Where to live in Birmingham?

[Taskmasterlover]

Only post on here to get some responses. Looking to possibly move to Birmingham sometime next year - want to be within a 30-40 minute public transport commute ideally. Budget is £450k for a 4 bedroom house, want a nice family friendly area, happy with new builds.

Any suggestions of areas? Thanks

@DietrichandDiMaggio that wasn’t my intention, it’s just a fact that the city has a generally low average income. Most brummiese use being working class as a badge of honour, it’s not a bad thing.

There are also many deprived areas which tend to be unsafe - that’s my opinion as someone who grew up there. Barely anyone I know stayed in the city. It turned us off for a reason🤷🏼‍♀️

I’d also suggest the Sutton Coldfield side. We’re on the south side but Dd moved to a grammar school in Sutton for sixth form and is spending all her social time there! Very accessible on the cross city train line (20 mins into town) and the park is lovely. It’s got a nice little town centre too, and good comprehensives as well as the two grammars.

Alternatively try Bournville/Cotteridge. If you’ll need secondary schools make sure you’re in catchment for the Kings Norton boys and girls schools (which are actually in Bournville).

Birmingham is a vibrant city, try looking south as well, Worcester is lovely but probably a wee bit too far for your commute but there are some lovely villages

All the areas that are classed as nice are pretty expensive, as woukd always be the case. I think it's good to look at border areas. Brummies may think this controversial but Bearwood is just a stones throw away from Harborne and is a real up and coming area. It has a great family community. A main road (Hagley road) parts it from Harborne. Houses on one side of the Hagley Road (Harborne) can be considerably more expensive than the other (Bearwood).

It's very close to the city centre - about 25mins by bus and has lovely parks like Lightwoods and Warley woods. It has a high st which is a bit naff tbh, but you're only 10mins drive from harborne high st which has quite a few pubs, restaurants and mix of shops.

Being working class isn't a bad thing, but your previous posts suggested you think it is. Also why should working class equal living in a deprived area? Plenty of people who work in traditionally working class jobs still earn a decent amount, and in a relatively cheap city like Birmingham will be homeowners.

South East Birmingham can be lovely - Solihull and surrounding villages are easy to access Birmingham on the train. I’m just not sure you’d get the house you want within budget - Knowledge, Dorridge etc are great for families but very pricey.

I live in Lichfield,I love it,good rail connection to Birmingham New Street.There are two stations.Lichfield City and Lichfield Trent Valley,from the latter you can be in London in 90minutes.

Also easy to get to Birmingham or East Midlands Airport.

Plenty of 4bedroom houses in your price range.

I moved from Sutton Coldfield,I lived there for over 20years and never liked it,it is soulless,it has gone down a lot in recent years,crime and anti social behaviour are rife.The property is expensive.Not nice at all.

@Belledan1

Sutton Coldfield. Good train connections to Birmingham new street. Wylde Green and Four Oaks is on that line too. Also good buses from wylde green and Sutton.

I was going to suggest these too @Belledan1..

Also Boldmere and like a previous poster further out past Four Oaks, Hill Hook, Little Sutton anywhere near the crosscity line.

Solihull.

I love Birmingham and have extended family there. Ignore posters. I’d love to live there. I’d look at Kings Heath for your budget. I’m not from the uk but if I had a choice I’d much rather live in Birmingham than London. It’s great for families and people are genuine and kind. Nothing but love for the place.

None of my friends moved back after university either.

How odd, I know dozens. Far more than the number that don't come back.

Birmingham is a really mixed City culturally. Folks from all over the World live here.
We have wonderful cuisine from the famous Baltis to Michelin starred restaurants.
It has a very young population which makes for a really vibrant, busy City.
It is an incredibly green City with some beautiful big parks, but also lots and lots of smaller green spaces. There are apparently 572 spaces maintained by the Birmingham Parks department, and that's not counting nature reserves and th high proportion of tree lined roads.
Yes, it is a huge City - it has the biggest Education Local Authority in Europe I'm told.
Yes, any big City has areas to avoid.
Over the last 30 years a HUGE amount of development has happened in the City. It is very different from the way naysayers would like to portray it.

OP what you will find is that most of the suburbs do have quite different parts to them.
People have mentioned Edgbaston and Moseley - both of which have multimillion £ houses and also some considerably less desirable areas within the same suburb. Kings Norton even more so, there are some really rough areas and some really, really beautiful houses there.

Harbourne
Edgbaston
Solihull
Coleshill

I also live in Lichfield. I worked in Central Birmingham for years - commute was a nightmare. The cross city line is absolutely god forsaken.

No less than an hour on a good day. Also Lichfield property prices are sky rocketing.

