what is the first thing that comes into your mind (now be honest), the idea is not to spend ages thinking about it, just the first thing that springs to mind.

I'll start...

London - The tube

Birmingham - Spagetti junction

Liverpool - The Beatles

Manchester - United

Newcastle - crying football fans (from 96)

Edinbugh - the castle

Glasgow - the terrible tower blocks

Bristol - that great water front with all the pubs

Nottingham - the trams

Sheffield - the trams



I'd be interested what other peoples first thoughts are when they think of another city.

P.S. I'd be interested what people identify Leeds with, as it's the only city that I don't think I identify anything with.

London..Fashion

Birmingham...BT Tower

Manchester...Sport,Music

Liverpool...Football

Leeds...yorkshire puddings

Newcastle...Ant and Dec :)

Glasgow......Fergie

Edinburgh.....Hogmanay

Bristol....St Paul's

Nottingham......Robin Hood

Sheffield......Steel

london - ripoff
birmingham - slade
manchester - good music
liverpool - sunshine
glasgow - great music
edinburgh - tartan
newcastle - drink
leeds - festival
sheffield - er, drink again. i have my reasons.
bristol - leaves me blank. sorry, you southwestern folks.

interesting (to me, anyway) how much i identify places in musical terms.

London- The Eye
Birmingham- The Bullring
Manchester- Commonwealth games
Liverpool- The Beatles
Glasgow- Music
Edinburgh- Castle
Newcastle- Brown Ale
Leeds- Marks and Spencers
Sheffield- Dinp
Bristol- Bristol channel
Nottingham- Robin Hood

London - BIG

Birmingham - Blunther

Liverpool - Home

Manchester - Irony

Newcastle - the river

Edinbugh - the castle

Glasgow - Urbanity

Bristol - Llandogger Trow

Nottingham - one horse town mentality

Sheffield - Hillsborough

London - Martin Amis

Birmingham - Ozzy Osbourne

Liverpool - The Beatles

Manchester - Lowry (Salford, I know!)

Leeds - The Cult (Southern Death Cult)

Newcastle - The Likely Lads

Edinbugh - Trainspotting / Irvine Welsh

Glasgow - The Blue Nile

Bristol - Cary Grant

Nottingham - Paul Smith

Sheffield - The Full Monty

London - new tate gallery opening doo.

Birmingham - bonnita

Liverpool - after passing D. test turn wrong direction off motorway onto dual carriageway on advice of mates, had to drive over centre reservation confronted by two lanes of stationary traffic who were thankfully on red light.

Manchester - Being given a tour of a students house in Fallowfield and trying to appear amazed at his puney canabis plant hidden in his artificially lit wardrobe...

Newcastle - biker... Grove, haha... haha...haha...

Edinbugh - blank... (yet to be explored)

Glasgow - a mod type film that i acnnot remember, anybody???

Bristol - glasgow bint :) and lakota house club.

Nottingham - mates girlfriend

Sheffield - bottle digger i met stealing old bottles he dug out of a massive pit in my folks back garden (it was a large area)

London - No gravy

Birmingham - The Sixties

Liverpool - Crime

Manchester - Litter

Newcastle - Muggings

Edinbugh - alcohol

Glasgow - Liverpool

Bristol - Bristol?

Nottingham - Robin Hood

Sheffield - Unemployment

London - the Queen
Birmingham - Bullring
Liverpool - Ferries
Manchester - Oasis
Newcastle - Tyne Bridge
Edinburgh - festival
Glasgow - Architecture
Bristol - Brighton [always get them confused]
Nottingham - Robin Hood
Sheffield - ?

