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Working and living in Birmingham
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
in General Chat
So, I just got offered a full-time teaching position at Birmingham City University, and I've said yes.
Thing is, the first time I went to Birmingham was yesterday for the job interview, and I know nothing about the city.
Can anyone tell me their experiences of the place? Nice areas to live, nice places to go, restaurants/bars/pubs, is there a lot of green space, what are the locals like and so on.
I love living in Glasgow and this is a major move for me. Need to try and be as prepared as possible!
Thanks
Thing is, the first time I went to Birmingham was yesterday for the job interview, and I know nothing about the city.
Can anyone tell me their experiences of the place? Nice areas to live, nice places to go, restaurants/bars/pubs, is there a lot of green space, what are the locals like and so on.
I love living in Glasgow and this is a major move for me. Need to try and be as prepared as possible!
Thanks
0
Comments
I've lived in Birmingham for two years and will be living there next year again. I go to Aston Uni, which you must of seen if you went to BCU. I loved it. First and second year at Uni was ace and i loved Birmingham.
Plenty to see and do, of course you have the Bullring and pretty much all the bars and clubs you would want, for all tastes. Couple of football teams dotted about too if you fancy going to see a game.
I'm not so clued up as to where the best places to live are but like most big cities you're going to have the good and not so good. Im sure someone will be able to give you a few ideas as i only really know the studenty areas.
Aston and BCU are basically smack bang in the centre of the city. It basically took me 5 minutes to walk from my room on campus to get to the Bullring and into the main shopping area. Also New Street Stations right there too.
Bullring is yeh, just a big ass shopping centre
People in Birmingham are generally pretty friendly, but there are some crappy areas.
What sort of things do you like?
Birmingham has lots going on in terms of entertainment/going out, and some really nice parks. It only takes an hour and a half to get to London as well.
What sort of areas would people recommend to live in or avoid? cos one day i might move up there
you can't even spell accent :yeees:
TKOG i will post you some info later, going out now
There are some lovely parts of Brum with big houses and lovely big gardens, but of course it depends on your price range. if you work in the city and are happy to drive or use the train then there are lots of places slightly futher out which are nice areas to live such as North Warwickshire, Sutton Coldfield, Solihull and Stratford. The 'roughest' (ugh) areas are mainly inner city but there are others too. at the end of the day it's up to you and what you like really.
Birmingham is just like everywhere else, it has good bits and shit bits. i've lived here all my life and in the main it's a nice place to be. the city itself is very diverse, and the city centre is looking nice and shiny at the moment. the Bullring is a big shopping centre but people tend to forget that there are loads of other shops on the main high streets that are worth visiting. there's also some good shopping areas outside of the city like the Fort at Erdington(ish) and Merry Hill. For eating and drinking out try Brindleyplace and the Mailbox, there are lots of nice bars and restaurants there and along the canalside (which is a nice place to go for an evening walk after). for clubbing etc there's Broad street which isn't as impressive as it used to be but there are some cool places.
green areas - actually there are quite a few. Sutton Park and Canon Hill Park are the first ones to come into my head. The Smethwick area has quite a lot of green areas and there's the Lickey hills, Brecon beacons etc when you go towards Worcestershire. There's lots of space for outdoor walks etc in Solihull and towards Coventry/Warwick.
really it is what you make it
shh you >:(
I live in a tiny village now miles away from anywhere now, so I miss the Bullring the most!!! All that shopping and convenience
What, do you want a huge list? If someone has somewhere specific to ask about then ask.
But you know don't worry about it too much. If you don't want to then don't
I live in the West End of Glasgow at the moment, so ideally I would like to live somewhere with trees and is relatively quiet. Where I live is right near a lot of parks and nice areas of the city, would like to keep that if I can.
Heard alot about Sutton Coldfield, and we'll be earning a decent wage (gf is moving with me), so we should be able to afford £600 - 700 pcm. Was thinking of moving near the river, but no idea whether this is feasible or advisable!
As for things to do, just going out to nice pubs and restaurants, movies, shopping, the usual I suppose. I'm not too fussed about driving to work (if I can get staff parking permit!), so anywhere within 15 mins drive would be ideal.
This is a huge move for me, and I want to be as prepared as possible. As usual, the site members come through with amazing advice
The traffic in Brum is pretty heavy all day and especially at rush hour, so it can take half an hour to go a couple of miles, although both places are a couple of miles outside the immediate city centre, so the traffic wouldn't be quite so heavy, and it's just one big road between the two
15 minutes drive to Perry Barr. Hmmm. There aren't many great areas near Perry Barr. Some bits of Great Barr are ok.
You can take the train to Perry Barr, but nowhere along the train line is that great either.
I think most of the nicer places in Birmingham are in the South, eg Harborne, Edgbaston, Moseley, the other side of the city to Perry Barr.
I currently live in Northfield. Now if you said to someone 'I know someone who lives in Northfield' they'd say it's a dump/shit/crap and yes there are crappy parts of Northfield. But i live in a really quiet street, nice neighbours hardly any trouble at all. I think people put too much emphasis on an area, rather than the more important things like neighbours.
I used to live in Lozells, which has quite a bad reputation, but lived in a nice street with never any trouble, the next street along though there was hassle near enough every night.
Kat's right though, you 'seem' to find better areas towards the south of Birmingham.