What do you know about UK cities/towns...other than London?

[Galro]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

Most cities in Western Europe have plenty of immigrants and children of immigrants these days but its not as if that is a bad thing per se.

Yes, I agree with that. What I meant is that Birmingham appears to have very bad image from what I've seen on the internet and talked with Brits. Neither immigrants or '60s designs is necessarily a bad thing (just take a look at the John F. Kennedy airport by Eero Saarinen), but many consider Birminghams mix of them to bad combination as far as I gathered. And this is basically all that I have heard about Birmingham. But like I said, I have no idea if the city deserve it.

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

There are some pretty terrible 1960s buildings but the city centre is mostly quite pleasant and there are some nice green suburbs (as well as some not so nice ones)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=994681

Many lovely historic buildings there, but some of the '60s stuff like this isn't exactly my taste:


How much of the city consist of historic buildings?

[Jonesy55]

That's the central library, it's quite brutalist but it is going to be demolished soon.

The replacement is currently under construction.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Birmingham

It depends what you consider historic but there are now a lot more recent buildings than 50s-70s buildings in the city centre while many of the residential suburbs are 19th century.

There is also a lot of functional, uninspiring 20th century housing and commercial stuff of course in the areas outside the centre. The urban area is large, some 750km2 and 2.3m residents.

[Johnoo1]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

Chill out! It's quite normal if you don't know a country very well to not have a distinct impression of each individual city.

How many British people do you think have a clear view of how various Brazilian or Japanese or Turkish cities differ from each other?

If you don't live in Sweden you miss the irony of my point. He says they look the same from Tv but lives in a country where many of the towns particularly the centres you can hardly tell apart.

[Johnoo1]

Originally Posted by Galro

Yes, I agree with that. What I meant is that Birmingham appears to have very bad image from what I've seen on the internet and talked with Brits. Neither immigrants or '60s designs is necessarily a bad thing (just take a look at the John F. Kennedy airport by Eero Saarinen), but many consider Birminghams mix of them to bad combination as far as I gathered. And this is basically all that I have heard about Birmingham. But like I said, I have no idea if the city deserve it.


Many lovely historic buildings there, but some of the '60s stuff like this isn't exactly my taste:


How much of the city consist of historic buildings?

Isn't the usual quote Birmingham has more miles (kms) of canals than Venice?

[Rev Stickleback]

Originally Posted by Johnoo1

Isn't the usual quote Birmingham has more miles (kms) of canals than Venice?

and the reply is usually "yes, but the ones in Venice don't have shopping trolleys in them"

[Mr_Dru]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

Swindon isn't poor at all, its just not particularly interesting or attractive (imo). The local economy is actually quite good.

Yes the Swindon Old town wasn't special and the centre wasn't crowded. But I like the outlet center. I think it was an old locomotive rail-yard. Maybe because of this outlet center, people don't go to the city centre to go for shopping.

[sarimanok]

never been to UK but I know some cities,

Liverpool because of the Beatles
Cardiff because of a fellow countryman won in a WPA championship event there

wait, what?! Oh I can recall only 2.. I'm frustrated.

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by Mr_Dru

Yes the Swindon Old town wasn't special and the centre wasn't crowded. But I like the outlet center. I think it was an old locomotive rail-yard. Maybe because of this outlet center, people don't go to the city centre to go for shopping.

It's a fairly new town, or at least most growth was after WWII in the car era, so there isn't much old in the centre for a city of that size.

[HMMS]

In Brazil, we know only Liverpool, because of the Beatles!!!!!!!!!!!

[RaySthlm]

..............

[cardiff]

Most people form the UK dont know much about Britian other than London, so how do we expect foreigners to know much about it. i have been systematically working my way around the UK. Some of my Photo threads from the UK

Cardiff Capital of Wales, very large photo collection of the city. Very big mix of very modern and very old architecture in a pretty natural location.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...693&highlight=

Birmingham, very good tour of the city center, mix of all styles of architecture, big city.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...166&highlight=

Portsmouth, mix of city, seaside resort, naval base/naval museums. A few introductory pictures

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...692&highlight=

Bath, very historic/uniform and beautiful Georgian city with Roman baths. Good tour of the city

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...153&highlight=

Leeds (large city), Castle Howard (Huge Country Mansion), York (historic walled cathedral city), Scarborough (stunning victorian and georgian seaside resort), Whitby (historic seaside town), Newcastle (beautiful uniform city center), Durham (stunning cathedral city), Bamburgh and Alnwick castles, Edinburgh (stunning medieval and Georgian city).

