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

If OP were a non-white British woman complaining about getting stared down and ogled in places where all the men were white, many posters here would be rushing to validate her. Nobody would be telling her she was a racist or that it was all in her mind.

The way that there seems to be very little cohesion between cultures here. I find the ethnic minority areas to be very very unwelcoming to white British (yet didn’t find this in London or other areas I’ve lived in). I do find Muslims here to be particularly strong in their beliefs here compared to other parts of the UK that I’ve experienced (and Muslim friends agree with me/have pointed this out).

These areas have all of their shop fronts in Arabic, everyone is dressed in religious attire, the streets are dirty, all shops are selling traditional dress. The rules of the road go out of the window here. Like I say, even my Muslim friends are aghast at some of these areas in Birmingham.

It's always white people who are called out for racism.

I live in Edgbaston with a high proportion of non British people. The small area I live in is actually OK (and I’d be happy here if it wasn’t surrounded by so many awful areas). It really isn’t a race issue.

I have loads of other examples I haven’t even included. Including having my window knocked on whilst parked up whilst my husband ran in somewhere for a takeaway and having sexual gestures made to me and thrusting movements, seeing kids throwing bricks at busses as they drove past, seeing teen boys trying to put their hands up girls skirts whilst walking home from school. I’ve barely even scratched the surface!

All these white people on the internet who just love Sparkhill and would happily live there, yet no white people live there...what a mystery it is.

Moseley is nice ?

So who are to blame then?

OP doesn't live there herself.

She lives over 2 miles away.

It is hard to see why she has raised Sparkbrook at all as a concern for living in Edgbaston.

You are incorrect when you say no white people live there - according to local government data 9.1 % of the population of the Sparkbrook and Balsall Heath Ward are white.

"Edgbaston" can be a bit of a moveable feast. It goes from Edgbaston Village (as the tram terminus is amusingly monikered) through to Quinton and bordering Halesowen. Taking in Bearwood, Harborne, Cannon Hill and the University and QE hospital.

If you want a laugh, you can snap a picture of the city centre and pass it off as somewhere in Switzerland, if you can get a tram and the Town Hall and Victoria Square in the right angles.

You're hung up on ' blame '. Why is that?

Yes it's a huge area. I'm never quite sure what someone means when they say Edgbaston.

Why is someone racist because they want to live safely among their own kith and kin, sharing ethics and values? Some people want this, some don't. Even some BLACK people want to live among nice peeps from their own culture. Others are pretty happy to mix. OP, I hope you find a safe place to live.

Growing up in South Harrow, I always wondered how come my neighbours lived in "Pinner" ...

Lots of it were dirty long long before the bin strike

I have driven all over the UK and find the drivers in Birmingham are absolutely terrible and dangerous. The only place I have been where they are worse is Bradford.

I wonder if official statistics bear you out ? I'm going to say they don't.

And I was able to do that - like you - without any research whatsover. Facts being so over rated.

The posters calling you racist are clearly racist themselves, clearly assuming the problems you mention are all down to non-caucasian people when you haven't mentioned anyone's skin colour or culture at all..

Even before the 1950s, when there were hardly any immigrants.

😂

You tell yourself that.

The driving is awful you’re right, plain dangerous

I may not have researched it but, as I said, I have driven (and still drive) all over the UK and Birmingham and Bradford are by far the worst for absolutely terrible and dangerous drivers. So many totally ignore all the rules of the road - driving on the wrong side of the road, veery very dangerous overtaking, ignoring red traffic lights, ignoring rules at roundabouts. In fact often at roundabouts they don't even attempt to drive "round" but just drive straight over.

I understand some of your concerns and undoubtedly Birmingham has its edgy areas. On the other hand, my kids grew up there (we moved to Warwickshire - near Leamington Spa - for job-related reasons three years ago. They're now 19 and 21) and loved it. They had a lot of freedom - both had travel passes that meant they could take trains/buses all over the West Midlands and they took advantage of that. They socialised with friends in the city centre from the age of 12. They had access to cinemas, gyms, trampoline parks, shopping etc. They went to excellent grammar schools (ds went to the one just off the Soho Road and was walking around that area daily from the age of 11). Neither of them was every robbed or attacked, and this is despite ds often being out quite late (he continued to socialise there in sixth form, after we'd moved), although he did get into a couple of dicey situations. The plus side of that is he's very street smart and travelled the world in his gap year very confidently. By comparison Warwickshire is boring. Dd has already said she'd like to live in Birmingham as an adult.

I grew up in Bromsgrove and can attest to it being quite boring for teenagers too!

https://www.passmefast.co.uk/resources/driving-trivia/news/worst-drivers-in-uk

The worst of the bunch
Of the 2,699,544 motorists who have points from committing a driving offence, an alarming 10,648 have 12 or more penalty points on record. We sifted through these figures to find out which areas are home to the most drivers with 12 or more points on their current driving record. Have a look at the table below to see which areas made it into the top ten...

It is their last table that mentions Birmingham - so does depend on which stats and how you look at them but it there so not completely out there take. Bradford featuring heavily in their other tables.

More likely his BFF, Jenrick. Who.coincidentally had the same fit of the vapours as the OP. www.theguardian.com/politics/2025/oct/06/robert-jenrick-complained-of-not-seeing-another-white-face-in-handsworth-birmingham