Birmingham v Manchester

[Rds1983]

Either Manchester or Birmingham would be a good choice.

It's not Liverpool, so you'll be fine.

[The Fun Factory]

I hoped the Commonwealth Games would have helped Birmingham's reputation. It was a great couple of weeks and a total rarity that it got that amount of media coverage.

[Chindie]

51 minutes ago, Jon said:

I actually went there in the early to mid 90s, but then it was called 'University of Central England ' and was located in Perry Barr. 

This is the kind of topic where you're about to find out that actually it was never known as the University of Central England it was actually the University of Central Manchester but its results were so bad it threatened to harm the reputation of the uberMancs so they transported it to the wasteland that may or may not be Birmingham actually and it was given the trading name of University of Central England as a marketing ploy but in reality actually there was a micron wide ceremonial boundary around the campus connected to Greater Manchester so actually the land was part of Greater Manchester but with enough leeway they could disown it if the subhuman hammer minded Brummie people couldn't make it work.

[Talldarkandransome]

15 hours ago, Icarium said:

Hi All,

Through my work I may get an opportunity to study in the UK for 12 months. There are 2 similar courses I am interested in, one is through University of Birmingham and the other through the University of Manchester.

While Birmingham obviously grabbed my attention as a Villa fan, I wanted to get a feel for the reputation of both universities from people in country and anything else worth knowing,  as far as living in each city, to help the decision making process.

Thanks in advance

Never mind Uni, just come for the Villa

[Zhan_Zhuang]

14 hours ago, sidcow said:

Probably not the best forum to get a neutral opinion on that

Speak to anyone outside Birmingham though and they'll tell you Manchester is Brilliant and Birmingham is a shit hole. This is an opinion built up by years of a determined campaign by Manchester to be considered a cool city not helped by the self deprecating attitude of Bummies. Mancs will bang on constantly that Manchester is the centre of the universe. Brummie will more likely agree that Birmingham is indeed a bit crap. 

A lot of this is also because Birmingham was becoming so successful in the 60s that London actively held it back to stop any genuine competition to it. 

Not helped by Manchester having more successful football teams and more bands who have made it recently. 

Both cities are undergoing massive amounts of redevelopment, I'm talking wholesale change, a skyline which is a forest of cranes. Manchester is a little ahead because they started earlier, probably due to the bomb which resulted in a lot of inward in investment. I also think Brum (despite the forest of cranes) has not really hit top gear yet because a lot of investors will wait till HS2 is nearer before the real big projects kick off. 

As far as Universities are concerned I believe Birmingham just about edges Manchester but there's not much in it. 

The truth is both cities are pretty similar but Manchester has the cool tag and Brum the shit hole tag. 

Interesting comments, can you elaborate on this please.

Born in Brum 1977, I don't know about this...I'll ask my folks see what they say too.

[sidcow]

17 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Interesting comments, can you elaborate on this please.

Born in Brum 1977, I don't know about this...I'll ask my folks see what they say too.

I've seen it discussed in several other places. Here is an article google lead me to.. Maybe someone like @mjmooney might know about this? 

https://unherd.com/2020/09/the-plot-against-mercia/

The plot against Mercia 

Quote

Birmingham was a boom city after the war and might have come to rival London. So why did planners deliberately sabotage its economy? 

Quote

In the decade to 1964, service businesses around Birmingham grew faster than any other part of the country; in 1961, West Midlands households earned more on average than any other British region, including London and the South East.

Quote

But all this was ended by London-based planners, who virtually banned new factories, offices and housing south of Manchester in a failed attempt to rebalance the economy.

Quote

But national government saw the success of the Midlands as damaging other regions. The Distribution of Industry Act 1945 sought to stop industrial growth in the “Congested Areas” — the Midlands,

Quote

The 1956 West Midlands Plan even set Birmingham a 1960 target population far lower than its actual 1951 population — so people would have to leave, and industry shrink. The controls made it difficult to regenerate businesses or add new ones, and the economy became less diverse, focused on the motor industry. That left it vulnerable to the recession of the 1980s, which badly affected the Midlands.

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by sidcow

[mjmooney]

12 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Maybe someone like @mjmooney might know about this? 

