Why does Birmingham get a bad rep?

it's literally got everything at an affordable rate.

The accent doe...

Nice or not really?

Hi,

I'm not from England and this September I'll be studying at the University of Birmingham and I've noticed that in this forum the city of Birmingham has a really bad reputation compared to the other cities in the UK.

Can anyone tell me why that is? I honestly have no idea...

Thanks xD

Because it is actually the most ethnic and culturally diverse city in Britain. So people think of it as a rubbish dump. Also it doesn't have any landmarks or the traffic links/airports that London has. Basically are rubbish version of London.

actually the apparent ethnic mix is one of the reasons I went to uni there.

but I wouldn't call it the most diverse ethnic mix.

irish indian black jewish chinese all came over after wwii. the most common mix of these being irish indian and black.
i use the word indian here because many people werent classed as bengali or pakistani until roughly the late 40s although the process of their countries forming was complex and their precise date of creation is debatable.

birmingham is quite typical as it has many of the typical old wwii immigration communities there. but its not really different to say manchester, leeds, nottingham or bristol. or any of the other large factory towns outside of london.

i would say manchester has a more diverse mix. its got a much larger chinese and jewish community.

the only thing that makes Birmingham unique ethnically is its large sikh community.

birmingham is ethnic. but not diverse. the chinese community is pretty much students and is nothing compared to manchesters china town. the jewish community in birmingham largely keeps its head down and the only kosher deli in the city shut down a few years ago.
the black community is slightly larger than other cities outside of london and is around on par with manchester. bristol however despite having a small black community statistically their community is very densely populated and st pauls (at least last time i visited) was the closest thing to a jamaican china town that i've seen.

the overwhelmingly dominant community is the pakistani community. this is the main reason the jewish community keep their heads down and also one of the reasons black people face so much racism at the hands of pakistanis. the pakistanis are the largest group and have a very negative attitude towards anyone non pakistani. they also give grief to the sikh community there too.

on first arrival you would think that birminghams very culturally mixed in a successful way. but not so much. there's a lot of ethnic tension there. and the communities at times seem mixed because they are spread out across the city. however this has just lead to a big car culture. if you visit other cities in the uk you will really notice how vastly worse birminghams public transport is and how its and how many shops that you might like to get to are really spread out. so its quite time consuming to get around from time to time. the buses there once you get on them are also a lot more out of control. birmingham is a place where a young girl (i think 15) was stabbed to death on a bus in birmingham on her way home from school by a crazy man. I'm not sure on what birmingham city council is doing but there seems to be quite a severe amount of of clearly mentally ill people just left to wander the streets of birmingham. more so than most other cities. on transport i would say the other big cities do it quite a bit better.

but this car culture in birmingham really lends to people just spending time amongst their own people.

the night life in birmingham is also quite seedy. for such a large and apparently ethnic city its night life is very samey. a lot of students complain about the night life in birmingham once they arrive. its all really pop chart stuff. with the occasional dancehall. which. for their large black community. its quite poor. towns and cities surrounding birmingham. and leciesters young black british dancehall scene is killing birminghams and bristols traditional authentic dancehall raves are superior to birminghams.

the curry in birmingham is for its huuuge asian population very poor. even birmingham food critics knock on about this travesty.
curry in birmingham is common and set up almost like chinese. just different meats with the same sauces plus rice.

birmingham has quite a sexual and seedy scene. the girls in birmingham are much more slaggy than in other cities. and is probably one of the few cities in the uk where you will get harassed by women who want to sleep with you. the women there are quite desperate for attention. however the men in birmingham are also quite equally seedy and there seems to be quite a "essex" mentality in regards to sex. i think birminghams attitude to sex is quite well illustrated by the fact that its the strip club capital of the uk. so the prospects of dating a local of birmingham are likely not a happy one.

I know i already mentioned birminghams poor layout and lack of communication between communities. however there is also just a general lack of communication between people and business across the city. expect a lot of badly run businesses.
there are attempts at making birmingham more in touch with its self so that people know whats going on there. but really big names will come and go from birmingham and you will never hear a peep of it. even other local brummies will be surprised.

don't expect the locals to know anything. i've traveled the uk and in deed other international cities and never in my life have i met a local population that is so unaware of the city they live in.

really birmingham just doesnt do anything as well as any other british city.
manchester is the uk's true second city.
other smaller cities like leicster leeds nottingham are run much better. and bristol is really the uk's version of san fransisco or portland. its quite an alternative artsy place.
edinburgh has a lot going for it too as a city.