Lichfield is also possibly the least cosmopolitan place you could hope to find.

I'd stick with Edgbaston, Bearwood & Northfield. Possibly Streetly if budget allows.

I live in Sutton Coldfield, and yes , it’s lovely but the shopping centre is truly awful and I can’t see it improving. If I had the chance to chose again I’d go to Solihull . Just as nice as Sutton but with a decent town centre . Also Birmingham council is rubbish , spend all their money on inner city areas and neglect everywhere else . Solihull council is much better .

Try a bit further out - Kidderminster, prices are are a bit more realistic and lots of houses going up in the Wyre Forest area at the moment. You’re close to lovely countryside particularly the Wyre Forest. Trains into Brum every 20-30 minutes taking about 40 minutes.
We moved to Bewdley ( just the other side of Kiddy and a bit pricier ) 45 years ago - never regretted it.

Bournville and Kings Heath. As PP have mentioned Stirchley is very much on the up. There are also some nice areas in Kings Norton near to the green.

I second pps comments about Lichfield. We moved here as an 'in between' for Birmingham and Derby for our workplaces.
The commute to Birmingham is terrible as @coffeerunner points out. Trying to get home at rush hour is s nightmare if you're in a hurry for pick ups as the cross city line is so crowded. Other than that, it's a lovely place, but definitely further out than you've asked for.
Maybe look at bourneville and harborne, although I'm not sure you'd get what you want in your budget in harborne.
Bearwood is also worth a look.

Stourbridge was mentioned by a pp - definitely further out than you've specified, but your money will go much further in places like Stourbridge or Halesowen and they're still nice places.

Oh I love Birmingham. Its the only city ive actually enjoyed living in, id move back in a heartbeat.

Bourneville would be good. I think someone mentioned Mosely. Harbourne is nice but I think perhaps out of your budget.

Enjoy! I miss it.

Apologies, I'm not from Birmingham but DH has a friend who lives in a place called Knowle and it's lovely.

Pretty little town with a variety of shops and lots of greenery.

Not sure about schools and transport links as DH's friend is elderly and we always drive there!

@wingsnthat

I think the city centre is beautiful and there’s interesting architecture and great parks, but I wouldn’t build my life there and settle down.

It’s a heavily working class city so the juxtaposition is apparent - you’re never that far away from a bad area. I still find areas like handsworth scary to visit and unsafe as a young woman - it’s almost like stepping into a different city entirely as the community tends to be insular too.

The nicer areas tend to be further out so definitely check your commuting times. There are trains but I think they have been scaled back since COVID and won’t resume their pre-pandemic frequency

Aren't you racist!

I live in Handsworth, I've lived here for ten years. Before that I had a flat in the city centre but the noise at night gets too much when you're no longer into bars and pubs every weekend. I feel safe here, I've had no harassment whatsoever. No comments, leers, beeps from vans, men have left me totally alone. I agree it's not an area for everyone and yes it does have its major issues but to say 'the community is insular' is total rubbish. Stick to talking about areas you know please.

I would avoid Kings Heath & Moseley as traffic along Pershore road is dreadful and the buses extremely slow in normal times. I would stick to areas with the tram or a train station if I was buying in Birmingham.

Warwick has a good train line into Birmingham - my dh commuted in for years. You'd probably manage to find nice a 4 bed for £450K. Solihull has better state secondary schools and house prices that reflect that - you will really struggle to find anything nice with your budget.

Someone upthread mentioned Hagley - I grew up there and my dad commuted into Birmingham - excellent state secondary.

Definitely look a bit further out. Trains from Worcester to Birmingham take about 40 minutes.

I’m a Brummie, born and bred (Erdington). I went to secondary school in Sutton Coldfield. Sadly I no longer live in the city as I’ve been an expat for 10+ years and live in a Swiss ski resort above lake Geneva these days. Although it is stunningly beautiful and awash with cash here, I miss Brum and look forward to visiting immensely.

Most of my friends still live there; both those who never left and those who returned after university. My parents are still there, they live on the Erdington/Sutton Colfield border.

Remember it’s a huge city, the Birmingham conurbation is 2.5 million people, so of course some areas are dire and some are very expensive. It is extremely culturally diverse, like London is. It’s also a very green city as others have mentioned (and as my French MiL remarked from Marco Pierre White’s Gaffe at the top of the cube!).

I’ve lived in the Philippines, Malaysia, France, Switzerland and various UK cities and I still love Birmingham. If I were to return with my pre-school & reception age kids, I consider any of the areas mentioned by previous posters.

Oh and please disregard the classist, racist posts by wingsnthat, they’re dripping with prejudice. (Handsworth was always an Afro-Carribean area but it’s starting to gentrify now, much like what has happened in Brixton).