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Birmingham's Image And Status

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anvil man said:
A few years ago I worked as a car park attendant on a holiday beach near Pembroke. Many visitors were from Birmingham ,as judged by their accent, and as a Brummie myself could almost detect the side of Birmingham they were from. I'd ask those, who looked happy enough to be asked, where did they come from. In the seven years I was at the car park not one person said they were from Birmingham. They always said the West Midlands as though this would make them better citizens. I stated I was a Brummie and then invariably they would say they were too. Why did they feel so ashamed to reveal their true identity ? Did they feel second class citizens ?
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I spent 7 years in the army listening to many accents. I now live in Durham where folk think i talk posh (the villagers where i live are known as pit yakkers) My sister has a soft Brummy accent but my brothers accent is anything but soft & he prattles on ten to the dozen & my wife can`t understand what he`s saying. I like the soft Brummy accent, the scouse accent sounds threatening & as for the London accent, well they think they`re superior & they aint!!
 
Anvil man

I'm proud to be a Brummie and even today when anybody asks me where I come from I tell them Birmingham even though I now live in Solihull because as far as I'm concerned I have never left Birmingham.

I think I have related the story about the young lady I was once with who lived in London (in Deptford) when I lived there for a short while in the 60's. She had been fed terrible ideas about Birmingham being a terrible place all her life but had never been here. I tried & tried to get her to accompany me to Birmingham for ages and in the end she finally agreed to spend a weekend here with me.

When she got here she could not get over how much greenery Birmingham had and this was only the mid 60's. After I showed her around the new city centre and some of the parks and the Lickey Hills she had changed her mind completely about Birmingham and as we returned to London she enthused about Birmingham and how different it was from the ideas that she had held about the City.

I think that most people that say that Birmingham is a bit of a dump are people who have never visited the City and are going on what they are told by other people who have never visited either. Then of course you have the TV entertainers and comedians who think it is great fun to mock Birmingham, but what do they know about the city all they see is an audience from a stage and their hotel room. I don't suppose any of them go on a sight seeing tour of the city.
 
guilbert53 said:
There is a lot of truth in that.

As London grew it swallowed up many many villages, but the people who now live in those villages think of themselves as Londoners.

I spent many years in North West London, living in Pinner and Ruislip (villages in their own right many years ago). They were many miles from the London city centre, but we still thought of ourselves as Londoners.

And I am sure people who live way over the East of London, say in West Ham (40 miles from Pinner or Ruislip !), also see themselves as Londoners.
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It always varied between where and who. I was born in Croydon (south of London) and still have a lot of relatives who live around there. One of my aunts would always say she lived in New Addington (or just Addington) which is to Croydon something like what Solihull is to Birmingham yet she seemed to like Ken Livingstone so didn't worry that people called both London in the days of the GLC. Then again, these were the days when the Americans had taken to coming after what they saw in some movie. this was the generation that thought that Britain was a suburb of London. We knew that Croydon wasn't London and we didn't particularly care that others didn't.
 
Phl said,
I think that most people that say that Birmingham is a bit of a dump are people who have never visited the City and are going on what they are told by other people who have never visited either.

Sorry Phil, I was born a Brummie 78 years ago, and at one time wouldn't hear a word said against the place, but I moved out 41 years ago and only go back for weddings and funerals now
I don't think it's a bit of a dump, it's a whole lot of a dump.
 
Personally I think most cities have lost their heart and soul they all seem to have the same tired old shopping malls with the same old shops, a lot have demolished beautiful old buildings and replaced them with 'modern edifices'. Austin KC2 remarks that Birmingham is a dump, I think this term could apply to most cities (the larger the city the bigger the dump), and as time passes they are, in my opinion getting progressively worse. Councils must take a share of the blame. Slightly off topic I had occasion to use Manchester Ring Way airport , have to admit it is larger (2 runways) and superior than Birmingham although no more efficient. Members may disagree with my remarks, but that is what debate is all about. Eric
 
have to say i agree with you eric...i guess it all depends on where you live as to if you think birmingham is a dump or not....if you live in a nice leafy clean area and do not stray far then yes its ok but if like me you go out with your camera to take photos of buildings still standing that are of interest then trust me there are areas i go to that are awful and are just dumping grounds and breading grounds for rats ...its so sad to see what used to clean streets when i was child in the state they are now..

lyn
 
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I have lived in London and I have been into Manchester numerous times over the years
And I grew up in Birmingham and in my opinion there ain't much difference between the three cities
I have seen the slums of brum from all corners and just like the other cities they have there quarters still today
When some one said the other day Manchester is becoming the second city its a joke they have the edge on the slums
On us I can tell you where they are just like brums ,the council are forgetting the inner circles of the city
The problem being Birmingham council are only concert rating on the emediate city centre
Take a ride on our buses around the outer circle and more so the inner circle 8 that isn't the tip of the iceburg
Even the old leafy areas of brum have become run down
The only thing that brum as done is gone out of its way abroad and come back with some of our counter parts of ideas
From an another city I have travelled from the motor way of spaggitee junction up to the Birmingham city
Coming up the Salford bridge straight up Lichfield road Aston where I was born 5/92 Lichfield road
Straight through Aston cross Aston road north to the city no think as changed Barron land
Into the city centre is all they are doing building great big buildings all of glass frontage what about the rest of the Birmingham city inhabitants in my opinion a lot of people forget where they come from best wishes Astonian,,,,,,,
 
Astonian, I agree the Councils only interest is the City centre (to boost their ego ??), they close small branch libraries and build a monstrosity which they cannot afford to run, wonderful old buildings demolished instead of being restored, the Bullring destroyed (even the Luftwaffe couldn't do that). Saint Martins was the centre piece of the Bullring along with the old market hall, not any longer, now dwarfed by that ugly 'beehive', legal vandalism. I was also born in Aston, next door to Atkinsons brewery, on the rare occasion I pass through there it saddens me to see what's happened to it. I'd better shut up before I really get carried away !!! Eric
 
I was born in Longbridge Birmingham in 1943, lived just a few minutes walk from the Austin factory, sadly my parents decided to emigrate to Australia in 1957, I find that as I get older I miss Birmingham more and more, Brummie mates of mine over here laugh and say to can take the boy out of Birmingham but you cant take Birmingham out of the boy, never a truer word and although I have never been back in 58 years I am still proud to tell people that I was born and lived in Birmingham, its my home and it always will be, second city or not its whats in your blood that counts.
 