London - the tower
Birmingham - concrete
Liverpool - mersey
manchester - dull gloomy miserable & rain
newcastle - bridges
edinburgh - snobbery
glasgow - rough
bristol - bridge(clifton?)
nottingham - robin hood
sheffield - hilly

London - Big
Birmingham - Concrete
Liverpool - Moustache
Manchester - WOW!
Newcastle - Black and white stripes
Edinbugh - bagpipes
Glasgow - wierd dialect
Bristol - neon lights (dont ask)
Nottingham - crime
Sheffield - sheffield utd

London - The Docklands
Birmingham - The Bullring
Liverpool - Ports and Docks
Manchester - The colour skum.. I mean red! sorry.. lol
Newcastle - Newcastle brown ale
Edinbugh - Castle
Glasgow - Coucil blocks with chavs outside them
Bristol - Blue and White
Nottingham - Car jakings
Sheffield - Those big 2 power plants you see as driving through it from Leeds
Leeds - I picture our city center.

Jus out of Interest Nobby, why do you not associate Leeds with anything?

Leedsfella, the idea was what immediately sprang to mind, apart from H No1 not much did.

Looking above, not many other people have said anything about Leeds, not sure if that is due to there not being much that is associated witht he city, as the only things people have put so far are...

Leeds...yorkshire puddings (hardly Leeds)

leeds - festival (good answer - person from Bradford so probably knows Leeds a little more than the average person)

Leeds- Marks and Spencers (!!!!!!!!)

Leeds - The Cult (Southern Death Cult) (Morestoreys put something musical for all cities - virtually)

Seems that there is no 1 thing that people think of when they think about Leeds - many people think about sport / United with Manchester, or the Bealtes / muscis with Liverpool etc etc, however, there is no one thing that people identify with Leeds.

London: Arrogance / Superiority

Birmingham: Concrete

Manchester: Madchester

Liverpool: Football

Leeds: Flat caps & warm bitter

Newcastle: Fat bellied, drunken barcodes

Glasgow: Working class 'ard bastards

Edinburgh: Castle

Bristol: Brunel's suspension bridge

Nottingham: Gun crime

Sheffield: Hillsborough 1989

I started with a literary one for London (Martin Amis books should be compulsory!) and it went on from there.
The Manchester one could have been Tony Wilson / Factory instead of the Lowry (artist and not museum BTW).
But you're right about Leeds - it has no identity, yet. So I went for a goth answer.

Accura - does Manchester give you wet dreams or are you naturally submissive? Try growing up quickly and not to be so naiive.

London: Big Ben

Birmingham: M6

Manchester: Tony Wilson/Granada

Liverpool: Home

Leeds: YTV/Emmerdale

Newcastle: Newcastle Brown

Glasgow: Train Spotting

Edinburgh: Castle

Bristol: M5/M4

Nottingham: Robin Hood

Sheffield: Steel

Wasn't train spotting set in Edinburgh?

Unless you mean standing on the end of a platform?

Yeah it was. Just me being careless. I tend to associate trainspotting with Scotland rather than a locality within.

I guess the next thing that reminds me of Glasgow is Celtic & Rangers.

Possibly Billy Connolly but I think of him as Scottish before Glaswegian.

never mind leeds, why have none of you philistines mentioned bradford yet?

London: poo

Manchester: wee

Liverpool: hair

Leeds: fur

Newcastle: snot

Glasgow: saliva

Edinburgh: fleas

Bristol: bums

Nottingham: cabbage patch kids

Sheffield: arm pits

Birmingham: Loverly perfumed smelling women with long dark wavy mullets prancing nakedly in my street loving me and throwing around their phoo's every place.

London: BIG BEN

Birmingham: ST.ANDREWS

Manchester: CORONATION ST.

Liverpool: THE FAB FOUR

Leeds: Leeds united

Newcastle:WHY EYE PET!

Glasgow: RANGERS

Edinburgh: NEW YEARS EVE

Bristol: SOME OF MY MATES LIVE THERE...HELL OF A TOWN!