birmingham is just on the decline culturally and getting more and more dominated by muslim culture. its going to turn into a larger Bradford essentially. even when you go through the apparent "black" areas like handsworth and lozells you'll just see loads of asian people. much more so than black people.

one of the few nice places to live in the city is the area around edgbaston.

just try and stay around there. too far north from edbaston you go into ladywood a lil further west then you go past hagley road and its into smethwick which is another s*** hole. to far east and you go past moseley into into stratford road. which is kinda like the middle east round there. i found it ok round there to be fair but i have heard that the somalis who frequent stratford road can get a bit rowdy and cause a bit of trouble. I myself can pass as ethnically muslim and was mistaken for one quite often around there. so im not sure what things would be like if you were visibly non muslims or indeed a young women.
further south past selly oak. which tbh i don't think is a rough area (infact i think its quite posh) but some people do. bit further south of selly oak. is kings norton which does get pretty chav tastic

actually the apparent ethnic mix is one of the reasons I went to uni there.

but I wouldn't call it the most diverse ethnic mix.

irish indian black jewish chinese all came over after wwii. the most common mix of these being irish indian and black.
i use the word indian here because many people werent classed as bengali or pakistani until roughly the late 40s although the process of their countries forming was complex and their precise date of creation is debatable.

birmingham is quite typical as it has many of the typical old wwii immigration communities there. but its not really different to say manchester, leeds, nottingham or bristol. or any of the other large factory towns outside of london.

i would say manchester has a more diverse mix. its got a much larger chinese and jewish community.

the only thing that makes Birmingham unique ethnically is its large sikh community.

birmingham is ethnic. but not diverse. the chinese community is pretty much students and is nothing compared to manchesters china town. the jewish community in birmingham largely keeps its head down and the only kosher deli in the city shut down a few years ago.
the black community is slightly larger than other cities outside of london and is around on par with manchester. bristol however despite having a small black community statistically their community is very densely populated and st pauls (at least last time i visited) was the closest thing to a jamaican china town that i've seen.

the overwhelmingly dominant community is the pakistani community. this is the main reason the jewish community keep their heads down and also one of the reasons black people face so much racism at the hands of pakistanis. the pakistanis are the largest group and have a very negative attitude towards anyone non pakistani. they also give grief to the sikh community there too.

on first arrival you would think that birminghams very culturally mixed in a successful way. but not so much. there's a lot of ethnic tension there. and the communities at times seem mixed because they are spread out across the city. however this has just lead to a big car culture. if you visit other cities in the uk you will really notice how vastly worse birminghams public transport is and how its and how many shops that you might like to get to are really spread out. so its quite time consuming to get around from time to time. the buses there once you get on them are also a lot more out of control. birmingham is a place where a young girl (i think 15) was stabbed to death on a bus in birmingham on her way home from school by a crazy man. I'm not sure on what birmingham city council is doing but there seems to be quite a severe amount of of clearly mentally ill people just left to wander the streets of birmingham. more so than most other cities. on transport i would say the other big cities do it quite a bit better.

but this car culture in birmingham really lends to people just spending time amongst their own people.

the night life in birmingham is also quite seedy. for such a large and apparently ethnic city its night life is very samey. a lot of students complain about the night life in birmingham once they arrive. its all really pop chart stuff. with the occasional dancehall. which. for their large black community. its quite poor. towns and cities surrounding birmingham. and leciesters young black british dancehall scene is killing birminghams and bristols traditional authentic dancehall raves are superior to birminghams.

the curry in birmingham is for its huuuge asian population very poor. even birmingham food critics knock on about this travesty.
curry in birmingham is common and set up almost like chinese. just different meats with the same sauces plus rice.

birmingham has quite a sexual and seedy scene. the girls in birmingham are much more slaggy than in other cities. and is probably one of the few cities in the uk where you will get harassed by women who want to sleep with you. the women there are quite desperate for attention. however the men in birmingham are also quite equally seedy and there seems to be quite a "essex" mentality in regards to sex. i think birminghams attitude to sex is quite well illustrated by the fact that its the strip club capital of the uk. so the prospects of dating a local of birmingham are likely not a happy one.

