The Knowhere Guide

Best and Worst in Birmingham, West Midlands*

Birmingham, West Midlands Triumphs and Tragedies

Favourite Building

• Town Hall and Art Museum, nice and old looking!
• Bull Ring
• Bullring
• I still think that the REP is pretty spectacular. The way you see that whole square as you walk up from paradise, over that bridge, it is a really nice city view. Love for Brum!
• Birmingham palace
• The Central Mission Hall opposite the law courts. It used to house the Q Club - the best club in Brum, but alas, no more. It's a great looking builidng building - triangular shape, red brick and it really stands out if you see it from the Aston University side.
• Birmingham womens hospital (as was)in showell green lane
• St Martins Church, Bull Ring and many other victorian buildings within the city.
• ALL the old Victorian places including Moseley Art School
• THE ROTUNDA!! All they have to do is do up the outside, Birmingham wont be Birmingham without it! There is a brilliant plaque in the new bull ring goes something like 'oh rotunda they wanted you square but you are still round still there' sums it up nicely!!!
• law courts.nice to look at
• S.t MArtinc church the architecture is beautiful!
• Selfridges
• Icc
• The neo-classical (mock-Greek stylee) Town Hall
• arena central if it gets built
• its gotta be the hyatt hotel or no1 hagley road. birmingham needs so many more huge fuck off buildings, like any decent american city. some proper skyscrapers please!!!
• the q club! and its colsed down now! :( nooooooooooo
• The Law Courts
• The Custard Factory in Digbeth (only problem is that it's in Digbeth!) - what a cool arty place!
• The Oasis has its charm :)
• Rotunda and The Que Club building.
• The Old Crown pub in Digbeth, circa 1368.
• Art Gallery
• bombed out church (peace park) in lee bank
• Main Building, Aston University - Massive, imposing, bizzare lifts
• THE ROTUNDA!
• The Rotunda
• Just all the high-rise buildings in Birmingham, they are what makes a city.
• too many to choose!
• Town Hall. Currently closed but what articecture.
• St.Andrews Stadium - Home of football and the meeting place of thousands of "intelligent" brummies on a Saturday afternoon
• Ikon Gallery
• The art gallery and museum on Victoria Square.
• the old moseley art school building, moseley road. then, not now.
• Got to be the Birmingham University clock tower!
• post office tower - can't beat it if your lost!
• The law courts - they are big and red and quite stunning
• Rotunda - the closest thing Birmingham has to a world-famous landmark. But it needs doing up a bit.
• BT Tower- a big phallic reminder to all the ladies.
• THE ROTUNDA!! IT'S A LANDMARK! AND THE BULL RING. IT ONLY NEEDS CLEANING UP.
• St Andrews - the mecca of underachieving football but still those Bluenoses remain as loyal as ever
• Museum - a haven in the City Centre.
• Tricorn House, near the Five Ways Island and the Swallow Hotel
• The dilapedated warehouses in Digbeth are in dire need of restoration, but cool nonetheless. Can someone do a Broad Street down here please?
• pavillions - nice shops

