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

YANBU OP. I haven’t lived in Edgbaston for nigh on 30 years and even then there were parts of the city that felt intimidating and scary. If Birmingham is anything like Bradford, which I am near to now, I’m not surprised you want to leave.
But we’re not allowed to talk about how bad these places are or the reasons why, as you can tell from some of the comments on here. It’s too easy to accuse people go racism instead of trying to understand their concerns.
Surely the reasons that some immigrant communities want to live near each other allies to all of us? Or is it just white people that are not allowed to want to live in their own communities?

Oh come on, most of Birmingham is an absolute shithole. I live in the Black Country and dread if I have to go into Birmingham.

I have to drive down Soho Road quite often - you’d soon drop the Nigel shit if you had to as well.

I like Birmingham but if you’re looking for somewhere far enough away to be completely separate then Solihull is not it! Solihull is basically a suburb of Birmingham and I am pretty sure that teens from
Solihull will go into the centre of Birmingham to socialise, shop, go out clubbing etc. That said I wouldn’t imagine many middle class teens would go anywhere near the areas you class as not England like Sparkbrook etc so it’s much of a muchness.

Run down, tatty ‘working class’ poor areas always make naice middle class people feel unsafe - no one likes seeing poverty.

if you grew up in those areas it hits different - me Seacome, Birkenhead, Toxteth - moved to Brum lived in Sparkbrook and Erdington, purchased first house in Tysley - never felt in safe.

just because brown people now live there doesn’t make a huge difference.

Solihull had black and Asian people! Also knife crime , drug issues, cse - you can’t really escape it just because the houses are more expensive and it has a John Lewis - take a walk round ASDA in the wood!

I'm from Solihull but haven't lived there for a number of years. I have worked there recently and follow local social media. From what I hear Solihull does have its own localised problems with anti social behaviour and this has been growing in the last few years. The villages like Knowle and Dorridge are further away from this, however they again have there own problems particularly with drug use, but again a lot more localised. Obviously Solihull is an affluent area, I live in an affluent area just outside of Birmingham and we still get instances of anti social behaviour amongst locals and people travelling in to the area from Birmingham. I have lived in South Birmingham before moving and feel a whole lot safer living where I do now though than I ever did in Brum. So I think you will find that anywhere really will still have problems with anti social behaviour of any kind but won't be on the scale of a big city like Birmingham.

UN safe!

It annoys me. My cousins, brother and I are very much the colour of people who get “randomly” selected for airport checks every single time. Not acknowledging that some people who look like us, can cause big issues isn’t really helpful. I worry more my brother or male cousins will be attacked now than I did ten years ago. My blonde green parry friends who “don’t see colour” don’t realise that is a luxury belief.

@Hatebirmingham babe I have lived in Chelmsley Wood and Shard End, not the "nice" bits. I had to get the bus through supposedly scary Sparkbrook every day - even in the dark sometimes! Harrowing... but I survived because the vast majority of people from any cultural background are nice and normal and just want to get on with their own lives. They have no interest in intimidating you and you precious children.

By the way, the one time we have experienced crime in Birmingham was many years ago - where my ex partner was mugged - by a white man :)

Lichfield frequent cross city trains to brum

Ah white privilege !

I did see a huge fight on an airplane recently in the press - all pissed up white men!

I’m sorry you feel like this in this day and age

Why are people so quick to dismiss somebody's lived experience. I can well believe that parts of Birmingham and other cities are like this. I wouldn't want my kids growing up there either.

"I’ve stated that Birmingham doesn’t feel safe and that I don’t want my children attending school with the sort of children and teens I see around. In no part did I mention colour here.*

You did. In your second post, the fourth on the thread you said

when there are areas where white British people would be stared down, forgive me for not wanting to live near there.

So you absolutely brought colour into it, and you were the first person to do so.

Or Sutton Coldfield easy train commute in to the city

Well that didn't take long🙄

I'm from East London. My DC attend school here and white children make up 57% of the school's intake. There are a few religious schools with majority Asian pupils but on the whole most schools have a broad mix of ethnicities.

