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[Help] Things to do in Birmingham







PeterT

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2017
2,241
Hove
Do I also count the recommended places that are outside of the city? :) Dudley, Kiddiminster etc.

Have you been brave enough to post your views on Brum on, say, a Villa or Blues website yet?

To be fair, half might agree with you, it’s the other half you may need to be worried about! All good banter, I’m sure.
 


BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,648
Newhaven
Have you been brave enough to post your views on Brum on, say, a Villa or Blues website yet?

To be fair, half might agree with you, it’s the other half you may need to be worried about! All good banter, I’m sure.

Brave enough? No because I don’t look at other teams sites unless someone on here has posted a link on a thread.

For a city the size of Birmingham I honestly don’t think this thread has got that many recommendations, I’ve not seen anything that makes me want to visit other than to watch the Albion.
 


GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,840
Gloucester
Do I also count the recommended places that are outside of the city? :) Dudley, Kiddiminster etc.

Not if you don't want to - although you'd be daft not to include the Black Country Museum (Dudley) - which is still within the conurbation - in the list of places to see while visiting Birmingham. But just in the city? - yes, way more than six before you get half way down page 1..
 


PeterT

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2017
2,241
Hove
Brave enough? No because I don’t look at other teams sites unless someone on here has posted a link on a thread.

For a city the size of Birmingham I honestly don’t think this thread has got that many recommendations, I’ve not seen anything that makes me want to visit other than to watch the Albion.

Well it’s a football related website. If you genuinely have an open mind and want recommendations, here are some (link is just to Edgbaston, but you can check out other areas too):
https://visitbirmingham.com/inspire-me/areas/calthorpe-estates

If you still aren’t convinced, it may say more about you than it does about the city in question. It’s not a perfect place by any means, but I was a student up there and it was a great place to live in, I always enjoy going back and there is always something new to see and do. I think you have taken against the place from the start, so I suspect some minds are too fixed in their views to be worth the effort trying to change.

On the other hand, if you are on a wind up you aren’t doing a bad job!
 




GT49er

Well-known member
Feb 1, 2009
46,840
Gloucester
Brave enough? No because I don’t look at other teams sites unless someone on here has posted a link on a thread.

For a city the size of Birmingham I honestly don’t think this thread has got that many recommendations, I’ve not seen anything that makes me want to visit other than to watch the Albion.

This thread has got loads of recommendations! Just because you appear to have no interest in history, fine architecture, a huge variety of culinary experiences, canals, jewellery, sea life, historic houses with wonderful gardens, etc., they are all still attractions, attractions to a lot of people - and visited by many; just not you, eh?
 




BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,648
Newhaven
If you still aren’t convinced, it may say more about you than it does about the city in question. It’s not a perfect place by any means, but I was a student up there and it was a great place to live in, I always enjoy going back and there is always something new to see and do. I think you have taken against the place from the start, so I suspect some minds are too fixed in their views to be worth the effort trying to change.

On the other hand, if you are on a wind up you aren’t doing a bad job!

Surely we have all visited a city or town and haven’t liked the place, I’ve been to Birmingham only 5 times to visit and driven through on the motorway many times and I honestly don’t like the place.
I’ve been to Bristol as a tourist and for football and loved the city…..some places I like and some I don’t.

I’m not on a wind up and obviously not the only person on this thread that doesn’t like the city.
 






midnight_rendezvous

Well-known member
Aug 10, 2012
3,737
The Black Country
Do I also count the recommended places that are outside of the city? :) Dudley, Kiddiminster etc.

Tbf Dudley has the Black Country Museum which is well worth a visit. The Zoo and Castle are good but the town itself is a shit hole. Kiddy is nice enough though
 
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PeterT

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2017
2,241
Hove
Surely we have all visited a city or town and haven’t liked the place, I’ve been to Birmingham only 5 times to visit and driven through on the motorway many times and I honestly don’t like the place.
I’ve been to Bristol as a tourist and for football and loved the city…..some places I like and some I don’t.

I’m not on a wind up and obviously not the only person on this thread that doesn’t like the city.

Fair enough - my honest opinion is that Brum gets a bad press. Maybe its better bits are harder to find to the occasional visitor but they exist in abundance. It’s one of my favourite cities to visit in this country at least, and I am well travelled (I’ve been to about 95 countries). So I guess I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t like it, but hopefully one day you will have a visit there that changes your mind. I’ve been to Bristol many times too and funnily enough I don’t think it can hold a candle to Brum, though each was overly impacted by the Luftwaffe unfortunately.

Next time you think of visiting Brum, send me a PM (edit - and tell me the sort of things you like, of course, as everyone has different tastes). I guarantee with an open mind it will help you appreciate what the city has to offer a bit more than you have done so far. For the record, none of my tips would be north of the M6, so if you’ve driven through and seen that I get where you are coming from!
 