Demolish It Now Building

• Selfridges in Bullring, its a now dull eyesore!
• All the subways
• Mander centre
• The new bull-Ring. Different, but still foul
• any place where shaz's and kevs work
• Lancaster Circus (too many underpasses), Palisades shopping centre (60s monstrosity, which needs a clean) and plant more trees and shrubbery around the city.
• That bloody great Dalek's Ballgown (or the blue loaf with hub caps) and all that crap that covers the view of St. Martin's Church. The Think Tank or 'Brain Drain' as I like to call it. I'd roll the Rotunda away down towards Deritend and aim it at all the modern buildings - y'see I don't think modern architecture cuts it from a craftsmanship point of view and it doesn't encourage the Brummies to be very proud of their city. I'd re-open the Fiddle and Bone and crush the new luxury apartments. See http://www.baboo.fsnet.co.uk/ for a view of the Bull Ring during its demolition and other mad things.
• The awful, disgustingly horrible Selfridges!
• Digbeth coach station!!!
• the aston villa ground
• costermongers.preferabaly with everyone still inside (the moody fuckers).
• JJB crappy look at me im such a hard ass kevin and im gonna raaaa box ya store!
• er.....Selfridges? Skater Haters EVERYWHERE!
• Tramps, used to be a nightclub or something on Broad Street. Do something with it or tear it down!
• jd sports(lol)
• Risa
• Central library - looks so dull
• The world's ugliest skyscraper - The big black/grey tower at the bottom of Hill St.
• all the victorian houses. thet are old and shit. flatten them all and build some glass fronted highrisers!! oh and st andrews, that shithole should be nuked!
• The building on the corner of Portland Road and Hagley road, its suppose to be a hotel but god knows how you see out of it!
• Everything except the Law Courts
• The Rotunda. Central Library (it's dire).
• The Rotunda - the giant toilet roll in the sky - kabooom please! (Although it would probably make a cool nightclub.)
• The museum...no one goes there!
• some of the old factories cloggin up our city (its waistin valueble space for clothes shops!!!)
• RACKHAMS!!!!!!!!! WHAT A DUMP!
• Hyatt, and all those other spangly buildings that adorn the end of Broad Street.
• The whole of the Bull Ring which has already been torn assunder.
• digbeth coach station
• all of Birmingham Uni - ha ha
• all of them :)
• THE ROTUNDA!
• The Rotunda
• my school!
• Rotunda
• It's not that there are that many nasty buildings, it's just that there are way WAY too many boring buildings.
• Five-ways - the whole roundabout is an architectural fart
• Digbeth Coach Station - sorry guys, the facelifts just don't fix it do they?
• Hideous concrete car park over the Bull Ring- it's going to be demolished soon.
• Everything between the Yenton, Wylde Green (S.C.), and the Prince of Wales, Moseley (K.H.).
• Murhead Tower in Birmingham Uni. The only building built 90 degrees the wrong way, prefabricated and temporary, now grade 2 listed.
• U.C.E, Perry Barr (Useless.Cunts.Everywhere)This too is awful.
• VILLA PARK !!! With Mike Gregory and Doug Ellis In It At The Time
• Whole of Digbeth? except The Dubliner!!
• Atlantis amusements (Cumbraen)
• Bull Ring
• The Rotunder. It's ugly, it's dark, it's dank and it's cheap. Kaboom the thing.
• Central Library - bloody awful.
• St. andrews, Birmingham City FC ground
• The Bull Ring needs a Luftwaffe on it and can someone do something about the inner ring road?
• the rotunda - enough already
• most of the city centre offices and bull ring (of course)
• Sea Life Centre - A. It's a rip off. B. It offends against the excellent architecture around it (ancient and modern).

