My son looked at Birmingham.. Southampton, Leicester, York, UEA, Warwick and Sussex. Dropped Leicester (no particular reason apart from it just got pipped by five others ) and Sussex (just didn't like the feel of the place, sadly). He got offers from all five that he applied to and after revisiting all of them, decided to accept Birmingham. The lab facilities aren't the shiniest and newest, but overall he felt that the university had the best of all worlds with regard to general facilities, campus, the general area and proximity to the city centre etc. I don't think that he has regretted his choice.
He got AAAAA in the three sciences and Maths, plus General Studies and accepted Birmingham's 'unconditional if firmed ' offer, but this was not the main deciding factor as he was predicted to meet his offers anyway.