Welcome to the forum Dave. You're in good company, so enjoy the many Birmingham-related topics we discuss on here. Hopefully they'll bring back some fond memories for you. Viv.
 
IT'S OFFICIAL!

More Londoners are moving to Birmingham, the U.K's second city, than any other place in the U.K.

Eddie.
 
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mikejee said:
And today Steve Bell's guardian cartoon seems to be based in Birmingham (Gas st basin)
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Sorry but I am going to be very pedantic here.

I think the canal boat in the cartoon is shown on the canal in front of (or very near) the ICC.

Gas St basin is underneath that bridge in the distance (which goes under Broad St.)

The buildings at the top face on to Broad St, and the back of those buildings face on to Gas St basin.

Do I win "Most pedantic update of the year" award?
 
That's roughly at this location. The ICC on the left side of the canal. Brindleyplace to the right.

 
One selling point for Birmingham, which I have heard almost from the day I was born, is that it has more canals than Venice. Regretfully, I have never taken a boat trip on a Birmingham canal and I can not even remember walking along a canal tow-path within the Birmingham boundary. I have put on my to-do list that I must take a boat trip on a canal when I next come to Birmingham, although I see that most only operate between Easter and the end of November. I have taken canal walks at Lapworth and Stratford-upon-Avon and of course unforgettable boat trips in Venice itself. Dave.
 
I have taken boat trips on both Birmingham and Venetian canals (and also painted both!), I am sorry to say I prefer Venice, as much as I love Gas Street basin and have painted it umpteen times I still prefer the Rialto Bridge. Eric
 
Went to the NEC today for a Star Trek convention. And it is branded as being in Birmingham everywhere (not that I'm complaining). And the Star Trek celebrities were happy enough to be in Birmingham (although the NEC is in Solihull borough). It's only 10 minutes from Birmingham New Street to Birmingham International (on the train).
 
The airport is just Birmingham Airport now.
Only the railway station is called Birmingham International.
 
I think I'm right in saying they were both originally owned by Birmingham, even though in Solihull.
 
I agree Mike. I am sure there was a lot of fuss when the NEC (I think it is now the Genting Arena!) was built by Brum and almost immediately went to Solihull.
 
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I am sure that, quite some time ago, the 'Blues' were looking to build a new football stadium out the N.E.C way. Am I correct in that, and if I am, what happened?

Eddie
 
The NEC was always a registered company, never a department of either local authority. Originally NEC Ltd was a 50/50 partnership between Birmingham City Council and Birmingham Chamber of Commerce with the City Council providing the money by way of a loan to the company as the City Council could borrow money at a lower rate than the company itself or the Chamber of Commerce could borrow. Eventually as the NEC made recurring losses in the early years the City Council bought out the Chamber of Commerce for a nominal sum. Last year the City Council sold the company to Lloyds Banking Group for £307m retaining the freehold of all the properties.

The Airport has changed hands many times. Built by the City Council in 1939 it was almost immediately taken over at the start of the war by the Air Ministry for the use of the RAF and the RNAS. After the war it was transferred to the Ministry of Civil Aviation. After many years it was eventually transferred back to Birmingham City Council but after only a few more years was again transferred this time to the West Midlands County Council on its formation in 1974. When the WMCC was abolished the airport became jointly owned by the seven metropolitan boroughs with Sandwell (!) as the lead authority for the airport. Currently the airport is owned by Aer Rianta and Macquarrie Airports with John Laing and National Car Parks having small shareholdings.
 
norfolk brummie said:
I am sure that, quite some time ago, the 'Blues' were looking to build a new football stadium out the N.E.C way. Am I correct in that, and if I am, what happened?

Eddie
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When it was decided that Wembley needed to be rebuilt, there was a move to have the national football stadium in the Midlands, ideally near the NEC, but the London centric opposition was too strong. So Wembley Stadium was rebuilt.

Then when Gordon Brown wanted to create 'super' casions around the country, Karen Brady was involved in a bid to bring one to the NEC and a major development was proposed which I think could have involved the Blues and an entertainments and shopping centre. This whole plan fell though when the government decided not to go ahead with the idea.
 
norfolk brummie said:
I am sure that, quite some time ago, the 'Blues' were looking to build a new football stadium out the N.E.C way. Am I correct in that, and if I am, what happened?

Eddie
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Hi Eddie,
Yes there was talk of Blues building a new ground in the NEC area. It was hoped that Villa would join in with them to build a new stadium similar to Wembley and for the teams to share the ground. Not surprisingly the Villa did not want to know. Messrs Sullivan and the Gold brothers then decided to modernise St Andrews. They did three sides of the ground but decided to leave the old stand in situ probably for financial reasons. They did say that it would be done at a later date. However the situation altered when West Ham Utd became available. They bought it and scurried back to London where they all came from. Unfortunately they left Blues in the state that it has now become.
Old Boy
 
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