To dislike Birmingham?

[redeoof]

I’ve worked in the city maybe 4 years now .. there really isn’t much appealing about it. I once overheard a woman on the train say she does guided tours for Manc, London and Birmingham - and Bham is a hard sell.

I’ve been coming into New Street station for years and there’s always been construction and it’s never seemed to progressed to anything.

I walk down New Street and actually feel unsafe. It’s depressing and dreary .. and it should be so much more

It’s a shit hole. We have to visit the children’s hospital and I don’t feel safe walking to and from. The city is dirty too. We visit Liverpool frequently and I never feel like this there.x

As a Londoner, I can say that Euston is the worst abomination of a station. And that’s after the refurb. KX and Liverpool St and others are so much nicer. What were they thinking.

I'm not gonna lie, it's a nightmare to navigate, and drive around. (IMO.) We found this about Stoke-On-Trent when we took our DC there several times for certain things a few years ago (mid to late 2010s.) I drove there some 20 years ago to go to the Theatre there, and it was hard then. (Stoke that is.)

DH and I used to drive to Birmingham from where we lived - we were only 30-ish miles from it then, (in the 1990s,) and it wasn't a bad drive then. It's been too busy and confusing for some 20 years now.

Now THAT is a city I can get on board with. I LOVE Liverpool. 😍

And the people are fecking awesome!

Fortunately I don't live too far from it now, less than an hour in the car. Half an hour to 40 minutes on the train.

Like all towns and cities, some nice areas, some rough. I used to get the train over and go shopping, not been for about ten years. One thing that I hated was that there always seemed to be somebody with a microphone and loud speakers ranting and raving about religion in the city centre. I don’t want to hear about that

Yes, I agree with this.

.😆 I think that poster has confirmed that it was a typo since, but still. 😆

It is very odd for people to criticise massive cities without living there. In my view, you only really know a city by living there. You get to know the good bits and the not so nice bits. You find the places where there is a great local community. You get to know the best cafés and restaurants. You know where to find a good bargain. You know where to find a lovely furniture shop. You absorb the vibe of a place and life is richer with the local knowledge.

I have been to Birmingham a couple of times for conferences. It certainly seemed nice enough, but I have no view on what it’s like to live there. It’s a big city and I just don’t know it.

I also find it amusing when people criticise the whole of my city, London. There are 9 million people and so many different areas. A large proportion of people are activity choosing to live in London. Yet some people wander around the centre, and make an opinion based on that. We have seen it here, with some unintelligent comments about the living dead and the whole of London being a dump. I think you need to live somewhere before giving an informed opinion, surely.

I am a city person and there are many rural and suburban areas where I would not choose to live. But I certainly don’t start criticising them intensely. Because I don’t know them specifically, but I just know that village life in general would not be for me.

The ‘best’ comment here so far is the poster upset that someone called the Birmingham accent diabolical, yet they said that the Yorkshire accent was dense! FWIW I love a regional accent.

Believe it or not we are actually have the most green space of all uk cities. It isn't in the city centre though. There's been a big campaign to turn the old Smithfield Market sure into a park. Though that isn't happening I think there is plans for a lot of green space within the current masterplan.

Tbf Aston is not the nicest of areas of our city, though Aston Hall is definitely worth a visit. The park outside BCU/ the Think Tank is nice though and pretty close to Aston Uni.

Some top green spots to visit would be- Sutton Park, Cannon Hill Park, Earlswood Lakes, Moseley Bog, Highbury Park and Sarhole Mill.

All city centres are struggling with the consequences of poverty and social deprivation and homelessness and crime. It’s awful to see. Birmingham is not alone.

There are of course advantages to city life for many of us. We often have to sacrifice the big house and garden, and tolerate more crime, for the advantages of city life eg diversity, restaurants, theatres, galleries, good transport etc. Everyone’s list is different and the lucky amongst us gets to choose where we live. The fact I choose London life, doesn’t make my choice better or worse than someone living in a village somewhere. I am not about to criticise someone’s are of choice.

They have not made it welcoming.
The constant infrastructure and road closures make going there a nightmare.
The Christmas market is a get drunk fest and not for families.
The recent bin strikes will have put people off too.
We usually go for the Symphony Hall. But have not been for quite a while. It is too problematic to go.
Like a lot of cities these days, very sadly, it can take on a chavvy feel late at night.
The shopping mall is tedious. And the railway station shopping actually better.
Hotel staff can be rude too. They don’t do hospitality very well.
So they have no idea I guess.
They had an exhibition at one of the museums one year. But the display of the artefacts was terrible.
It should be a really great city. But it isn’t.

I thought it was a great place last time I visited, and I am not really a city person per se. The people were really friendly, I didn't feel unsafe and was wandering around, alone in the dark, trying to find where I was staying. It just had that big city vibe. Blackpool on the other hand ....