The Best Things

• Student life, its the best! friendly and cheap!!
• Just heard that Editors my fav new band are playing a completely free gig in Birmingham this Saturday at 7pm at the Mailbox tell your mates!!! brilliant
• Buses 4 20p!!!!
• Art market in Brindleyplace on the first Sat of the month...
• Some people mention racism and go on about asylum seekers, immigrants, and refugees, HOWEVER, Birmingham is one of those truly multicultural places, and is relatively safe in terms of racial tension compared to what you might think in a community with more non-whites than, say, Wales. (eg although Leeds has the largest concentration of black people in the country, the racial tension factor is high, and the 'is it safe for me to be in that area?' mentality - (yes, for ethnic majorities too, despite there generally being safety in numbers) - is justified and neccessary.)
• good skate weather
• curry
• Fused Magazine. Of all the mags i've seen this is by far the best of the lot The design is great and the features are ace! and it's made in Birmingham too and free! yowsah!
• Sumurai swords by paul chen at www.simplygifted.co.uk
• A busy city, which hosts a multitude of attractions, a wealth of shops and a wide range of various architecture
• Moseley Park and Pool www.moseleypark.co.uk and The Prince of Wales for any visiting yank that wants to see a real pub in action but don't tell too many of them please. Actress and Bishop is good too. Jug of Ale is great but I'm getting a bit cranky about the yoof!
• The people and the accent!!! having lived up north and in London (much more of a sh*t hole than brum) i have been called (wrongly) a northener and a southner (im not sure which is worse, southern probably) its just best to be a midlander!!! when will people down south realise that there is life outside the M25!! Also whats best is that all the supporters of the fottie teams actually are from Birmingham, giving a much better atmosphere!!!
• the people - diverse, down-to-earth, funny, don't turn their noses up at foreigners the shops - loads of them, also very diverse the actual area - technology and modern buildings side by side with beautiful countryside
• people are generally sound.unpretentious.amazing nite life eg house of god.
• well the best place i find is netadventure in dalton street near the crown court in brum city center the staff there will play games with u not just show u how to play and u can play on net or lan with ur m8's the manage there ron has a long standing gamers clan that has been going for years [TpR] troopers www.troopers.s5.com he lets any one join his clan and its a laugh they have a leased line so no sharing conection its 2 meg thye have most if not all the lates games to try
• Insane drunken people and groovy charity helpers!
• Girls
• Selfridges
• The amazing amount of alcohol that can be consumed by drinking only one drink in every pub on Broad Street.
• Brummie humour
• generally nice atmosphere, cheap drinks can be found, good gigs every so often, many fit boys and regular buses [although they are often late]. and me, of course.
• People are mostly cool Shops are wicked and the city it self is really nice i think.
• The sheer ambition of the city with its redevelopment drive. Full marks to the city council and Birmingham Alliance and partners, because of... The Conference quarter (Broad St / Brindley Place etc...) The Bullring development. Pedestrianising New St. Tearing down the Masshouse part of the ring road. The new library to be built next to Millenium point etc...
• the people are ace and the accent is so opposite to stuck up and arrogant!
• the best thing about birmingham is its diversity - west indian, turkish, irish, indian, japanese, english, bangladeshi, chinese, pakistani, egyptian, welsh; christian, jewish, muslim, sikh, buddhist and hindu (and any other race or religion you care to think of) people live in birmingham, i know for sure the primary and secondary schools i attended had about a 60% white and 40% non-white make-up. and in mosely you can walk around in a dresing gown with bright pink dreadlocks whilst singing 'oh i do like to be beside the seaside' without much hassle.
• cadburys chocolate, all the sexy ladies, the clubs on broad street, the good shops and the friendliness of the people. better than them scouse bastards, and all northerners.
• What about ELO, the Move and Toyah Wilcox?
• Just a quick comment re the stuck-up nonce who wittered on about the suburb of Handsworth Wood. I wish he'd go f*ck himself. That's all really.
• Friendly down to earth people who tell it like it is
• The Irish community.
• Above average population of gorgeous women, lots of good bars, friendly people, good underground music scene, Kool FM - the best pirate radio station ever, Brindleyplace, Aston University, Manzils Curry House, Chinese Quarter with the awesome restaurants, best curries in the country!
