I just came back from Birmingham about 5 weeks ago after visiting my fiancee and her family who live in Great Barr, about seven miles from Birmingham City Centre. I'm from the San Francisco Bay Area, I've lived in NYC and Philadelphia, so I'm a city type of person and I can honestly say that I love Birmingham. Birmingham City Centre has it all, it has the Bullring, a huge shopping centre where you can pretty much find anything you're looking for, shopping wise, travel wise, etc. Then there's High Street and New Street with all its little boutiques, street performers, and...unfortunately these people in suits always asking if you know anyone who has been in a card accident. Another great thing about Birmingham is that it's always busy, always packed, I love that because there's always people about and that upbeat feeling I guess. That's actually pretty much present to any City Centre you go to. Plus, there's all the historical buildings and a monuments, it's great. The Floozy in the Jacuzzi is my favorite, she's so sexy.
We would go to West Bromwich City Centre a lot because that's where the nearest Boots, Tesco and Safeway were. Same goes for Walsall as well. But it's not a bad crowded, it's great because you get a feeling of being a real native and you get to people watch so many different cultures all interacting with one another, etc.
The great thing is that if you live in the suburbs, Great Barr, West Brom, and all the other little cities, towns and villages, you can always find a bus that'll take you into the City. We would only have to walk about a block to catch the 406 that would take us into West Brom Bus Station, there we could catch the Metro into Birmingham. Or we could just take the 16 straight into Birmingham. One piece of advice though, after a lot of shopping, especially grocery shopping and such I recommend avoiding taking the bus because it does get crowded unless it's a double decker.
I bet I sound really bias, but what can I say, I gotta represent for the place I'm going to be living in a about 22 days and a couple of hours. And the dialect isn't too bad! I will admit though, when you start getting into the Black Country it becomes a little harder to decipher, but after a couple of pints of Guinness you can understand the yam-yams pretty well, that's how it worked for me understanding my fiancee's granddad.
Anyhow, yeah, move to Birmingham! And if you do, and actually, for all of you living in the area...Find The Crooked House in Dudley...I have never been to such a fun place! :-)
