Have you ever wondered why Birmingham doesn’t seem to be on the radar when it comes to planning nights out, weekend getaways, or stag/hen parties etc? Despite being the UK’s second largest city, Birmingham seems to take a backseat when compared to destinations like Edinburgh, Newcastle, London, Manchester, Liverpool, York, and Leeds etc
I have never heard any of my mates/family say let’s go for a weekend away to Birmingham and it would seem odd for me to suggest it to them – but why?
Anyone else wondered this or am I the only one?
For the record, this is in no way an attack on Birmingham or the awesome people who live there. Just a genuine question as to why it appears to take a backseat for trips away.
31 comments
As a Brummie the view of the city is of old, people who last visited us in the 90’s and just after Millennium. The city is drab but now last 5 years it has changed a lot and it is beautiful now. City centre feels new, Commonwealth Games happened last year and was a big success.
Even on here Reddit loves to diss on Brum but they haven’t visited here in over a decade and are probably too busy reading Daily Mail at home and cussing Midlanders.
But after all that the youth do love it here, it has a large young population and young professionals do come here
People’s views of it are very out of date.
My pet theory: Brummies are a glass half empty people, not keen on self promotion. Whereas Mancunians will chew your ear off about how fantastic Manchester is given half a chance, Brummies are more likely to make a self deprecating joke about Birmingham. That means word doesn’t really get round about what a great city it is.
The accent puts a lot of people off
I find Birmingham to be really unwelcoming and unpleasant. Nothing in particular, just the atmosphere it gives. I haven’t experienced that in other cities.
It’s my favourite city in the country for day drinking, as it has 5 or 6 absolutely cracking pubs (and plenty of other decent ones) all walking distance from each other.
Because it’s a shithole
Reputation. Not only of it in general but also the places that it competes with.
Most people south of Birmingham will tend to target London for big events.
Talking specifically for nightlife people further north would tend to target Liverpool/Manchester/Newcastle or even Glasgow/Edinburgh which all have a better reputation for nightlife.
Being in the Middle of the country as well most people have to pass another one of the cities mentioned above or are closer to them than Birmingham so it then becomes more inconvenient for travel and when you say to someone ‘let’s drive or get a longer train for a worse night out (supposedly)’ then you’re gonna get knocked back more often than not
Its seen as a poor, ugly city with very little culture that interests the masses compared to other cities
It’s simply not a nice place compared to most other UK cities. That’s not only a local viewpoint, my wife (non-EU) has been living with me in the UK for 3 years and we’ve visited a bunch of cities including Birmingham fairly recently. She also found Birmingham to be boring and have bad vibes. She rates it lowest among all the locations we’ve visited (Bakewell and Nottingham are her favourites).
I always associate Birmingham with work, attending conferences 3 or 4 times a year. So never think of spending my own time there.
Definitely seen a change in recent years, much better choice of hotels and restaurants which tbh is all I am usually interested in.
I used to go out around broad street back in my younger days. Plenty of pubs and clubs. Road was closed off to traffic at weekends so not much fear of being ran over. Always busy.
Of course there was the Q Club too that I used sometimes frequent. Only drinking water though 😉
Has Manchester not been the 2nd biggest city for some time now?
Cause the BBC never states Birmingham’s weather, just the for corners of the UK so cant plan a trip if you dont know how to dress accordingly.
I’ve driven through Birmingham a fair few times and it’s not very attractive.
It’s like there’s a constant grey cloud over it.
Why the obsession with the ‘second city’ title? Birmingham is a great city in its own right.
Birmingham has a bit of an image problem.
Birmingham city centre is smaller than it’s population figures would suggest. It’s growth was more like an American city, based more around car dependant sprawl than other UK cities. This is starting to be rectified now, every time I go to Birmingham it gets better, but when I was in uni in Coventry a decade ago, we’d only go to Birmingham if there was a particular band we where seeing, because apart from large venues, there was nothing it had that Coventry didn’t.
I know loads of people based down south who come to Brum for weekends, it’s an easy train up. I agree with the others much of the slating is based on how it used to be. And those saying it’s not vibrant, what do you want? Newcastle? Cuz that place is meh.
Because Liverpool and Manchester are better nights out and nicer places. I have spent a lot of time in Birmingham and it’s basically a giant Luton it’s rough and not very nice.
I had some mates who lived there in the 90s, always had a sound time there.
Went to University there and absolutely loved it. That was 10 years ago now but I’ve heard it’s only improved since then, been back a few times since and will be visiting again this year. Also I’d argue Edgbaston is the best place to watch cricket in the country (especially for international matches)
It’s weird, isn’t it? It even has more canals than Venice! Lol someone had to say it.
I’ve visited and the centre, in parts, is nice enough. What I didn’t like was the amount of soulless hi-res glass+metal buildings everywhere.
Yeah it’s bizarre. the second largest city in one of the richest most influential countries on earth that no-one ever visits or even talks about. It’s pretty much just been forgotten and left to decay. Imagine if Frankfurt, Milan or Barcelona was just ignored like this.
London has everything. Manchester/Liverpool have a fair amount of things and some history and northern charm.
Edinburgh is beautiful.
Birmingham is an unadulterated shit hole that is close enough to London that you may as well just go to London.
The first time I ever went to Birmingham we took a coach from Sheffield to see Frank Turner
As soon as we got out of the bus station we saw a dead pigeon thoughtfully placed in an open shoe box
That first impression has never left me
I had some mates who lived there in the 90s, always had a sound time there.
I’m a postgraduate student at UoB and it is a decent place to live. There are lots of young people, either students or young professionals and there is obviously a lot to do in and around the city
tbf compared to a lot of other cities Birmingham is more just a sprawl of people.
its a city in the sense that a huge amount of people live there but lacks a lot of the centralised food, drinks, general day out things a lot of other city centre’s have.
no slight against birmingham ive lived there and it does have some nice spots but their not exactly “travel to visit” spots they are more a great thing for locals.
if you say compare to Sheffield which has been voted one of the best Cities in europe for food and drinks recently it has a much more diverse central hub of food,drinks and just general things to do that would attract tourists and people from outside the city to come.
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its a bit like New York compared to Boston both are cities but one has a much more attractive appeal to people who dont live there to visit that place. its no slight against the other city but its just not catered to tourists in the same way.
All you fuckers saying it’s a shithole with no soul have clearly never been to Southampton…
Brum is fine. It’s nicer than some cities, not as nice as others. Anyone who argues it’s pure hell is being disingenuous.
Personally I like Birmingham, it’s come a long way in recent years but in the past it used to seem like a bit of a sprawl with no definable centre. It’s also not really got the tourist sights of York or Liverpool however Manchester also doesn’t have much for tourists.