Nottingham: ROBIN HOOD

Sheffield: MEADOW HALL

london - 2012
birmingham - where my dad grew up :)
manchester - mancunians
liverpool - liver
glasgow - druggies
edinburgh - scotland
newcastle - gateshead
leeds - grim
sheffield - mining
bristol - very grim

London - unremitting grimness. Street after street of anonymous brown brick housing circling a cesspool stuffed with cash. ;)

...and insularity!

london - 2012
birmingham - where my dad grew up :)
manchester - mancunians
liverpool - liver
glasgow - druggies
edinburgh - scotland
newcastle - gateshead
leeds - grim
sheffield - mining
bristol - very grim
:rofl: ignorance pure ignorance

:rofl: ignorance pure ignorance

...exactly what I was thinking!

'glasgow - druggies'
...this coming from a londoner!

I suppose everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

London - capital
Birmingham - canals
Liverpool - home
Leeds - white football shirts (:crazy: )
Manchester - United
Newcastle - Tyne Bridge
Edinburgh - Castle
Glasgow - Clyde
Bristol - cider
Nottingham - East Midlands
Sheffield - hills

Leedsfella, the idea was what immediately sprang to mind, apart from H No1 not much did.

Looking above, not many other people have said anything about Leeds, not sure if that is due to there not being much that is associated witht he city, as the only things people have put so far are...

Leeds...yorkshire puddings (hardly Leeds)

leeds - festival (good answer - person from Bradford so probably knows Leeds a little more than the average person)

Leeds- Marks and Spencers (!!!!!!!!)

Leeds - The Cult (Southern Death Cult) (Morestoreys put something musical for all cities - virtually)

Seems that there is no 1 thing that people think of when they think about Leeds - many people think about sport / United with Manchester, or the Bealtes / muscis with Liverpool etc etc, however, there is no one thing that people identify with Leeds.

Wasn't it Bill Bryson who once wrote of Manchester's lack of identity/ image/focal point? I'm not sure I have a great deal of time for Bryson's views, but nevertheless, people in glass houses really shouldn't throw stones.

London - busy

Birmingham - home! Centenary Square, curry

Liverpool - LFC

Manchester - Airport

Newcastle - Millennium Bridge & Tyne Bridge

Edinbugh - Castle & narrow streets

Glasgow - hills

Bristol - difficult - toss up between the historic buildings & Clifton Suspension Bridge

Nottingham - Market (?) Square, gun crime

Sheffield - universities


And Leeds: sorry, but it is Leeds General Infirmary (friend was in there). Although I do also think of it as the 2nd financial/legal city in the UK.

Angelo Di Livio, Italian winger in the 90s, you are correct. Billy boy Bryson has quite a history of slagging off Manchester. It must be said though (as it's rarely reported except in the MEN) that he thinks the place is quite amazing now, even the Arndale Centre (well, he reckons it's a dramatic improvement at least). He's popped over a few times and had the odd MEN interview and sure enough, we seem to have done well enough to change an old bloke's face workings.

My 2p.

London - miserable

Birmingham - That fat twat from UB40. And the Rotunda.

Liverpool - "Eat up, yer at yer aunties". "Curry and rice? Top scran!". "Accrington Stanley? Who're they?". "Exactly". Ah, Liverpool's always been dear to my heart.

Manchester - Home of the scally

Newcastle - Tap dancing faggots

Edinbugh - Fringe

Glasgow - The mighty Gers. I have to refer to them as this due my best mate being a bear.

Bristol - We got Shaun Goater from City.

Nottingham - Cloughy

Sheffield - the wonderful film set there, Threads

Leeds: Geoffrey Boycott. I really don't have any idea why. Something to do with meeting him when I was young I wager.

London - Mr Ben

Liverpool - Alexi Sayle

Manchester - Citeh

Newcastle - the bridge

Edinburgh - Ian Rush (Seen him there last time I went)

Glasgow - Rab

Bristol - Where?

