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

I’m guessing you don’t think that is a shithole with all the doctors and nurses who no doubt live in and around that shithole looking after all the poorly children ?

A friend of a friend was mugged at GUNPOINT by the canal at Brindley Place/Mailbox. Yikes!

Fair enough

YANBU! I am a born and bred Brummie, I traveled the length and breadth of the city with work for more than 20 years. More recently it became more oppressive and sinister - I say this as someone who carried out lone visits to peoples houses as late as midnight. 6 years ago I sold up moved. Best decision I ever made, family still live there and I feel nothing but relief when I am driving back home with Brum in my rear view mirror. Awful place.

I mean most cities have their pros and cons!

There are things I like about Brum and things that mean I wouldn’t choose to live there.

But I could make a happy life there if I had to.

It’s a long way to drive to the sea from there which I wouldn’t like

PS My main experience of Birmingham is being there for work I must say, but I’ve been there socially a few times too - they have some nice restaurants albeit often chains. But have been to some nice independent curry places too. Canal is nice.

I like the library and that area as well.

The different levels around the Bull Ring etc confuse me though 😂

I live in Birmingham and I don’t think it’s nearly as bad as people make it out to be.

We have brilliant shops, museums, schools, hospitals, there are so many beautiful green spaces. It has a rich and interesting history. The town centre has some lovely and some rough bits. There are also lots of lovely high streets and retail parks. It’s very central and has good transport links to other nearby towns and cities.

It can be a bit of a strange place, it’s a large city and there are some really awful areas as well as some lovely leafy places. There is also constant redevelopment and places that never feel quite finished. Many places bece a bit of a concrete jungle in the 1950s and loads of high rises, there’s been a lot of redevelopment but a lot of the old 1050s buildings have been replaced with some strange and unusual architecture so in places the town looks quite messy and a mish mash of buildings.

It annoys me when people slag off Birmingham so much though it’s disrespectful to the people who live there.

To add, a huge bugbear of brummies is that everyone gets the Birmingham accent mixed up with the Black Country accent.

@ShamedBySiri

Edgbaston House is good - we’ve stayed there a couple of times.

edgbastonhouse.co.uk

The centre is much nicer than it was, though the nice bit feels unduly small for a city of its size. It doesn't help that most people enter the city either through the ugly motorway network or via New Street station, which is still horrible at platform level (and pretty confusing on the rebuilt concourse). It creates a negative impression from the off.

I go to a lot of cities and find them all pretty much equal in terms of feeling safe. Every one has it's dodgy areas.

I think this is a fair post. Birmingham does have its problems but so do most large towns and cities in 2026. I think particularly where people are down and out and drug addicted there can be a worry as to the possible volatility of their actions. OTOH I would be quite happy to walk up Broad Street on a Friday evening as groups out to have a good time are no threat to me.

I don’t dislike Birmingham, but I find it very confusing. I go probably 2 or 3 times a year for work, leave NS station by different exit each time, and never manage to find the same route to our office twice.

But saying that someone’s accent is diabolical is offensive. You don’t like it? Fair enough, we all have our own personal tastes but you can express that without being insulting.

It isn't the buildings or its history it is the people in it. Drug pushers all over the place, folk standing like statues high on spice in the city centre during day light hours, people begging for money by wrapping your windows at many of the major city junctions clearly high as a kite. Crime, dirt and a multicultural place that no longer blends (if it ever did). There are many lovely parts to look at but for me the downsides were getting far far worse and I was well versed in the rough side over the years but something changed that made it, on the whole a sinister place to live. I felt nothing but relief when I left.

The university station on the cross city line is convenient for QE hospital. Parking at the hospital isn’t fantastic but it should be OK at that time in the morning, mainly it’s afternoons that it’s most difficult. I can’t help you with hotel recommendations (bed bug free or not) but do be aware that hotel staff and other workers in the hospital may have that dreaded Brummie accent, although many (most?) are not local so you may be safe.

Does anyone actually like Birmingham? 🤷‍♀️

Yes, that happened, as have other incidents. But if you think there are not similar incidents happening in other towns and cities in the UK, then you are kidding yourself.

Yeah right. Noone would talk of catholics never feeling unsafe if they'd been to NI during the troubles.

Wow. That's shocking. Was it on the news?

I've not been to Birmingham for years but it wasn't like that when I visited. I quite liked it.

I've only been once, the driving into it was mental, but I really liked it too. I'd go back.

It was probably a toy gun. Guns are very expensive to hire in the UK and if you have the money to do that you not going to be mugging people for a few pounds. Perhaps your friend was in Birmingham Alabama.

YANBU OP, I would agree, I avoid it unless I have to be there for work. Like all cities and towns it is on the decline, and years of city Council mismanagement has not helped. But it has has this unwelcoming vibe. I personally think it's the lack of greenery/parks etc. Just building after building after building. It's why I also don't particularly like Manchester.

Okay I haven’t 🤣 You clearly know better than my life better than me.

There are absolutely loads of green spaces and parks in Birmingham. What makes you say that there isn’t?