It doesn't sound great to me tbh:

Birmingham is one of England's most deprived local authorities, consistently ranking within the top ten, or top two by some measures, for multiple deprivation. Approximately 40–44% of its population lives in the 10% most deprived areas nationally, with severe, localized income and employment deprivation, particularly affecting children.

I don't understand why it's racist to want to live in a white majority area, it doesn't mean you're racist or must hate people from other cultures. Surely other cultures are choosing to live in areas where there are majority people from their culture, why is that different?

You're not being unreasonable for wanting to live in an area where you feel safe and your children enjoy a better quality of life. Ignore the naysayers, I can't see any of them selling up to move to small heath, bordesley green or Aston any time soon. It's easy to criticise from the comfort of your semi rural, leafy middle class idyll, when you have absolutely no idea of the reality. Birmingham IS awful and it's decline has worsened significantly over the last five years. The ' nice', safe parts have reduced to four suburbs - Moseley, Edgbaston ( only select parts), harborne and kings heath. For a city that size, that's outrageous. People with the means are getting out, hopping over the border into Worcestershire, Staffordshire or Shropshire. That's where I'd be looking OP, these are all easily commutable to brum if you're tied to your job. No one gets to tell you your thinking is wrong or your lived experience is nonsense. If they think it's that wonderful they're more than welcome to move that way themselves.

I find it very strange that people care about the demographic of the area they live in. It's not something I have ever considered when moving and I have lived in several cities/smaller towns and all over London.

I work in the wood - the area is shit poor but have a huge sense of community - most people say they are from Birmingham rather than Solihull - Solihull is posh and snotty - don’t cross the Cov road!

I've lived in Birmingham for 30 years. I'd say it has the sort of problems that many big cities have - plus a few more. There's a dysfunctional council, a bin strike, declining High Streets in suburban areas. I've worked in a most parts of town and never felt more 'unsafe' in one area than another. (Drunkenness, drug use and young men being anti-social can be an issue just about everywhere.)

But there are also some lovely parks, friendly people, indie businesses.

As a Jew, I'm concerned about rising anti-Semitism in Birmingham. It's a national issue, but political issues in the city mean there's a real failure to address this problem. But I don't think this is a problem which concerns the original posters.

So?

What are blonde green parry friends? 😕 If there's a typo there I'm too thick to work out what it is.

I think those of you who are assuming the OP's point is about color maybe haven't lived in Birmingham. I'm an ethnic minority and grew up in Birmingham and left because the vibe just... isn't great there. People assume more blue collar cities are going to be friendly because places like Liverpool and Newcastle are. Honestly in Birmingham if you were on fire people would step over you. It's not a friendly place. And also not hugely aspirational - there's a huge element of 'don't you go getting above your station' by like, going to university or getting a job. I moved to places in the north, then London, often living in deprived areas and was so surprised how aspirational people were in comparison, parents wanting their kids to go to uni or start businesses. It's not about ethnicity - compare somewhere like Whitechapel or Southall (vibrant, colorful, energetic) with Sparkbrook (depressing) - it's not about ethnicity it's about aspiration.

You couldn't pay me any amount of money to live there again even though lots of my friends and family do.

I lived in Birmingham for more than 40 years, the last 20 were in Moseley which is an amazing, multicultural, friendly, vibrant suburb bordering on Sparkhill. I never felt unsafe and am glad that my children grew up in such a multicultural community. We celebrated our neighbours festivals as and they celebrated ours. There are criminals everywhere, in villages and towns like Solihull just as much as in the big cities. Knife crime has increased everywhere, but is still newsworthy which means that it is relatively uncommon. I think your racism is showing.

OP said there was too much crime and that it was unsafe.
Its racist to jump to the conclusion that those causing the crimewave are from ethnic backgrounds, they could and should be just as many white criminals since we live in a "white" country. Its not OP that seems to make the link between diversity and crime, it was the PP's