Nottingham - Gas cylinders (seen from Trent Bridge)

Birmingham - Blunther

Sheffield - Wednesday

Leeds - ASDA

Angelo Di Livio, Italian winger in the 90s

http://i.cnn.net/cnn/2002/WORLD/worldcup/06/24/quest.refs/story.ref.ap.jpg

No relation ;)

Sheffield - the wonderful film set there, Threads

A truly shocking film, even more frightening than the atomic bomb leaflets Leeds city council distributed to small children in the '80s.
http://www.bbc.tv/southyorkshire/content/images/2005/04/22/mushroom203_203x152.jpg

http://www.vredesmuseum.nl/t_vision/leeds14.jpg

I'm not sure what's more scary, the notion that Leeds could've been hit by a nuke at any minute or the idea that 10 minutes before it lands, I'd be struggling to find 50p to buy a book that tells me to "Duck and cover".

Threads really is amazing though. I wasn't old enough to have seen it and felt the impact when it came out so obviously the effect was lost on me (compared to the older folk who've told me that film scared them to death). But seeing it a few years ago, I thought it was one of the most brilliant pieces of film ever made. Absolutely amazing film.

While I'm here and talking to a Loiner, do you have any bloody idea why the Isis on Marlborough st had all the terracotta tiles taken down? The building was left with a silver foil as cladding for a few weeks and it's only now the tiles are being put back on. If it's a cleaning issue, does this kind of nonsense have to be applied to all similarly tiled buildings in existence? Or was there some issue with the underside of the tiles?

While I'm here and talking to a Loiner, do you have any bloody idea why the Isis on Marlborough st had all the terracotta tiles taken down? The building was left with a silver foil as cladding for a few weeks and it's only now the tiles are being put back on. If it's a cleaning issue, does this kind of nonsense have to be applied to all similarly tiled buildings in existence? Or was there some issue with the underside of the tiles?

It's not really my side of town; i only see the Isis coming off the M1. But i would imagine it's some kind of design flaw that's being corrected. It looks to be a very cheap building indeed.

http://www.leeds-cityscape.co.uk/photos/20-12-2004/Ibis%20Student%20Flats.jpg

London - Amazing

Birmingham - Modern

Liverpool - Waterfont

Manchester - Trying ;)

Newcastle - Beer

Edinburgh - Castle

Glasgow - Hip

Bristol - Umm ;)

Nottingham - Birmingham wannabe

Sheffield - Low-rise :hahaha:

Leeds - Underated

Well part of Marlborough St. is student apartmetns I believe, and this development like so many across Leeds I think are quite good for student living in comparison to the standard of some student accomodation in cities. It is probably likeley more developments will go up around here anyway to hide it...

Out of interest, how much is student accomadation these days? 10 years ago when I were much younger I paid about £35 a week in Fallowfield (I think).

My mates a couple of years ago were paying about £55-65 a week for Student Village and some other hole... what was it called... fuck knows, by a park on the Oxford road, in Manc.

A con if you ask me, after seeing the size of their cupb, I mean room.

Owens Park? If so I think that is getting knocked down soon.

But yes, a f*cking rip off.

Ahhhh, it's come back to me. Cavendish.

Yep, absolute con. I'd have none of it if I went to Uni. I'd much rather pay less and have a house with some mates. Can't be doing with all the social yarbles anyway. Drunk twats running round the corridors at five in the morning shouting bollocks. I'd go ape.

Guess that's why I never went :)

Let's have a bosh while he's here:

London - bridge
Birmingham - balti
Liverpool - scouse
Leeds - molly
Manchester - scally
Newcastle - incomprehensible accent
Edinburgh - silo
Glasgow - m8
Bristol - teachers
Nottingham - robin hood
Sheffield - hallam university

That was fun. It's like family fortunes. A bit.

