"Why Does Everyone Hate Birmingham?"

[Asymmetrical Xeno]

i actually quite like the accent myself...

[Wolfshade]

Oh wow, where to start? Seriously though, it's an image problem. The accent is horrible on the ears and it's grimy industrial heritage means there isn't much to recommend it. Do you have any cultural achievements you could market?

You mean aside from being the home of the industrial revolution?

Ok some fun facts for Wildey.

The Jaguar plant (formerly Fishers) made Spitfires for the battle of Britian
Birmingham has more miles of canals than Venice (though people who quote this usually miss the point )
Birmingham has an estimated 6 million trees, that's more than Paris, and more parks than any other European city, it has won a record-breaking 14 consecutive gold medals form the Chelsea Flower Show and our National Britain in Bloom awards.
The central library is the largest in Europe (and it is currently moving to a larger location) lending more than 8 million books per year
Birmingham is home to many past and present bands including Ocean Colour Scene, Duran Duran, ELO, UB40 and Black Sabbath.
The first of the famous Odeon chain of cinemas first opened in Perry Barr, Birmingham in 1930
Celluloid was invented in 1862, by Alexander Parkes in Birmingham
Joseph Sampson Gamgee (1828-80), a Birmingham doctor, invented the surgical dressing known as cotton wool
Joseph Priestley, a Birmingham minister (1780-91), discovered oxygen.
Electro-plating was invented in Birmingham by John Wright in 1840.
25% of manufactured exports are made in Birmingham
The Jewellery Quarter is the largest concentration of dedicated jewellers in Europe accounting for almost 40% of UK jewellery
F.W Lanchester built the first four-wheeled petrol driven car in Birmingham
St. Patricks day parade is the 3rd biggest in the world.
Birmingham Hippodrome is the busiest and most popular theatre in the UK with over 520,000 visitors taking their seats at performances every year.
Over 50,000 people watch inspirational and varied musical performances by the world famous City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) every year. That’s more than any other UK orchestra.
The world’s largest collection of rock album covers can be found at St Paul’s Gallery in the Jewellery Quarter.
Birmingham has three Michelin starred restaurants – Simpsons in Edgbaston, Turners in Harbourne and Purnell's in the city centre.
Famous food brands that originated in Birmingham include Typhoo tea, Bird's Custard, Blue Bird Toffee, Bournville cocoa, Cadbury chocolate and HP Sauce.
JRR Tolkien wrote Lord Of The Rings and The Hobbit in Birmingham. The twin towers from the book were inspired by Edgbaston water works!
It has the most lap dancing clubs of any UK city
Birmingham has the 5th busiest Mcdonalds in the world and one of the few in the UK to open on Christmas day.
Birmingham is officially the most congested area of the UK with more cars per square mile than anywhere else
The National Sea Life Center, located in Brindleyplace, is home to the world's first completely transparent underwater walkway.
If the world was flat and you could stand in Birmingham and look East, the first thing to block your view would be the Urals.
Victoria Square hosts one of the largest fountains in Europe, with a flow of 3,000 gallons per minute, it is officially known as 'The River'.
Alec Issigonis was one of the most colourful car designers of modern times. He went on to design the world famous, Birmingham- made 'Mini', which started production in 1959 at Longbridge, Birmingham.

I cannot claim the validity of any of the aforementioned claims.

[Deadlift]

The accent makes all brummies sound thick, and that's coming from a Devonian.

[Godless Zealot]

Never understood this whole hating other cities thing. Is it the city they hate as in it's layout and structures or the people? or a little of both? I've visited many of them and there are good parts and bad parts like anywhere but nothing to make me hate any particular aspect of it.

[Wolfshade]

Birmingham has several issues.
The Birmingham accent isn't particularly enamouring, though frequently it is confused with the black country accent.
Like any large city it has the associated issues/benefits of large immigrant communities.
The layout of the city centre was completely re-vamped in the 60s to make it very attractive to car drivers however, the demand far exceeds capacity so there are moves to try and resolve this issue, and also to re-balance it with other modes of transport. For instance all the cars were on flyovers and the pedestrians were on subterrain tunnels, these tunnels then became unwelcoming through the 80s and never recovered, they are now trying to rebalance that.

[Psychosplodge]

I'm pretty sure we're more green/treey than Birmingham.
Plus we had the only steam hammer in the country that could make spitfire drive shafts...

[Learn2Eel]

All I know about them is that Pavlyuchenko scored a goal that saw them relegated. That, to me, is unforgivable.

[Wolfshade]

I'm pretty sure we're more green/treey than Birmingham.
Plus we had the only steam hammer in the country that could make spitfire drive shafts...

Nope, less urban trees, don't for get Sheffield is tiny, less than third the size and quarter of the population (if you use the urban areas surrounding, otherwise its half the population size but larger)

[Psychosplodge]

The pwoers that be are always stating we're the greenest city in the country (apparently that's our new selling point), wonder if they're doing it on head of population?

[Wolfshade]

I imagine it depends on how you count it, it could be in terms of tree density, in canopy coverage, in raw tree numbers, urban trees that are not on privately held land, IDK,

Ah ha "estimated 2.5 million trees, giving Sheffield the highest ratio of trees to people of any city in Europe"

So while you have a higher tree/person we have more trees