venue that was within easy walking distance of my hotel, but I rang for a taxi because I just didn't feel safe. Yes, Birmingham may have some good points, but if you're on your own it's not a pleasant experience.
Ah I’m really sorry you experienced that! I think that if I had the same experiences I’d feel the same way, luckily every time I’ve been by myself I’ve been safe and unbothered by others.
I have pondered this for a while, and the conclusion I've come to is the Brummie accent. Go with me on this for a moment. When you look at the least popular accents in Britain, they always coincide with a less than popular destination.
According to a 2014 YouGov list - The Most to Least Attractive Accents in the British Isles
1. Southern Irish
2. Received Pronunciation
3. Welsh
4. Yorkshire
5. West Country
6. Geordie
7. Northern Irish
8. Glaswegian
9. Cockney
10. Mancunian
11. Scouse
12. Brummie
Now, there are a few things that britain leads the world on. Some good, some bad, but by far the worst is our particularly rigid class system (in my opinion, obviously). I can't help but notice that the more "working class" the accent, the lower down the list.
Maybe I'm talking absolute bollocks, but I'm convinced Birmingham is victim of its accent.
Edit - spelling
I’m sure people from the valleys with a VERY Welsh accent are all middle class.
Plus Yorkshire, known to be home of the posh. All those posh Cornish too…
But you'll notice that Welsh, Yorkshire, and South Ireland are very broad definitions of an accent, so I would say they are generalised. There are some nice Yorkshire and Welsh accents, but there are definitely some bad ones. Birmingham is essentially a single accent.
There is no reason to go there over other cities. Everything it does, other cities do much better.
I have been... Its utter shit. Its trying its best but it is an ugly dirty city filled with sketchiness. Its one of only two cities in the UK where I have cut my trip short because it just wasn't worth being there. sitting at home was preferable.
Last time I went was August last year. I was walking up one of the main roads and it was a bit crowded. Found out why in a few minutes. The police had set up a metal detector and where making the pedestrians walk through it. I guess Birmingham is rather stabby/shooty as I have never seen that sort of shit in another city in the UK.
That is Johannesburg's level of fucked.
To be frank if you are paying money to visit a place. You may as well go to a nice place and Birmingham just isn't a nice place
It's basically dog whistle racism. Same with Luton or Bradford. When they say London has gone to the dogs, what they mean is there are a lot of non-white people in London.
The corollary of this is, if they say some random village or town is 'really nice, not like London', they mean it has a large white population.
Some people like diversity some people don’t. That’s why some people live in London and some live in little villages in the middle of nowhere.
It's probably racism.
But in general, I don't like Birmingham completely seperate to that due to the pessimistic moaning attitude of people I've met there. It is also quite right-wing.
There are some great curry houses though. And I love UB40.
7/10 of the uks terrorists come from Birmingham.
Remember before I moved there the first thing I saw was a news story about an old lady being stabbed and having her corpse left in a bin.
I thought it must be such a classy place.
7/10 of the uks terrorists come from Birmingham.
A stat plucked from the deepest recesses of your arse
I'd rate them 8/10. punctual and food was spicy hot.
The worrying thing is that the person to whom you replied is a teacher (in Korea). One would hope that a teacher wouldn't spout nonsense.
Yes. I should have put a "home born Islamist"* terrorist asterix there.
Not sure of the exact statistic, but somewhen I read it was a significant statistic. I can't be bothered to save wgeey single source I read something from because I'm not a fanatical extremist who obsessively writes down and saves every source they read.
People who disagree always throw out the "give me your source" while never bothering to provide their own though so their opinion is equally worthless. If you have a source to show otherwise, I'm perfectly happy to change my views though so please send if you like c:
Islamist terrorism isn't some constant threat in the UK.
There have been <100 people killed in the past decade.
For contrast more people died of covid last week.
It shouldn't be one of the main factors when considering safety.
There are many things to consider. And many dangers that exist only in countries where certain aspects to societies demographics exist, and which threats don't exist in countries like Korea and Japan where such demographics don't exist. And further more, case studies such as Sweden very effectively show that there is one common denominator as they were as safe as Korea and Japan until said common denominator suddenly appeared within the last 15 years or so (and caused it to suddenly be ranked as the most dangerous country in Europe for violent crimes and gun crimes and to be ranked as even more dangerous than the usa).
Oh my! Yeah, stories like that, I can understand why someone would be wary of the place. Thing is, Los Angeles is 100x dirtier and more dangerous (I still love it, but it is true), and yet it's still held in such high regard, idk why Birmingham is treated the way it is because the actual place itself is really lovely
Tbh, I don't think British cities can even help compared to American cities for the one obvious reason of... we don't have guns lol..
Thank fuck… You’d have committed a mass shooting by now.
Source?
Go read the next comment and stop being such a predictable npc
Oh yeah "ive read it somewhere." That's not a source, is it? That's literally trust me bro. so what's the actual source? Name-calling is a nice suprise, especially coming from a teacher lmao wow.
I'm not wasting my time arguing with idiots.
Apples are red. OK? What's your source. Humans drink water. OK what's your source? Smoking is bad for you. OK. What's your source?
I can't be bothered to waste collectively hours of my life finding sources for lazy redditors who can't be bothered to find contradictory ones even if I DID waste my I life collecting thousands of sources for everything I've ever heard.
Wow, you're miserable, aren't you. If you make big claims like that, you gotta bring receipts to back that up. It's that simple.
You waste hours on reddit (chronically online) anyways so you might as well back some stuff up.
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