The Good:

London - Its London! What more do you need to know?! Bloody oozes class, the likes of which cannot be summed up in one sentence

Birmingham - Cat Deeley(saturday mornings have never been the same since she left SMTV live)/The Bullring

Liverpool - The Beatles (even though I didnt like em')/Cilla Black/Claire Sweeney (depending on what day of the week it is)

Leeds - It's Luurrvly

Manchester - Oasis/Stone Roses/Brit Pop at its bloody finest

Newcastle - Black and White Stripes of the Magpies/Geordie Racer (an educational programme on spelling we used to get at school - anyone remember?)

Edinburgh - The majestic Castle and Royal Mile

Glasgow - The three S's : Style, Substance and Size/Glasgow Celtic/Irn-Bru - the drink of champions :okay:

Bristol - Yes.

Nottingham - Martin O'Neil (fookin' legend)

Sheffield - Steel/Meadowhall


The Bad:

London - Too bloody expensive/bloody chav's

Birmingham - That accent. *shudder*

Liverpool - 'Wallet or phone? Both?! But I gave you a phone the last time we "met"'

Leeds - Warm Beer

Manchester - Salford/Shaun Ryder - he's a tit

Newcastle - "I'm sorry sir but I can't understand a word you are saying"

Edinburgh - "You'll have had your tea then?.."

Glasgow - "Fuckin' gee us it ya tit. Im gonnae fuckin' smash you wae this Irn-Bru Bottle ya shitty bas'"... *BOFF* ... "I fuckin' telt' yae ya numpty - dinny gee us any mair eh yer shite, ya bawbag"

Bristol - Yes.

Nottingham - Bullet proof vests are really expensive.

Sheffield - Steel/Meadowhall


Not trying to be offensive here btw - all is said in jest :)

I'm paying £67p/w for a shithole in Burley. Cheapest I've seen is around £55. Bills aren't thrown in. Students are raped silly these days.

I wonder how much things like the Plaza will be then... I expect pretty expensive for a student.
London- M25
Birmingham - Concrete but trying
Liverpool - Waterfont and Scals
Manchester - rain
Newcastle - Tyne Bridges
Edinburgh - overrated
Glasgow - underrated
Bristol - cold
Nottingham - crime
Sheffield - Meadowhall
Leeds - money (its just the view of city square from the station, the big buildings immediatley suggest the area is rich, like most CBDs I guess- I know its not a true representation of all of Leeds)

I'm paying £67p/w for a shithole in Burley. Cheapest I've seen is around £55. Bills aren't thrown in. Students are raped silly these days.

That's way too much, but not surprising given the amount they charge for second-rate accomodation in Headingley nowadays.
One of the reasons why the Leeds universities are popular is because it's considered to be an inexpensive place to get a good education. i wonder whether that may change now that it's looking ludicrously London-esque in pricing.

Leeds will be getting more expensive for students now too. Would I be right in thinking Black Prince are no more? They were a Godsend to others like me. Student fare for 70p to anywhere you like. Now First have taken them over and low and behold, I now have to fork out £1.20 for a single to town. This is for travelling 6 stops, from the Burley/Cardigan road junction to the art gallery. £1.20 for 6 stops. Something is seriously not right there.

Rent wise, it's the money grabbing landlords and letting agencies who're to blame. Students are nothing but numbers to them and just go about charging whatever the fuck they like. They realise students want to live around HEadingley due to the clsoeness to uni and well, it's where all the decent stuff happens. But the state of the properties is shocking. Here's a comparison.

Shitty 5 bedroom flat we live in now in Burley costs £67 p/w. No bills thrown in. No work carried out on the house, nowt.

But with the same letting agents, we saw a beautiful huge house in Roundhay for £55 p/w. This house was something you'd expect a well off teacher to be living in. Now we couldn't take that because it would cut us off completely from all our friends and the bus would be more expensive than it already is. And I'd also have to quit my job due to the distance too.

The shit thing is, the agencies know this. They know that students will want to be close to their friends and work etc. So they can get away with bunging us all in poverty-a-like housing and charging disgusting money.

I imagine this scenario is quite similar in all the up and coming cities. But something needs to change. People whinge about how students complain about having no money yet they're always in the pub. You're damn right we're always in the pub because considering the shafting we constantly get, the only thing we can do is drown our sorrows.

