Do you prefer Birmingham or Manchester

What a surprise. You and every other Tom, dick and harry. And your choice of locations is truly original with your to be expected healthy budget 😂

Why the need to be bitchy? OP is looking for help, not to be sneered on @Buddenbruchs

The city centre was like an apocalypse due to all the demolition for HS2. Huge piles of rubble and graffiti everywhere. It felt like a dying city and some areas felt very sinister and intimidating. The city council are bankrupt and the city was dirty and unkempt.
i don’t think I’d want to spend a day there.
This is not my experience at all- there are roadworks of course but only similar to other cities I experience, throughout the world.
My DS lived by the Peace Garden for 2 years and never experienced any aggression. Neither have I and I frequently walk through the Jewellery Quarter alone late at night.
Also those saying Manchester has better restaurants. A quick google shows Birmingham has 9 Michelin starred restaurants and Manchester has 1. The hospitality sector in B'rum is really interesting. Nothing against Manchester though, I like it when I visit but that is only a couple of times a year on average.

You asked the wrong people!

And because dh, ds and I are used to “day outs” we just need a city which has stuff going on - plays, gigs, festivals. We would all struggle if we lived in the middle of nowhere.

Unless you are planning to move to the Highlands and Islands you are going to have at least one big city nearby and possibly more, but you won't want to do that every week. So, e.g., I lived in Cheshire about 30 years ago. We went into Manchester and Stockport on the train but also had days out in Buxton (for the opera), Macclesfield (silk museum), Alderley Edge (NT historic mill), Chester (pretty historic centre), and to Jodrell Bank (astromomy). That's a month of weekends without going anywhere near a city centre, would you and your DS like any of those activities? The reality is whether you live in Cheshire or Warwickshire you'll have access to lots of culture that is not in the big city centre. Both Manchester and Birmingham have lots going on but nobody in the regions just thinks about just one city providing everything they want.

I think you should probably rent out your London property and try renting in your prefered location for a year and see how you like the lifestyle. Get the Rough Guide to England and instead of heading for a city centre explore north, south, east and west of where you live as well as the nearest city. Join EH or NT and discover the local sites, it'll be different from London and that's the fun.

Also, who wants to go somewhere "new" every weekend? Is this a peculiar London attitude that you can only go somewhere once? If you like a particular restaurant, bar, sports venue, activity, is it so odd to suggest you might want to experience it twice? Why wouldn't you want to try new dishes at your favourite restaurant, or hang out with friends in a favourite coffee shop or bar?

I don't think it's a specific Londoner attitude. I have friends from London. My friend who lives here now says she only tended to go to central London for work. Friends who still live there are mostly the same as her and they go to their favourite local cafes and pubs. None of them are particularly into going for days out especially not regularly or to central London for museums, galleries etc. They say people who do that are often not originally from London or are tourists because it's still a novelty (I've done it myself when visiting).

That said, everyone has different preferences and I'm sure some people from London like to do similar to OP. Each to their own.

Personally I think OP would be happier staying in London given her preferences and budget - unless she's wanting to move because she or her DH aren't from London originally and want to move closer to family?

What a surprise. You and every other Tom, dick and harry. And your choice of locations is truly original with your to be expected healthy budget 😂

Depends what you're into. If you want a vibrant food scene, lots of culture and growing city with great transport, Manchester is the way to go. I recently asked for recommendations for places to go in Birmingham and the answer was 'Brewdog'. Better curries there though.

I'd go with Manchester. Living in Altrincham there's plenty going on locally but a strong connection to Manchester, via Metrolink etc., probably more so than if you live in Warwick/Stratford and want to head into Birmingham. I reckon that would give you something as close to a "London lifestyle" as you would find outside London itself.

Others are right that neither Manchester nor Birmingham has anything approaching the cultural life of London. But it's a bit much to suggest you'll have exhausted the possibilities in a few weeks/months.

For example, if you're in Manchester, there may be far fewer theatres than you'd find in London but they don't tend to keep the same productions running for extended periods as many West End theatres do. By the time you've "done everything", there'll be a new-to-Manchester touring production at the Palace or Opera House, new plays at the Library or Royal Exchange, etc. Similarly, just because you saw a concert at the Bridgwater Hall last month doesn't mean you've "done" there and it holds no further appeal. Different performers are performing different works now.

Also, who wants to go somewhere "new" every weekend? Is this a peculiar London attitude that you can only go somewhere once? If you like a particular restaurant, bar, sports venue, activity, is it so odd to suggest you might want to experience it twice? Why wouldn't you want to try new dishes at your favourite restaurant, or hang out with friends in a favourite coffee shop or bar?

