I also think it's fashionable to hate on Birmingham in the same way Bill Bailey says that Anglaterre is the 'And finally' item on French news: it's poked fun at for the sake of it.

I have never been to Birmingham except for one day in 2001 when my GCSE music group took a trip to a music exhibition at the NEC. So pretty much zero exposure to the city, culture and people of Birmingham, yet popular culture still references the drab and monotonous dreary image perpetuated since before I was born.

Wish I'd travelled further around the UK now, come to think of it. It's going to be a lot more difficult now, but we do have a plan to visit Bath, and York on our way back to Liverpool when we can afford the vacation (and clearance).

Very true. Out-of-date view of Birmingham and many other cities here.

The city that I think has changed enormously is Cardiff.

When I was a teenager, Cardiff was hideous. I hardly recognised when I went back for a visit a couple of years ago. That whole Cardiff Docks area is amazing.

Glasgow too, it became very gentrified in the time we lived there...ok not all of it but definitely the Southside.

Newcastle has been vastly improved and also the quayside and Metro Centre in Gateshead.

Leeds has apparently had a huge facelift but I haven't been back since student days.

I have been back a few times to Birmingham, since I left in 1978, the last time I was there was in 1996, but a lot of improvement had taken place during that time. I think building the NEC in the 70s gave it a jump start.

Birmingham certainly has a big plus in being located right in the centre of England for ease of travel, the NEC and all the exhibitions held there, like Crufts, plenty of attractions nearby like Cadbury World (already mentioned), Drayton Manor Theme Park in Tamworth, and Warwick Castle not far away. I think if I lived there instead of London, I would still have had plenty of places to show DH when he first came over.

Stokes Croft in Bristol just got named as one of the best places to live in the UK.

I almost pissed myself.

Redland and Stokes Croft make it into top ten urban places to live in UK | Bristol Post

You forgot...

Home of the Balti
Own Language, er, I mean, accent!
Gateway to the (much better) South!

I like the South too.

I do miss my Balti's.

I miss a good Ruby, full stop!

Closest I've come is one of the frozen curries sold at Trader Joe's along with an excellent garlic naan (in the same frozen section at TJ's!).

Its funny, in the 30 years since I left, I must have driven THROUGH Leeds once a month, but I only stopped once to show my son where I went to Uni.

Not technically Birmingham as it was just outside Dudley, but Mr Dave's was the best Balti house in the world! no other part of the country seemed to be able to grasp what a balti should be. A curry served in a mahoosive wok with a naan and nothing else! I'd kill for a balti from Mr Dave's right now!!!!

Ha ha I probably know you.

Quoting myself... But I wanted to check things hadn't changed (dramatically) since I left.

Stokes Croft (best place to live according to above link) is about a mile or so from this...

"Stapleton Road, Bristol

Why is it dodgy? The People newspaper named this terrifying road in Bristol’s Easton district ‘Junkie Street’, while its locals dub it ‘Crackhead Alley’ — both aren’t far off the mark. The statistics speak for themselves; 915 crimes in seven months and an average of four stabbings, muggings, burglaries or thefts everyday. A cesspit of moral decay, this stretch of syringe-littered tarmac is run by killers, drug addicts, hookers and pimps – while its law-abiding residents peak nervously from behind lace curtains. The M32 road runs directly though Stapleton Road, meaning dodgy deals can be conducted all too easily. If you’re lucky enough to make it from one end to the other, do yourself a favour and don’t come back. "

So I guess things haven't changed much after all.