Do you prefer Birmingham or Manchester

[Clarro]

DH and I are moving out of London.

We are considering both cities. Which city itself do you prefer?

If you're moving to Stratford or Altrincham you're neither moving to Birmingham or Manchester 😂😂

Birmingham is 25 miles from Leamington Spa, as is Warwick - Stratford is a tad closer.

it’d be like living in Reading and say you lived in London
its a decent area, but not Birmingham

£900 would get you a nice house in either of the provincial towns

i I know the area and am familiar with Altringhsm, Hale & Sale

you'd be better connected in Altringham to the city centre than if you lived in Leamington, to B/ham

but to my mind there is more to do in Leamington as a whole, with B/ham by train, London is only 1.20 hours by train

It's not quite that easy to get into Bham city centre from Warwickshire - I think you may need to do some more research 🙈

what’s difficult about going to leamington station? I know some trains are 40/45 minutes and the fast train is 30, which is longer than the tram from Altringham to MCC but it’s not difficult?

startford also has a direct train as does Warwick or Warwick park way

Leamington, Stratford , Warwick are nice places to live, as are Kenilworth, Knowle and Dorridge and all in commuting distance from Birmingham. There are some nice villages in Warwickshire too. Solihull town centre is becoming very run down.

I am originally from near Birmingham and went to the city last week - first time since Covid. I was shocked. 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.

I would echo a previous poster about Birmingham: always see fights between gangs of lads in the city centre. Although to be fair, I haven't been there for a long, long time. But that used to be the case.

Most of the places you've mentioned near Manchester are actually cheshire. I'd avoid Alderly Edge, it's full of blingy footballer wives types. Personally I find it tacky but people like it. Depends on you. Altrincham is really nice and is greater Manchester rather than Cheshire. I'd go there if I had the choice out of those places.

Agreed! Top city.

I do like Manchester though, and don’t find it particularly dull/grey. Never been to Birmingham so can’t comment on that.

It is compared to how it used to be.

I'd even go as far to say it's absolute shithole.

All the decent architecture was ripped down and replaced with generic buildings that will soon date. Central library already looks dated. Around the Burlington hotel Absolutely stinks of piss and the hotel is rammed full of unprocessed immigrants.

Pigeon park used to be a lovely place to read or eat your lunch and now it's got drunks and druggies all over it. My sister went through it two weeks ago and a man was on the grass in the middle of the afternoon having a wank!

The bullring looks dated and doesn't have any outstanding shops. The area around millennium point is run down, tired, full of high rise student flats and the eyesore that will be HS2.

The general shops are Poundland, chain coffee shops and crappy clothes ships. Grand Central is ok I suppose.

Brindley Place is nice.

The city centre isn't anything special. The museums rarely change and BMAG has been closed longer than it should have been

And the Council is bankrupt.

You can get a direct train from Warwick to Moor street. Takes half hour direct. Not exactly difficult.

I live just north of Birmingham,I would choose it over Manchester,my daughter lived in Manchester,I disliked it intensely.Made me homesick for Birmingham.I especially love the area around Symphony Hall and Gas Street basin.

Manchester seems to be spread out with no proper centre.

I think the thing you are forgetting is that London has a 50 mile radius around it with no culture. The other big cities aren't like that. If you are in Manchester you're within daytrip distance to Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, North Wales, the Lake District, Peak District, and loads of stately homes. Same with Birmingham. So you don't want to go into the city centre every weekend, because there are more options than that. I live a 30 minute train journey from Newcastle, we only go in a few times a year, when our kids were little we'd be out every weekend but we'd not just do museums and cafes we'd visit ancient monuments, stately homes with beautiful grounds, industrial heritage sites, forests, beaches, National Parks, etc etc. So don't try and replicate the 'live in London in a tiny flat' lifestyle that involves going to the centre for museums, embrace the options where you move to that aren't available in London.

Manchester. But how does your voting work?

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.

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!

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

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.

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).

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.

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'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

I just know how we are. We lived in a small US city for 18 months and acted very similar.

We like to live in a commuter town close to a big city. That way our day to day needs are met - ideally I like to be walking distance to the village/town centre.

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.

We of course go to other places in the surrounding area. there’s more variety than perhaps I have let on.

We would just struggle if there was not a cultural hub nearby with events going on.

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.

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.

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

@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.

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.