Birmingham's reputation

[sefton66]

Its not just the city centre being ranked though, its Birmingham as a whole city including its suburbs, I believe Sutton Park is the largest single park in Europe, Cannon Hill park, Cofton Park & Lickey Hills etc.

[JayPeeDee]

Originally Posted by chamberycite

Seriously, I can't understand why Birmingham is rated so well in terms of quality of living.
That is the second city of UK and it has no underground and tramway inside the city center. There are few bus lane. The pedestrianised area is, compartivetly to the size of the city, very low. There are a lot of awfull places for pedestrians such as five ways or Holloway circus with pedestrian subways. There are very few green spaces. The city is very unfriendly to bicycle. Birmingham is dedicated to cars. It is very hard to find local food and the city is almost entirely composed of chain stores and shopping malls.

Ok, when did you last visit Birmingham? Just out of interest.

[simbastyles]

He does raise a good point though Birmingham's public transport is well behind where it should be, we cannot keep relying on buses. Local food isn't too hard to find if you go to the market right by the bullring.

[chamberycite]

Originally Posted by JayPeeDee

Ok, when did you last visit Birmingham? Just out of interest.

I was here until the beginning of december. I know that the city did a lot with the Big city plan to change his reputation of concrete jungle but I think that there remains much to be done. But I'm maybe not really used to that kind of city because I come from France. Birmingham just embodies perfectly the horrible things that we did in France in the 60s and 70s. The city is completly disfigured by urban motorways. In France, we stopped this rather early whereas Birmingham continued in the same logic for a very long time.

[morestoreysplease]

I agree that French cities and towns have retained their historic cores so much better than British ones - we were bombed from the air whereas French towns (Normandy / Picardie / Alsace) took batterings on the ground from both wars.
I hope you at least enjoyed your time in Brum - Chambery's a place I'd like to go to. Flybe used to fly there.

[chamberycite]

Originally Posted by morestoreysplease

I agree that French cities and towns have retained their historic cores so much better than British ones - we were bombed from the air whereas French towns (Normandy / Picardie / Alsace) took batterings on the ground from both wars.
I hope you at least enjoyed your time in Brum - Chambery's a place I'd like to go to. Flybe used to fly there.

Thanks, I'm doing an Erasmus year there so I come back in January and yes I really enjoy the campus of Birmingham University, which is very green. I found some nice places in the city center too. I'm maybe to harsh with the city.
Yes Birmingham was not lucky because of WW2 but also because you had this crazy guy : Herbert Manzoni. I noticed that you pulled down some nice old buildings (the library for instance). I can't imagine how Lyon would have been today if we had done the same. In France in the 1960s, our ministry of culture, André Malraux, passed legislations to saveguard old heritage so we began to be attached to that early. Chambéry was also bombed but we still have a nice old italian city center. (but very small) We have a nice castle as well because Chambéry used to be the capital of Savoy. But you may appreciate more Annecy or Lyon.

[JayPeeDee]

chamberycite, thanks for your reply.

About 10 years ago Birmingham was much worse than it is now. The Eastside and Bullring areas were a mass of roads and pedestrian underpasses, St Chads (over by Snowhill) was also very similar. The city has done a lot to remove the mistakes of the 60s and we are mostly all positive about the future with the new park opening, removal of concrete eyesores (main station, library, etc), new squares, hotels, restaurants, etc all building a good vibrancy in the city.

I think if you visit any major UK city you will find them to be quite similar to Birmingham, this is a symptom of the country/culture rather than the city itself, IMO.

[U475 Foxtrot]

'Mark Steel's In Town'

This week, Mark takes a trip to Handsworth in Birmingham.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/b01p720p

Listened to this on the way home

[chamberycite]

Originally Posted by JayPeeDee

chamberycite, thanks for your reply.

About 10 years ago Birmingham was much worse than it is now. The Eastside and Bullring areas were a mass of roads and pedestrian underpasses, St Chads (over by Snowhill) was also very similar. The city has done a lot to remove the mistakes of the 60s and we are mostly all positive about the future with the new park opening, removal of concrete eyesores (main station, library, etc), new squares, hotels, restaurants, etc all building a good vibrancy in the city.

I think if you visit any major UK city you will find them to be quite similar to Birmingham, this is a symptom of the country/culture rather than the city itself, IMO.

Ok. But i still think that one thing which lack in Birmingham everyday's landscape is bicycles. Is there any project of bicycle sharing system ?

[sefton66]

not currently that I'm aware of but there are plans, take a look at the following link

http://www.birminghampost.net/news/n...5233-32100338/

[blahblahv2]

Yesterday's Bing Homescreen was a stunning pic of Selfridges Birmingham.

If you're not familiar with the Bing Homescreen, it also carries links to little factoids and then links to locations & other information about the location of the image. Made us look pretty cool!



www.bing.com.

[djay]

#YouKnowBirmingham was trending world while at number 2 worldwide for a few hours last night

[Owl.]

To answer the original question of the thread, from an outer's perspective I generally view Birmingham's reputation as pretty mixed.

Friends at university from the Birmingham/West Midlands area say there is a good range of shops/bars/clubs, but not having been before I can't really comment. Whether rightly or wrongly I tend to think of Birmingham as a city which has a fair amount of crime (at least in comparison to other cities around Britain). I'm planning to go to Birmingham though next year with two of my uni friends for a night out and a shopping day, so maybe my views will change then.

[hoody]

Please can you come back and tell us. I'm interested to see whether your view has been reinforced or dispelled.

[sefton66]

Is there any reason why you think of birmingham as being a city with a fair amount of crime? It may not be the best area but is not the worst

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datab...s-police-force


Not having a go just interested into why you think of it being so

[Guilbert53]

Originally Posted by sefton66

Is there any reason why you think of birmingham as being a city with a fair amount of crime? It may not be the best area but is not the worst

I think a couple of years ago Birmingham had a bad reputation for gun crime (often drug gang related) and to a certain extent knife crime.

Some of these were "high profile" gun and knife crimes that made the national news and made Birmingham look bad to people from other parts of the country.

Also unfortuntely many people have been arrested in Birmingham for "terrorist related" offences, which again make the national news, giving the city a bad reputation.

I am not sure all these terrorist arrests have led to trials or convictions, but the arrests alone are enough to give the city a bad reputation.

Thankfully the gun crime seems to have reduced a lot in the last couple of years (I cant remember when I last heard of a major gun crime in Birmingham).

Every major city has gun crime and knife crime, and people all over the UK have been arrested for terrorist related crimes, but all it needs is a few "high profile" ones to appear on the national news for the "bad reputation" label to stick.

Bad reputations can be gained very quickly, but can take a long time to shake off.

[morestoreysplease]

Originally Posted by U475 Foxtrot

Listened to this on the way home

Cheers for this Foxy - I listened to the first 5 mins then tried to revisit today but it's now not available

[Brum X]

Just had an email confirming the following from TripAdviser:


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[hoody]

Despite been out for months.


Birmingham's is a bit weak at the moment so we all need to add places, update, take pictures, and I think create itineraries.

[Owl.]

Originally Posted by hoody

Please can you come back and tell us. I'm interested to see whether your view has been reinforced or dispelled.

I shall indeed. I'm coming towards the end of this month for a weekend, so hopefully that'll change my impression of the city.