• the skaters yuuum!
• I hope that by ''the street cleaner outside the library, the one who looks like an elf'' isn't the same street cleaner we all know and love; Ted. It's just that he's retiring in a few months and is going abroad for the first time in his life, and besides, he wears offensive keyrings and repeats them out loud to old ladies who complain. Where would we be without him...
• Friendly people, great nights out, plenty of variety.
• Normally friendly ppl, big rock scene.
• lots to do loads of different shops birmingham ain't got too many of that high street crap once you get lookin around
• Our lightning wit.
• Fantastic Art Gallery, refurbished City Centre, easy to get to other parts of England and Wales for days out.
• shopping
• on broad street
• Where else in the world can you walk down a single street and find Hare Krshnas, anti-capitalists, religious preachers, Sk8ers, Goths, Hell's Angels and people from every other ethnic group or religious sect in the whole world??? And the sk8er chics, without whom life would instantly lose its sparkle...
• Brummy hospitality & sense of humour
• Its explosion of city centre regeneration since the 80s. Its such a great place to live now, compared to 20 years ago, especially if you're young and not especially poor. Lickey Hills - a haven of tranquility just 30 minutes away on the 62 bus.
• I'm from Liverpool but the first time I went to Birmingham I fell in love with it. Don't laugh. Birmingham IS, and it doesn't have to justify itself. Brummies are not cocky and arrogant like Mancunians, they don't have anything to prove. All the concrete and skyscrapers are an asset, as they are in balance with all the trees all through the city. Summers are beautiful.
• Moseley & Digbeth
• Unpretentious people Racially very diverse but hardly any of the tensions you get somewhere like London Lots of jobs!
• HANDSWORTH WOOD, HANDSWORTH WOOD, HANDSWORTH WOOD - this is far the best thing Birmingham can offer! I've moved from London to Handsworth Wood. This affluent suburb is by far the best place in B'ham to live. It also quite expensive for Birmingham prices. What are some ppl here talking about??? To think associating H'worth Wood with crime is absurd. People who think think obviously haven't the intellegence to to distingush between H'worth Wood from H'worth. Needless to say they probably can't afford a detached house here anyway which average at £350K. If there was a south and north divide of the city North Birmingham will undisputedly win as we have Handsworth Wood, Four Oaks, Little Aston and Sutton Coldfield. Also North B'ham ppl are much more snobbier than south b'ham. South Birmingham ppl can just go live in they SMALL 3 bed house with a little drives and a single garage!!! Whilst Handsworth Wood ppl will be living on Hamstead Hill, Handsworth Wood Road and Church Lane, I won't describe the houses as it will be-little ppl from Harbourne and Egdbaston!
• Walking from New Street Station, through Victoria Square, over Centenary Way, past the Rep, over the canal, and into Brindleyplace. About the only traffic-free place to walk in town.
• BSA motorcycles the most "kick-ass", guud-lookin', hoags in the surreal world. mfg by Birmingham Small Arms.[ Mackadown Lane and Golden Hillock Road.] "How cin yer ferget H.P.?" Why, houses of parliament sauce, known in every restaurant here in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada 'cause I personally see to it an I personally ask foe it by name, an yeeaah,-....they all got it now! an' whats mer, theyre a likin' it an' askin' fer it themselves! Bulldog clips. Aah cin git these too! Newey needles and pins. an' these!
• Brummies are absolute salt of the earth.
• Lots of canals
• It's a friendly city
• That Sutton Coldfield is only 8 miles away, though it feels like another world.
• The range of skaters around the place. The friendly attitude between skaters. The way in which people approach you to sell you dope for extorsionate prices.
• The 104X (North Birmingham Busways) bus to Sutton Coldfield. (Avoid TWM buses at all costs! They charge you 85p instead of 70p!)
• The people, definitely. They are so friendly and cheerful.
• everything - it all rocks im gonna miss it like hell when i go to uni!
• M6 Northbound. Tasteless graffiti in the Perry Barr subways. Victoria Turner the Bell End Burner. Oh, and Aftab Is Gay.
• Birmingham has a wealth of musical talent and most nights you can get to see some incredible talent often for FREE (The Adam & Eve, Bradford St, The Old Mill Northfield etc). The scene fluctuates but if people support live venues it will flourish.SUPPORT LIVE MUSIC!!! The best STEELY DAN tribute band ever isTHE DANNY STEEL ORCHESTRA.......look out for us and have a great night!
• Brindley Place, Broad St