I will add in something different

My daughter was living in Altringham and has moved to Warwick

Mentioned the other day that her house insurance and car insurance had dropped significantly - we are looking at over £300 per year

Clearly if youre buying a house for £900k then you're not short of money - but law of averages is you drive two cars that are a higher group than my dd and her house being small in comparison to a £900k proportionally you'd be paying a lot more up north for the insurances than down in Warwick

I would echo other people who have said that Altrincham would be a good choice for you as there’s enough going on there in terms of restaurants, bars etc to be a nice weekday distraction. Then it’s very easy to hop on a tram or train to Manchester (or even Liverpool) for fun cultural weekend activities. Also, as someone else mentioned you’re not far from getting out to the Peak District for a change of scenery not to mention several national trust properties in the vicinity

We also have lots of plays, Everyman cinema plus big Odeon, vast amount of restaurants, 2 universities in Bath, 2 in Bristol.lovely countryside on doorstep -

Wondered if you had thought about the Bath/Bristol combo OP? Between the 2 they have more festivals ( books, food, comedy , music) than you can shake a stick at . only 12 minutes apart on regular train too. We live in Bathbut do go to stuff in Bristol too and the reverse is true - 1 hr 17 to London from Bath on regular train. If you can afford Knutsford/Altrincham you can afford here.

@Clarro Based on what your wants are I would say Warwickshire is perfect for you. Lots of theatres and places for gigs in Birmingham but also in Coventry which is easily accessible. A lot of places for days out - easily get to Manchester, Liverpool, Oxford, Bristol, Cardiff etc from the midlands.

I agree.
Outside London everything isn't so city based. Most towns have some sort of arts/culture scene.
If her only experience is The US and London I can see why OP thinks the way she does but I live partway between Leeds and Manchester and go to both for shopping, arts, food etc BUT I also visit many closer towns and even villages for events or to eat.
There isn't such a City vs middle of nowhere here as in America

Anyway. Commuter towns aside, as cities I think Manchester knocks Birmingham into a cocked hat. I went to uni in Birmingham and it's my nearest city, but my dc live in Manc and I spend a lot of time there now.

Way more stuff to do in terms of museums, better restaurants/nightlife. Plus it's only a short train ride to some other cities like Liverpool/leeds, and you can get to the coast/Lake District/Peak District quicker.

And because dh, ds and I are used to “day outs” we just need a city which has stuff going on - plays, gigs, festivals. We would all struggle if we lived in the middle of nowhere.

The thing is, you genuinely- outside London - do not need a city for this. In between your ‘city / middle of nowhere’ false dichotomy are many, many towns / smaller cities where all of the above take place and where, certainly within a small region, you can be busy every weekend.

I live in a fairly small county town. It has plays, gigs and festivals all year round. 2 cinemas, 2 separate locations for outdoor gigs and festivals, a theatre, 2 museums. Enough bijou eating places for a year of weekends - all within walking distance of my house. I moved from a larger town with pretty much the same but 2 theatres and 1 cinema and more ‘nationally known’ cultural events.

There is plenty in between your ‘city’ and ‘middle of nowhere’. If you want to replicate ‘dormitory area’ (whether suburb or town) and ‘all encompassing city hub’, stay in London. If you want plays, gigs, festivals, museums, the outdoors, music, history, culture - you can find them all over the place if you consider regional networks rather than hub/spoke models.

The only exception would be if you don’t drive, in which case I can understand the need for your hub/spoke model and would suggest London remains for you.

I'm a Manc so obvs I'm very biased. I've never lived in Birmingham so I've no reason to denigrate it. But I'd definitely recommend Manchester. Loads going on. Lots of great theatre and venues. Totally bonkers food scene at the moment. Knutsford and alderley are much more bling Cheshire

Altrincham is in Trafford so part of Greater Manchester with trams straight into town. The town centre suffered post Trafford Centre but it's recently getting a new lease of life with the opening of the Old Markets as a food centre. Wilmslow has direct London trains but has a reputation for being a bit cliquey. Look at the Heaton's or Cheadle

Fascinating debate! I know both very well.

For me Manchester has the edge because of the spectacular Victorian architecture, the tram network and the Trafford Centre. I feel shallow with the latter but I just love it. I also agree that there's a much more interesting array of places to visit from Manchester, lots of other gorgeous towns and villages all with their own identity.

I think this is the mindset change that the OP isn’t quite getting because her experience is London.

If you live in a Zone 4 area, you don’t necessarily look ‘out’ or ‘sideways’ or ‘around’ - you look inwards to the centre of London, where everything os concentrated.

If you live in a town in the Midlands or North, it’s more of a network: it’s not ‘stay at home for a film day’ vs ‘commute into a single city for the day’. Instead it is ‘where in this whole area might I go today?’.

I can see that because if the different mindsets, some of the posts here are at cross-purposes - OP is concentrating on ‘the single city centre’ because of her mindset.

When I lived in Stratford I used to go to Oxford or London for city days out. Would occasionally go to Birmingham if I wanted to do something specific to that city (which I do quite like).

Manchester but I studied there and don’t know Birmingham anywhere near as well.

Based on fairly limited information Birmingham strikes me as a bit soulless but I may be being unfair.

Knutsford is nice but I would choose Wilmslow - you are still close to knutsford but better trains and more going on.

I quite like Manchester as a place, I have to travel a lot for work but I'd prefer to visit
be more central located. Midlands makes pretty much everywhere accessible.

And also it's always so grey in Manchester. I swear 9/10 times I go to Manchester it's raining. What is with that? It's like there's a big black cloud hanging over it!

I stopped in Birmingham to get petrol on the way back from holiday and the sketchy area was sketchier than any I've seen in Manchester so on that basis I would go for Manchester.