@Bruart I agree. I prefer rural areas, away from cities, but also like to be within easy reach of the cities as I like to visit them. Wouldn't want to live in a city, but I loved living in a city when I was younger. I would never have wanted to live where I live now (out in the sticks!) under the age of 40, but I love it in middle age.

My 2 DC live in cities, with good public transport, lots of culture, and jobs, and restaurants, and galleries, and museums and so on, say they would hate to live where we live in the countryside.

However, the older one who is in her late 20s, visited recently with her new partner (who's in his early 30s and has lived in London all his life until 5 years ago - they have been together since March.) Her partner who grew up in London, said 'oh wow, it's beautiful here, this is the dream, to settle somewhere like this in my late 30s...' My DC was like 'oh, well yes I suppose it is quite nice.' So they may end up moving here, or somewhere similar within a decade.

.

My daughter is born and brought up in London and is now working in the City as a young grad. She said that in ten years time she wants to move to the ‘country’. I fear she has little idea or experience on which to base this, so I just hope she does some research ;-)

Ridiculous how defensive and aggro people are getting in their responses. The fact that someone doesn’t personally like the city where you live is not a personal attack on you .

Yes, you do need to make sure you're not too far from shops and life in general. And I would never move to somewhere really remote. We live within 20-30 minutes drive from 6 big towns and cities, and have shops within only 7-8 minutes drive. (about 3 miles.) The GP and dentist and vets and pharmacy and anything else we might need is there too. (In the little market town.) A large hospital with an A & E is 14 miles away (about 20-22 minutes drive.)

We need a car to get anywhere because there is no public transport in the village, but when we lived in a suburb of a large town, we still needed a car. To get the DC to different places, like clubs and hobby groups, for DH's work (he does shifts and public transport has never been any use to him,) and also hospital. Even in that town, we were still 10 miles from the hospital, and it was 70 minutes on the bus and you had to change buses at the town centre and wait 10-15 minutes for the next bus (but it was just 14 to 16 minutes drive!)

So things are not much different in the countryside really (for convenience.) I mean we can't get a carton of milk at 3am, but who cares, we've never needed one!!! When you're living the country life, you learn to stockpile. We have never run out of anything.

Not having a 24/7 shop open nearby, is worth it to live in the stunning place we live now. It's so peaceful and beautiful, and some days we can hear only birds and nothing else. Surrounded by farms and woodland and the river and the canal...

We really do need a car, but have only been 'let down' by our car/had our car break down 3 or 4 times in about 12 years. People I know who use public transport are let down WAY more often, with cancelled trains, and late trains, and so on...

Hmmm yeah, I am not a fan of bashing anywhere as I think it's rude as people actually live there, but yeah, Blackpool has seen better days. I do like a day trip there now and again, and there's plenty to do, but it's gone downhill since the 1990s and early noughties when we used to go there with the DC. I couldn't imagine staying more than 1-2 days there now.

We spent a week there a few times, (pre 2005,) and had an absolute whale of a time. There was so much to do (still is!) Arcades, eateries, the pleasure beach/fair, the waxworks, the sea life centre, the zoo, Stanley Park (which is beautiful,) the arcades, 3 piers with lots of activities and stalls on them (the Central Pier had a small fair on it,) and of course, there's quite a number of theatres...

Also lots of shops there too/shopping centres, and a train station, and a small airport... And it's not too far from the Lake District. If you stayed there for a week, you could visit Lake Windermere, and get there and back on the same day. It's only an hour from Blackpool in the car.

We went to Birmingham last year (first time in years) for Ozzy’s funeral. Tbh we had an amazing time, despite the reason we were there.

The streets were awash with people, it was so wonderful to see so many people wishing Ozzy a final farewell. We went to Albert Schloss (amazing food and a wonderful venue) and visited the museum on our way back to the station.

We enjoyed it so much that we returned a few days later, placed some flowers on the Black Sabbath bench for Ozzy (hadn’t been able to get close to it previously) and had a lovely walk around.

I haven’t read through the whole thread yet but will do as I want to return to experience a few more areas, restaurants and music venues. Any recommendations greatly appreciated. Also places to stay while we’re there.

Hope you have a great time @StarChild07 😘

The area I live in is predominately Muslim, in fact there is a mosque at the bottom of my street, it used to be a pub. I feel much safer walking past there at prayer time than i ever felt walking past the pub at closing time. I have Muslim neigbours, oddly they are just like me with hopes and dreams for their kids, getting the back yard sorted for winter,and having a good old moan about the fly tipping. They give me a gift at Eid and I give them a gift at Christmas.

In one of Jane Austen’s novels (IIRC Emma) one of the characters says, ‘I have no great hopes of Birmingham. There is something direful in the sound.’

To me there’s something direful in the accent. Apologies to any Brummies, but…

Dd22 loved the Black Country Living Museum

There has been some personal attacks on the people though, I’d imagine that’s what’s getting people’s backs up

Why don't you just get a job in a city you like? Stop moaning about working in a city you hate, would never dream to live in and let someone else that does like that city, live in that city get a job in that city? Honestly you have feet, just move.