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BN9 BHA

DOCKERS
NSC Patron
Jul 14, 2013
21,648
Newhaven
Tbf Dudley has the Black Country Museum which is well worth a visit. The Zoo and Castle are good but the town itself is a shit hole. Kiddy is nice enough though

The point I was making is the museum is 10 miles away from Birmingham in Dudley, I once told a West Brom fan his team was based in Birmingham and he went spare…..I think WBA is nearer to Birmingham city centre than the museum.

I’ve seen the museum on tv and wouldn’t mind visiting.
 


PeterT

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2017
2,241
Hove
The point I was making is the museum is 10 miles away from Birmingham in Dudley, I once told a West Brom fan his team was based in Birmingham and he went spare…..I think WBA is nearer to Birmingham city centre than the museum.

I’ve seen the museum on tv and wouldn’t mind visiting.

He’s right about that, the Baggies are in Sandwell. My uncle, a Brummie born and bred, recently complained to me that the Commonwealth Games swimming should have been held in Birmingham - it’s actually being held in Sandwell, a few miles away, but it’s not Birmingham!

The city boundaries have changed a lot over the years. Aston only became part of the city about 40 years after Villa were formed, hence the jibe that they are not real Brummies either. I believe Edgbaston cricket ground is situated on land that previously was Worcestershire!

One of my suggestions is Sarehole Mill, a lovely water mill that Tolkien used to frequent as a kid in the Worcestershire countryside, now firmly a part of a Birmingham suburb. As the city has grown and spread over the years, many of these boundaries have moved with it to what you have today.
 


midnight_rendezvous

Well-known member
Aug 10, 2012
3,737
The Black Country
The point I was making is the museum is 10 miles away from Birmingham in Dudley, I once told a West Brom fan his team was based in Birmingham and he went spare…..I think WBA is nearer to Birmingham city centre than the museum.

I’ve seen the museum on tv and wouldn’t mind visiting.

It really is rather good. They film a lot of Peaky Blinders there.

As a side note, my wife is Dudley born and bred and I take great pleasure in telling her she’s from Birmingham just to wind her up. The added bonus being that her accent gets more Black Country the angrier it gets :lolol:
 






Notters

Well-known member
Oct 20, 2003
24,869
Guiseley
Every time I've been up there for football, I've always thought it's quite underrated. I like the city centre. Lots of lovely old buildings combined with some amazing modern architecture which the city council have evidently been brave enough to sanction. Sure, there's plenty of brutalist concrete about, but it's nonetheless got plenty going for it.

It's one of those places that's nowhere near as bad as you think it's going to be :)

Stayed at a city centre hotel for work for a few nights just before covid. Have to say I was expecting it to be as you say but it actually seemed far worse. Didn't even feel safe to walk around in daylight hours, and by 8pm there were genuinely people rolling around on the floor or passed out in a drug-induced coma wherever I seemed to go. Perhaps it was a bad week!
 
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PeterT

Well-known member
Apr 21, 2017
2,241
Hove
Stayed at a city centre hotel for work for a few nights just before covid. Have to say I was expecting it to be as you say but it actually seemed far worse. Didn't even feel safe to walk around in daylight hours, and by 8pm there were genuinely people rolling around on the floor or passed out in a drug-induced coma wherever I seemed to go. Perhaps it was a bad week!

I’m guessing you haven’t been in central Brighton recently?! Brum definitely has an edge to it, I have often thought growing up in Brighton actually trained me quite well for some of the ‘earthier’ city centres elsewhere!
 


Notters

Well-known member
Oct 20, 2003
24,869
Guiseley


I’m guessing you haven’t been in central Brighton recently?! Brum definitely has an edge to it, I have often thought growing up in Brighton actually trained me quite well for some of the ‘earthier’ city centres elsewhere!

Brighton has it to a certain extent, but not to the level of aggression and desolation that I experienced in Birmingham. Also the key difference is that Brighton is always busy with other people doing their thing, I could not believe how quiet Birmingham was, I felt in a minority being compos mentis.
Am obviously being careful how I phrase things hear as I don't want to be disparaging of people who live on the streets or who have a severe drug problem, but an awful lot of help is clearly needed there.

Am only talking about the city centre here - appreciate your earlier comments about there being nicer areas elsewhere. My sister has lived in the area for around 35 years so have visited plenty of nicer parts.
 




maltaseagull

Well-known member
Feb 25, 2009
13,059
Zabbar- Malta
Thanks everyone for their comments and suggestions. I have passed them on.

And also for the many repeated jokes about leaving :)
 


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