Headingley Lets (now He-re) fucked me over right proper last year. I had to see doctors about depression and similar things due to the fucking about they gave me. I ended up having to pay them hundreds in fines (which shouldn't have even occured) and I was being harrassed by bailiffs constantly because their accounts department couldn't be arsed to check their records to see what months I'd paid rent for and how I'd paid it. Eventually I had to spend even more money I don't have to employ a solicitor to threaten them with court action for the way I was treated. Sure enough, when they got a letter and a then met the chap, everything was cleared up. Obviously they knew they were in the wrong and didn't want to be pulled up on it.

Oh aye, my tenancy with Headingley Lets ended on the 26th of June. It's now the 18th of August and they still haven't given me my £300 bond back.

Oh aye, how's this for sex. Our contract was actually until the 7th of July. But they told us to fuck off, kicked us out on the 28th of June and said "naff off". So I paid my £221 for the monthly rent but wasn't told that because they were kicking us out, it would actually only be £169 for the final month.

I only found this out 2 weeks ago (or so). Again, I've not had the £52 they owe me (on top of my £300 bond).

Right now, I'm having to work 67 hour weeks to get the money for my current rent. Of course, if I wasn't fucked about by HL so much, I could be living on 30 hours a week. But thanks to the horrific scumbag culture that is student letting agencies, I'm now £1500 in the red and living on a sandwich a day. I've not had anything more than 1 sarney in a day for 3 weeks now. Although I did manage to afford a burger and chips from Fat Tony's 2 nights ago.

Thanks Headingley Lets. You really are a bastion of student shitness.

London - Lloyds of London, my favourite building ever!
Birmingham - How cool is the Selfridges building?
Liverpool - Afro hair and tache.
Manchester - Old Trafford :(
Newcastle - No trophies in 30 years :)
Edinburgh - Walking through New Town to work in the pouring rain for weeks on end.
Glasgow - Must go there soon!
Bristol - Far, far nicer than I expected it to be.
Nottingham - Paul Smith
Sheffield - Steel
Leeds - I'm going home tomorrow! :)

London - St Pauls
Birmingham - Stained Concrete
Liverpool - Deprivation
Manchester - Dreary
Newcastle - Council Estates
Edinburgh - Old
Glasgow - Rough
Bristol - Severn Bridge
Nottingham - Hilly
Sheffield - Park Hill Flats
Leeds - Countryside

Yes Black Prince have gone and routes replaced with more First routes. If the supertram goes ahead though the problem will be solved as prices will be competitive with bus prices.
£1.20 to Leeds City Centre- thats loads! I know I have a railcard but I can still get from Harrogate-Leeds and back with 20p change for that- its only like £3 adult too...

If the tram comes, prices won't be competitive. I guarantee you that. Buses in Manc are just as extortionate as here and we've had a tram for years now. At the end of the day, buses are all over the place. Trams will only be on 1 or 2 lines. What possible reason would bus companies have for restructuring their fares?

the source of that is www.leeds-supertram.co.uk

Yeah but we know how you have a sugar coated candy floss view of the World. I very very much doubt that'll happen. Hypothetically, if a tram goes from Elland Road to Hare Hills, what reason would First have to make my bus journey from Burley to Town any cheaper? There'd be absolutely no reason. There's already a train station in Burley and that's just as expensive as the bus. It won't happen man, honestly. First wouldn't cut their fares. They didn't in North Manchester and they still haven't. I fail to see why Leeds will be any different.

It seems there's been no silver lining to your accomodation cloud, dgnr8. That really is a tale of unending woe. these guys know all the loopholes in order to extract as much money as they can from debt-laden students .

re buses in Leeds: absolute joke. There's a ten pence increase in fares everytime i go back, and a significantly reduced quality of service.

Sheffield - Park Hill Flats
Ouch.