• I lived in Handsworth Wood for 8 years, until quite recently, and was never afraid to go out at night. It's really quite pleasant there and - perhaps - the south Brum snob contingents who keep plugging over-priced Harborne, and tatty old Selly Oak and the like ought to stop sniping at the northern half of the city (bits that they've probably never been to). There was one shooting in the Wood - and that was an overspill from Handsworth (which DOES have its more troubled parts) but, you know, it's a big suburb and these things happen.
• The Best thing about Birmingham is . . you only have to travel relatively short distances to get into the country. Best area, Rednal/Rubery. Plenty of open spaces (nr Lickey Hills/Clent Hills),and the new Birmingham Great Park development. Close enough for town, without the traffic hassle.
• The People
• The people dont have the Manc. swagger (Up them selves) or the London got to be done now or yesterday. People are realistic.
• the night life is wicked, lots of nice blpokes, but most gay!!!
• The iron man statue. Don't move it, don't touch it. Leave it where it is. It's much better than some silly tram network!!!
• If you can endure the bitting winds and venture down on to the beach, persevere. For following the coast north past the golf course and up towards St Fergus, the beach is wonderful. The surf is wild and ferocious and that strecth of coast features in some surfers handbooks. The sand is golden white and powdery. Just breath it that bresh air!
• The people.
• Atomic Jam & House of God at Que.
• Everything is Brum is cool, the city centre is amazing now, friendly and convenient.
• Villa Fans
• Broad Street is terrific and the city centre nightlife can cater most tastes
• diverse mix of people
• brum does have a real buzz these days, especially at weekends. the locals aren't up their own arses (I'm a londoner, I should know about that). unpretentious, sometimes tacky, but definitely a good place to spend saturday night.
• Air Adventures in the Pallisades. The shop's too small but there's a great range of kites and a very knowledgeable bloke behind the counter. They also do in-line skates and stuff like that.
• Jewelry Quarter: Superb bargains but also beware of cheap rip offs. Black cab drivers.
• Hey I lived in Birmingham for the first 19 years of my life and it gets better every time I go back. The town centre sparkles with promise and on a sunny winter morning there's nowhere better than to walk from St Phillip's Cathedral, past the glorious founatins on Victoria Square (the biggest in Europe they tell me), past the statues of Watt and Baskerville on the steps outside the Central Library, and down to the convention centre to watch the canal boats chug past the rich Japanese conference delegates spending their oodles of lovely cash in this fabulous city. And the reason no-one knows about these gems is that yer Birmingham people do not have massive chips on their shoulders like people form up north and consequently do not go bang on about the city. I knew a bloke from Manchester and he was so uptight about his shitehole hometown that no-one dared to criticize it even a teensy weensy bit. Sure, Birmingham's got loads of problems, but at least I know the city is doing its best to solve them.
• Balti. Although no longer unique to Birmingham, you can eat some great food in the area.
• The Broad Street area, including the ICC, Symphony Hall (the best music venue in the country) and the National Indoor Arena. Ronnie Scotts club is good although the choice of acts can be a bit suspect. The new Brindley Place area is full of good restaurants and pubs. Looking back ten years it is hard to believe that this is the same city. The improvements that have been (and continue to be) done make you really proud to live here.
• Musical Exchanges (Livery St, near Snow Hill Station). A huge shop which puts the ones in London to shame. Something for everyone here, although a limited selection of mandolins and harmonicas. Great acoustic guitars department, and huge electric guitar department. There is also a collectors corner, full of old Gretsch guitars including what looks like one of Bo Diddley's. The staff are pretty helpful and will go to great lengths to help if you know what you want.
• Being central. Nowhere is too far to go for a weekend away. And you'll need to take weekends away.
• Alternatively, the best thing about Brum is The Rock Face indoor climbing centre, on A B Row (I know, wierd address) near Aston University, but not on the net at all.
• The best thing about Birmingham is the Oscillate Club night, run infrequently at either the Que club (all nighters) or Moseley Dance Centre (err.. non-all nighters).
• What's good about Birmingham? In the City Centre, you can find just about anything your heart desires within a relatively small area, and in most cases without the extortionate prices of London.