I know i already mentioned birminghams poor layout and lack of communication between communities. however there is also just a general lack of communication between people and business across the city. expect a lot of badly run businesses.
there are attempts at making birmingham more in touch with its self so that people know whats going on there. but really big names will come and go from birmingham and you will never hear a peep of it. even other local brummies will be surprised.

don't expect the locals to know anything. i've traveled the uk and in deed other international cities and never in my life have i met a local population that is so unaware of the city they live in.

really birmingham just doesnt do anything as well as any other british city.
manchester is the uk's true second city.
other smaller cities like leicster leeds nottingham are run much better. and bristol is really the uk's version of san fransisco or portland. its quite an alternative artsy place.
edinburgh has a lot going for it too as a city.

birmingham is just on the decline culturally and getting more and more dominated by muslim culture. its going to turn into a larger Bradford essentially. even when you go through the apparent "black" areas like handsworth and lozells you'll just see loads of asian people. much more so than black people.

one of the few nice places to live in the city is the area around edgbaston.

just try and stay around there. too far north from edbaston you go into ladywood a lil further west then you go past hagley road and its into smethwick which is another s*** hole. to far east and you go past moseley into into stratford road. which is kinda like the middle east round there. i found it ok round there to be fair but i have heard that the somalis who frequent stratford road can get a bit rowdy and cause a bit of trouble. I myself can pass as ethnically muslim and was mistaken for one quite often around there. so im not sure what things would be like if you were visibly non muslims or indeed a young women.
further south past selly oak. which tbh i don't think is a rough area (infact i think its quite posh) but some people do. bit further south of selly oak. is kings norton which does get pretty chav tastic

Oh Gawwd... The thorough description you just gave is actually giving me the chills (a bit, especially the part about the 15 year old schoolgirl getting stabbed)....... It seems that I'll have to be very careful around some of the areas, which I'm not very used to since where I live there isn't that much crime. The uni is around the Edgbaston area, so I guess I'll try and stay there...

Thanks for your informative post, it's nice to see other opinions.

ffs you are going to listen to someone who can't even type Leicester properly?

He's talking ****. Pops up in all of these threads with walls of illiterate text.

There are two posters on here who have an obsession with this and they're both Irish/have Irish sympathies. What's that about?

Total *******s. What about the Grime and Dubstep nights?



No they don't and no it isn't. You have Lasan's which costs a bomb. You have the Triangle, you have Boldmere which is basically all curry houses.

We've just been recognised as the home of the balti.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-recognised-home-balti-9720360



The misogyny in that comment, that's a ridiculous thing to say.

What absolute bile.

EDIT: And how can you call anybody a chav when you are barely able to write English properly?

ffs you are going to listen to someone who can't even type Leicester properly?

He's talking ****. Pops up in all of these threads with walls of illiterate text.

There are two posters on here who have an obsession with this and they're both Irish/have Irish sympathies. What's that about?

I hadn't noticed that. I shoul've looked at his other posts.

I still don't know exactly what to believe but from what I can gather from this thread, Birmingham's bad rep comes mostly because it's so ethnically diverse. If that's the only reason then I guess the city is not that bad and hopefully I'll have a good time there.

tbf you follow me around in all these threads.

If I was following you, you would need to make the first post. You didn't.



And exactly how do I prove this over a forum? Send you a balti dish by PM?

I can't even prove pie & mash is good in East London over a ****ing forum.

I see you've conceded the balti point.



If you need to ask this question then it shows you've never been there.





http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2009/nov/29/streets-original-pirate-material

OK.

I merely correct inaccuracies.

Total *******s. What about the Grime and Dubstep nights?



No they don't and no it isn't. You have Lasan's which costs a bomb. You have the Triangle, you have Boldmere which is basically all curry houses.

We've just been recognised as the home of the balti.

http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/birmingham-recognised-home-balti-9720360



The misogyny in that comment, that's a ridiculous thing to say.

What absolute bile.

EDIT: And how can you call anybody a chav when you are barely able to write English properly?

Oh Gawwd... The thorough description you just gave is actually giving me the chills (a bit, especially the part about the 15 year old schoolgirl getting stabbed)....... It seems that I'll have to be very careful around some of the areas, which I'm not very used to since where I live there isn't that much crime. The uni is around the Edgbaston area, so I guess I'll try and stay there...

Thanks for your informative post, it's nice to see other opinions.

London > Birmingham > Manchester > Leeds

I'm going to Birmingham this September and I've got to admit, reading about how so many people are so vehemently against Birmingham is alarming. Surely people wouldn't have such strong opinions if there wasn't anything at all to substantiate it? I mean, I've heard about people calling Leeds or Manchester a ****hole but never this strongly. Is it really that bad?