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...539&highlight=

Winchester (First capital of England, cathedral city), Bournemouth (Seaside resort), Poole (Uber rich seaside town), Weymouth (beautiful seaside resort)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...089&highlight=

Southampton (mix of medieval and victorian fragments, with HUGE cruise ships), London

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...353&highlight=

Gloucester (beauitful cathedral city)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...285&highlight=

Saundersfoot, Tenby (beauitful seaside resorts in Wales)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...217&highlight=

Stratford Upon Avon (medieval town, Shakespears birth place), Warwick (large family Castle)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...940&highlight=

Old Severn Bridge

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...238&highlight=

Chester (Victorian pastich of Medieval city, very beautiful!)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...612&highlight=

Blackpool (dire seaside resort thats worth missing, sorry!).

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...297&highlight=

[Golden Age]

A really impressive collection of pictures, cardiff. Most of the towns were new to me, thanks a lot for posting them.

As for UK cities, I really enjoyed the Southern coastal towns St. Ives (Cornwall), Brighton, Chichester or Rye.

[mhays]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

Isn't Gatwick the more convenient airport from TW?

I have to say that TW has the image in the UK of being the archetypal conservative, prosperous middle/upper-middle class commuter town and is often gently mocked for that

Gatwick is easier, but even then it's not direct. And all the Seattle flights (max three per day) go to Heathrow.

[Galro]

Originally Posted by Jonesy55

That's the central library, it's quite brutalist but it is going to be demolished soon.

The replacement is currently under construction.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Birmingham

It depends what you consider historic but there are now a lot more recent buildings than 50s-70s buildings in the city centre while many of the residential suburbs are 19th century.

There is also a lot of functional, uninspiring 20th century housing and commercial stuff of course in the areas outside the centre. The urban area is large, some 750km2 and 2.3m residents.

I took a look at Birmingham in Google Street view. My impression:

Some gorgeous street and buildings: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Birmin...3.59,,0,-17.81

But some awful too: http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Birmin...181.1,,0,-1.66

But what stands out most is just how broken up the city looks from above. Many places have dense traditional street grids that are interrupted by commie hoods, freeway junction and sometimes just open greenland like here. I guess this may be due to bombings during the war?

And the library had one awful base! God damn, what was the architect thinking of?

[poshbakerloo]

Originally Posted by Galro

freeway junction and sometimes just open greenland like here. I guess this may be due to bombings during the war?

The part of the city has seen a lot of demolition, the Inner Ring Road (Queensway) used to have a grade separated junction there that has been removed and a lot of the run down buildings around it. I think its waiting redevelopment etc

This is how it used to look...

[SkyscraperSuperman]

Here's another thread for Portsmouth by one of the UK forum members, with a lot more pictures in it:
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showth...138&highlight=
As well as being Europe's largest naval base and one of the UK's biggest ports, it's the birthplace of famous authors Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist, David Copperfield etc.) and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes). It's not as big as other UK cities, but is a great place to visit - along with some other south coast cities, it receives more sun per year than the rest of UK and its southern section is a popular resort, known as Southsea.

[Xusein]

Ironically, I found out about a lot of many English cities because like 90% of the towns in my US state (Connecticut) are named after them.

[haikiller11]

Liverpool - The Beatles, Titanic, major industrial city in the past, Liverpool football club.
Manchester - ManU
York - Emperor Constantine the Great, largest city in northern medieval England (from brave heart )
Edinburgh - Castle town
GLassgow - just a city in Scotland
Stirling - a nice town in Scotland
Oxford, Cambridge - Uni town
Bath - spa town
Birmingham - second city
Nottingham - Robin Hood
Leeds, Southampton - I don't know how did I know it :\
Coventry - same
Bristol - small and great city that has a nice bridge
Windsor - There's a castle in town
Newcastle - I like their accent :P
Cardiff - capital of Wales
Caernarfon, Innsbruck I think that these towns are from the middle age
Belfast - IRA
Gloucestershire, Windchester - beautiful towns with beautiful churches
Portsmouth - port town of London, warships
Sheffield, Norwich, blah blah blah

[Jonesy55]

Originally Posted by Galro

But what stands out most is just how broken up the city looks from above. Many places have dense traditional street grids that are interrupted by commie hoods, freeway junction and sometimes just open greenland like here. I guess this may be due to bombings during the war?

And the library had one awful base! God damn, what was the architect thinking of?

Yeah, I guess a lot of the discontinuity is due to rebuilding after war damage, then rebuilding again after the postwar crap has been demolished.

That last link is a piece of land which used to be a railway station and has been unoccupied since the building was demolished and the lines removed. It will be used for the Birmingham terminal of the HSR project to London.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curzo...ailway_station

The library was apparently influenced by the City Hall in Boston, MA, USA.

[KingNick]

Originally Posted by Rev Stickleback

and the reply is usually "yes, but the ones in Venice don't have shopping trolleys in them"