The Worst Things

• homeless, someone please look after them., they need our help
• few idiots
• Chavscum and 'PUNK' wannabes will always be the worst. Yes, Birmingham is still quite dirty, but most of the dirty dirty bits have been filtered out, unlike Manchester... ughh.
• rain!
• Birmingham is crap. Traffic congestion means it takes forever to get anywhere, and it's a nightmare getting a taxi home from town. The place has no character, and Brummies moan constantly. Everything here is mainstream, and there is no real alternative culture. The people who like the place are those who haven't lived anywhere else. Believe me, are much better places to be.
• I'm amazed at the positive things I read here. Believe me the only people who like Birmingham are those who have never lived anywhere else and consequently don't know any better. It takes forever to get anywhere because of the congestion, and poor public transport, most of it is ugly in the extreme, and everyone moans constantly. Unless you are utterly mainstream, it's just plain dull.
• My beautiful DMR hardtail getting stolen - theiving chavs!!!
• i have to disagree with kingstanding being one of the nicer areas in birmingham, i should know, i live there
• the slowly tightening grip of the cheese extreme that rules the Broad Street night life - lets hope it shoots itself in the foot and peeps start to drift away from the flock in search of fresher, hipper beats!
• The modern Christmas tree outside St Martins Church (in the Bull Ring). A traditional tree would have been more appropriate
• Plastic Paddy Pubs, Corporate Pubs. Deafening bands with little or no talent and deaf soundmen. The Jam House - load of bollocks prices run by conmen - Jools should be ashamed! Look what they did to Ronnie Scotts!
• Being from a place where your accent is constantly being mistaken for the black country accent (its a completly differrent dialect and place, arghhh) and people who think that Manchester is the 2nd city when its bloody well not!!!
• too much violence, street robbery, and smackheads.
• Kevins and sharons!!!!!
• er....Trans?
• Dont worry about there being a selfridges in the Bull Ring Centre - there is gonna be a Bear Factory store there - definately a good shop to go to for everyone!
• The homeless people on Broad Street
• Overcrowding, congestion and too much concrete
• Hip Hop, d&b, alternative scene isn't that good - it's all about Broad Street. Homeless people - it seems to me loads of them have better trainers than me and are just plain rude if you don't have any money to give them!
• New Street Station and the Palasades.
• birmingham lives in the shadow of london too much, but shouldn't! it may be our second city in size but difinetly not in heart!!!
• The problem is someones bound to get shot up at the bloody ice rink my brother nearly did.
• there seems to be a good amount of style-conscious people in birmingham but having said that, there are (young) people who expect to be taken seriously whilst wearing their adidas poppers tucked into their nike socks and sporting flourescent orange trainers. (all i have to say about them is 'no'. no no no no no no no.) despite the fact that theres a lot of inter-racial and inter-faith tolerance and acceptance in birmingham, there is some amount of discrimination, although not just racism - but the culprits are the ones who wear their tracksuit trousers tucked into their socks, so you've got to ask yourself whether or not they can help themselves, really......
• the victorian terraces, burberry cap sporting fools, woodsurfing wankers, goths and freaks( their parents hate them and they blame everyone else), the oasis market, plankriders, skateboarders, jitters, er anythin else to call this fraternity?? oh yeah, tossers. i think thats it. and that man (you know who you are, lakvir of halesowen college) who cracked one off on the number 9 bus in broad daylight, then unloaded in his bag. dirty bastard.
• THE WANABES FROM SOLIHULL THINKIN THERE GOOD WEN THERE NOT! AND LOOKIN AT THE REAL SKATERS LIKE THERE NOTHIN WEN WE REALLY ARE.
• pigs
• The rubbish that constantly litters the streets, other places
• Birmingham is the worst City you can ever dream of living in. I was born in Birmingham and have spent years trying to shake of the misery of Brummiedom. Fights, lads, slappers, concrete, abuse, sexism, racism - need I go on?
