Birmingham is Britain's second city and it has spent the last few decades proving it deserves the title. Built on industry — this is where the Industrial Revolution found its workforce — the city spent much of the twentieth century living down a reputation for concrete brutalism and spaghetti motorways. That era is over. The centre has been transformed, the canal network rivals Venice for total length, and the cultural scene punches well above its weight.
The city is genuinely multicultural in a way that goes beyond lip service. The Balti Triangle, a short walk south of the centre, is where Birmingham's large Kashmiri community invented the balti — a style of curry now famous across Britain. The Jewellery Quarter, just northwest of the centre, still produces forty percent of British jewellery and has a fascinating museum. The Gas Street Basin and Brindleyplace have turned the old canal junctions into a lively area of bars and restaurants.
Culturally, Birmingham punches hard. The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, which rose to international fame under Simon Rattle, performs at Symphony Hall — widely considered to have the best acoustics in Europe. The Barber Institute houses a small but superb art collection. The Ikon Gallery shows contemporary work in a converted Victorian school. The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, overlooking Victoria Square, has an outstanding Pre-Raphaelite collection.
History has not been entirely swept away. The Birmingham Back to Backs preserve the last Victorian workers' court in the city; Soho House was where the Lunar Society — Watt, Priestley, Wedgwood, Erasmus Darwin — met to drive the Industrial Revolution. Curzon Street Station, the oldest surviving railway terminus in the world, stands derelict in Digbeth but visible from the street.
Birmingham sits right in the heart of England, roughly equidistant from London and Liverpool, making it a natural base for exploring the Midlands. Cadbury World in Bournville, Moseley Bog (the woodland that inspired Tolkien's Shire), Stratford-upon-Avon, and Warwick Castle are all within easy reach.