Is Solihull far away enough from Birmingham?

[Hatebirmingham]

I live in Edgbaston and HATE Birmingham. I’ve been here for 6 years and I think it’s bloody awful. It’s run down, unsafe to the point where I could list multiple areas where I barely feel safe driving through, never mind getting out of the car and there are so many areas that don’t even feel like you’re in the UK. I see teens around and would be throughly depressed for these to be the children that my own would attend school with - lots seem to be wannabe ‘gangsters’, rude, intimidating etc. I find the vast majority of Birmingham incredibly depressing.

We can’t leave the West Midlands unfortunately.

I was wondering if Solihull may be a better fit for us. My oldest DC is starting school next year so we still have time to move without interrupting education. My question is - is Solihull (particularly Dorridge/Knowle) far enough away from Birmingham to not be affected by Birmingham’s ‘issues’?

IABU: Solihull is still too close to Birmingham
IANBU: Solihull is much better than Birmingham

I always thought Solihull was a posh Birmingham suburb. I know someone who lives there and loves it.

Any city has its rough bits, a few streets away it is a different world. I'm a Londoner, love it. I know there are no go areas, I just don't go there at night. There are many lovely areas of London which have low crime rates, green spaces and are a joy to live in. If you believe the media, London is terrifying but it isn't. Central London is a wonderful place to work.

I think Solihull will be fine. I hope you find the sort of house that really suits you and are happy there.

This ^^

Lol I hadn’t seen that. Having to cross the street from an unwashed man, how did he survive that, no wonder he wanted to call the army in.

You seriously think that Birmingham is as safe as any other part of the country to raise a family? Seriously?! You need to get out more. We moved out to Worcestershire 20 years ago, although our business is still in Birmingham. In terms of safety and quality of life, it's like night and day.

are you always so accusatory? Appears like you're trying desperately to find something in my post that isn't there. Once again, I'll summarise ' there was poverty in the 1950s and even fewer council resources to improve working class areas than nowadays'. What's your point?

I’ve given a few experiences already.

This is code for:

Pakistani / Muslim people can never defend themselves because we will hold grooming gangs over them for the rest of eternity, despite the fact that the vast majority of grooming gangs are made up of white men.

I lived all over Brum but it was a long time ago when I was a student and then worked there. Cheapest places I lived by far were Spark Hill and Northfield. Sparkhill predominantly Asian and Northfield predominately white both were dumps even back then.

I think standards have changed, it wasn’t even acceptable to eat in the street when I was young let alone drop litter if you were wanting to be seen as respectable.

So consider why the people of 1950s have left such a bad place for the current generation then?

Why aren’t you blaming them?

It's odd that as there are no shit parts of Worcestershire, the good burghers of Birmingham don't move there. I mean it's 15 minutes on the motorway.

I absolutely love all these new examples of intimidating behaviour seem to conveniently pop into your mind as the thread continues 😄

You absolute gave away your true colours in your opening post. I immediately caught your tone and when I scrolled down I was amused to see I wasn't the only one.

There really isn't anyway to ask ' What areas of Birmingham don't have a high percentage of immigrants ' is there?

I live in Birmingham and have done for 30 years and LOLed at the person who said Sparkhill was quintessentially British 😂
Who are you trying to kid??

OP YABU because Solihull is not far enough away, it's just a Birmingham suburb, go a bit further and commute if you can.

The thing that worries me most about Birmingham is that it's becoming a segregated sectarian city There are areas of the city festooned with St George's and Unuin Jack flags, and others festooned with Palestinian flags.

Communities are setting themselves up as opposed to the other. It's really not good.

We've had on this thread both white people claim they are not comfortable in some areas of the city and black people say they are not comfortable in some other areas.

I believe both of them, but it's interessting only the white people have been called racist for stating a fact.

It's not a good situation for a city.

Have you been following those Russian Bot created ' nostalgia' groups on Face Book again Auntie Hilda?

In the 1950s the policy was to give council housing to anyone that asked for it (subject to availability) but it was a source of pride to have a council house. I grew up in a New Town and many of my teachers lived in council houses or flats, they werent gor the 'poor'.There were rules about keeping gardens tidy etc. By the 70s priority was given to people in most need and the vulnerable so the idea of a council estate became less desirable. The rules were relaxed and the people tended not to clean their steps, tidy gardens etc. Now you get threads on MN where people say council tenants should be evicted if they are too financially comfortable and can get their own place. Whatever the reasons for the change in policy you can't compare then and now.

What are you on about? The 1950s generation are to blame for the state of Birmingham suburbs today? I'll let Errol know that he should have put his broom down, unbleached his front step and stopped whitening his net curtains, because it casts today's standards in a bad light. Righto.

I remember, back when kids used to play shitty tinny music out of their phones on buses without using earphones, some twit playing a homemade rap song with the lyrics, "You all say that Birmingham's dead but you ain't been to Birmingham yet". I found that very funny.

Birmingham was quite nice at the time. I had friends there and we had some great nights out. Not been for a while.

Just say you don't like people of a certain religion and get on with it 🙄 Move to Sutton Coldfield, it's full of Reform voters, you'll fit right in.

I'd look at Worcestershire.

Not sure I'd want to be a woman in the 1950s world some yearn for.

I live in Worcestershire!

My daughter travels to Birmingham city centre by train and bus each day for college, she's 16. She doesn't feel unsafe doing that.

My 19 year old son lives in London for university. He's safe.

Goodness me, the fear that certain areas are intrinsically unsafe does baffle me.

I’ve lived in Birmingham for many years. I’ve always felt safe. I actually love it. I love the culture and the different people. I agree that Sparkhill and Sparkbrook are deprived areas but Birmingham is a huge city. The fact that you say that you don’t feel safe taking your kids into town is actually very silly.

I’ve worked in Solihull for 5 years and find it very empty. Mostly full of privileged white people. There’s a real sense of entitlement there. I don’t mind working there but would absolutely not fit in living there.

It is very different to Birmingham so you may find it’s just what you’re after!

My mum came to Birmingham in the 1950's and said the poverty & filth of the back to back houses was shocking! Im sure the '50s were ever a golden era here (plenty of work though thats long since gone).
And she came from a poor area just off the Falls Road in Belfast.
Birmingham has always had huge pockets of deprivation. Now we are just in a steep decline. I'm not sure how this city improves for the majority tbh - we're in the centre of the country, great Uni's & teaching hospitals - a young demographic - it shouldn't be this hard.

*not sure