• Far too many aggressive beggars who are blatantly not homeless and are all mashed off their tits and out looking for cash for their next bag of smack, dodgy geezers in hoods hanging around at night, The Rotunda - it's just goddamn ugly, Travel West Midlands... "bus every 6 minutes" (or more like, "4 buses within 3 minutes, once an hour") - totally unreliable and totally bollocks, too many identically-clothed (Rockport & Kickers) Shazza and Kev gangs (fuck off you no-hopers), the city centre is always being dug up for some unknown reason, people smoking on buses (despite the large "£500 fine" signs, which TWM never enforce), high likelihood of robbery at night in some areas (be very careful and always stay aware of who is around you!)
• too many OSP's telling you to be quiet!
• bham's known for pocket pickin and druggies and rcism but realy if you keep youre self to youre self its not realy that bad!
• where do i start. Theres no country side, everywhere u look u see tarmac and metal. The people are ignorant and no one ever says thanku 2 the bus driver, which really annoys me. Sutton area is full of psychos and people openingly smoke weed on the bus - which then makes the driver get high.Need i say more.
• Beggars. If you're shopping, watch your handbags (girls) and wallets (guys).
• Kevs and shazzas (townies), crap local radio, kevs, busses are always late, shazzas, broad street (if u like alt music) did i mention the kevs?
• it's a big grey concrete mess not pretty, the high street shops like o neill and virgin are expensive
• Our terrible spelling.
• Birmingham is very dirty, especially Bordesley Green, where I work. Think before you drop litter!
• modernisation redevelopment of city not complete till at least 2006 utter chaos street closures etc.
• Nothing, birmingham's brilliant, OK maybe too many cars
• Kevs! Pack them all up and send them back to Slutton Coldfield where they spawned from. In fact, the whole of Slutton seems like a giant conspiracy at times to undermine Birmingham's healthy anti-Kev attitude. Incidentally, anyone from down around Hodge Hill and Ward End keep your eye on Star City...the Kev Migration seems to be moving in that direction... Anti-Sk8ing-Coppers who confisk8 your board!!!
• the chewing gum on the pavement. Street beggars wearing brand new nikes! (???)
• it's a pig ugly place
• Its lack of individuality sometimes annoys me. Broad Street could be great, but its been bitten by the Chain Pub & Restaurant Bug. I want unique places!! Manchester and London do it - why not Brum!
• Traffic jams on the M6!!! They put LA to shame.
• Aston V#££@!!!! Apologies to all who have the misfortune to visit the collection of sheds called V#££@ Park, if the council was full of bluenoses the place would be turned into housing.
• The annoying Ben Sherman/Hackett/Rockport shirted scum yes you!
• Pubs stop serving at 22:50 at the weekend??? But that is England all over The crappy public transport system
• The TERRIBLE, DISGUSTING, and downright FRIGHTENING mess of roads and subways and dereliction that is the Bull Ring. The area around the Arcadian, with the gay village and Chinatown, is great but the roads and subways and ramps in between that area and the city square are horrible. Really scary. No thought to pedestrians at all.
• People are a bit too "uptight" and need to lighten up, lay back , an' feel them warm rays of heaven on them pasty faces. Maybe have a little glass o' somethin' an' smile a little.,....yooo know whut aah mean!!!!
• People who have this Solihull mentality whereby they they keep diassociating Handsworth from Handsworth Wood - both together (I've lived in both) are far more scenic/exciting/historically valuable than some other areas of the city I won't embarrass by naming!! If you're still not convinced, try this - THERE'S NO MORNING RUSH HOUR!!! (We Northsiders spend far less of our ives sitting in our cars / on buses)
• The street cleaner at the library. Looks like an elf. Calls you a cunt when you don't do a single thing. Deliberately trashes your bag by pouring water over it. Also very paranoid, he believes that there is a camera hidden in a security light (there is definitely not)
• TWM, total rip off of a bus company.
• Perry Barr. Its bad. Its worse than bad. Its fucking awful.
• Sutton snobs and the University district - well run down.
• Seriously deranged people appearing on a regular basis, care in the community in action in Birmingham obviously.
• Traffic Wardens
• Accent, traffic, no one knowing where B'ham is.
• The young fisher lads obsession with their fast cars is brain numbing. A quality night out for them consists of driving your fast car round and round the town centre, climaxing in pulling in next to some other young things in their cars in the Balmoor Cemetery carpark. And you can bet they're not there to place flowers on poor old Granny's grave.
• The accent.
• Can be a bit scary at night, especially for people from out of town.
• Man U Fans, Blues Fans.
• Brum hasn't had a medium sized music venue since the Hummingbird closed down 5 years ago, forcing bands to play in Wolverhampton or Leicester. This seriously hampers local talent (no, not bloody Ocean Colour Scene)and Brum is crying out for a "scene" of some description PLEASE!! The suburbs need some urgent cosmetic attention too and local transport could do with an overhaul s!
• lycra clad no hopers
• architecture. neglect of some areas (Digbeth in town has mucho potential town planners). having to listen to prats from completely inferior towns whitter on about crappy brum, when they haven't been there, or never explored when they were.
• Private Hire drivers - mostly 'Care in the community' releasees from All Saint's Hospital.
• Wost thing about Brum: some of the office blocks are SO gross. Bring 'em down. Good news is that next year the Bull Ring will be bulldozed and replaced by a 300 million development which will boast the only branch of Selfridges outside London. The accent is a pain in the arse, and makes even the most intelligent person sound as thick as shit.
• Villa fans.
• Moronic southerners who think Birmingham's a northern shitehole somewhere near Manchester. Wrong - it's a midlands semi-paradise with trees somewhere near Stratford.
• The worst thing? Most of the suburbs. Whilst the City has spent a lot of money and effort into redesigning the Centre for the post-industrial age, most routes out of the city are scattered with dilapidated ex-factories and buildings; some of the residential areas (such as Handsworth or Handsworth Wood) are frightening to be in at night.
• The nightlife. It's a bit dead really.
• The subways and underpasses. Some are very frightening to walk through alone. Thankfully Birmingham is being 'redesigned' at the moment and it is improving by the day.
• Living, or hanging out anywhere near Bournville - the place has no pubs at all due to it being built by the Quaker family that owned Cadburys.
• The buses, operated by Travel West Midlands, which are cack. They don't give change which is as primitive in the sphere of public transport as it is possible to get, and a constant source of annoyance.

The Knowhere Guide started out as a list of places to skateboard in the UK. It is a compilation of (unedited) information and views supplied by users like yourself. It is not a conventional tourist guide!

In most cases, the information in each section has been submitted by more than one contributor (the credits at the bottom of the page list some, but not all, of the contributors) and some of it dates back to the 1970s.

We make no claims as to the accuracy of the information in the Guide - our only purpose is to provide a forum for users to share their knowledge and opinions. So please keep a large bag of salt handy and be prepared to read between the lines!

If you disagree with a comment, or information is out of date, please submit an update! The contributors come from all walks of life, and their opinions are bound to be subjective, so if your view isn't represented, please speak up and contribute to the balance of the Guide. See below in the 'Have Your Say' section for how to add your voice.

If we have helped you out or made you laugh you can buy us a pint.

Have Your Say...

You can tell us more about Birmingham. This is also the method to use if you want to correct some of the information already here. (But please remember you're not mailing the person who actually wrote whatever-it-is.)

You can use the add an event form to tell us about events happening in Birmingham.

Or, if you'd just like to leave a message for other users of this site, take a look at The Knowhere Board (handy if you're just trying to get in touch with someone).

Credits

Last updated: 2008-01-15