Nope. Never even thought about it. 

[sidcow]

2 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Nope. Never even thought about it. 

It's definitely something that happened. I've seen it talked about on other sites and there are quite a few articles on t'interweb. 

[Lichfield Dean]

The original redbrick. One of the most spectacular campuses you'll find anywhere.

Some of the physics breakthroughs here have been extraordinary (read up on Mark Oliphant, Otto Frisch and Rudolf Peierls).

Old Joe is the world's tallest freestanding clock tower (although supposedly some Saudi thing has been built that is much taller).

And also, it's Isengard.

The only thing I'll say is that the closure of Rich Bitch studios and all the curry houses in Selly Oak has affected the soul of the place somewhat, but then again students these days aren't so bothered by those sorts of things I am told.

[mjmooney]

7 minutes ago, Lichfield Dean said:

The only thing I'll say is that the closure of Rich Bitch studios and all the curry houses in Selly Oak has affected the soul of the place somewhat, but then again students these days aren't so bothered by those sorts of things I am told.

Not to mention demolishing The Gun Barrels. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

1 hour ago, sidcow said:

I've seen it discussed in several other places. Here is an article google lead me to.. Maybe someone like @mjmooney might know about this? 

https://unherd.com/2020/09/the-plot-against-mercia/

The plot against Mercia 

 

Very insightful, thank you.

[Follyfoot]

22 hours ago, Icarium said:

Hi All,

Through my work I may get an opportunity to study in the UK for 12 months. There are 2 similar courses I am interested in, one is through University of Birmingham and the other through the University of Manchester.

While Birmingham obviously grabbed my attention as a Villa fan, I wanted to get a feel for the reputation of both universities from people in country and anything else worth knowing,  as far as living in each city, to help the decision making process.

Thanks in advance

I would go to Manchester because you are not allowed in Birmingham

mate

 

 

[Jon]

13 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Was that the old Birmingham Poly? 

Yep.  

[Mic09]

10 years ago, Manchester. 

Now Birmingham all the way.

[sidcow]

8 hours ago, mjmooney said:

Not to mention demolishing The Gun Barrels. 

Time for me to rehash my Gun Barrels story for the umpteenth time. 

One New Years eve I was in a massive queue for the bar at The Gun Barrels.  A guy behind me taps me on the shoulder and says "excuse me mate, do you go down The Villa?" 

I said "Yeah, how do you know?" 

He said "I stand behind you and recognise the back of your head" and he was right, I'd never really talk to him but I did then recognise him. 

Must have been weird to spend years staring at the back of someone's head then to see the back of the same head in a queue in front of you

[mjmooney]

37 minutes ago, sidcow said:

One New Years eve I was in a massive queue for the bar at The Gun Barrels

I meant to qualify, the original Gun Barrels - the redbrick Victorian pub, not the soulless 'modern' thing they put up in its place (which I believe is also now gone - karma, at least). 

Which one were you queueing in? 

[sidcow]

49 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

I meant to qualify, the original Gun Barrels - the redbrick Victorian pub, not the soulless 'modern' thing they put up in its place (which I believe is also now gone - karma, at least). 

Which one were you queueing in? 

Oh the modern one for sure.  Which has indeed also gone.

Also up the road they built The Great Oak Pub (I have a story about that too which I think I've told on here involving Glenn Medeiros) which I remember being built and was demolished many many years ago now.  Modern pubs eh?

[Icarium]

Thanks to everyone who has provided some insight on this. Seems like there isn't really a clearly better choice( from a non football point of view anyway) but I must say from the descriptions the Birmingham vibes kind of sound like Adelaide when I'm from, which is a big plus. Will keep you updated if a move eventuates.

UTV

[GlobalVillan]

Neither are big cities, (only London can claim to be that in the UK as far as I see it) but Birmingham is so much nicer than Manchester. When we go to away games we always stay over at least one night in that town or city.

When we go to watch us at Man United (We don't go to Man City away), we head straight back after. We dont get a hotel like we do for every away game. Manchester is really not a nice place and hate going there.

(Doesn't help losing every time!)

 

Edited June 30, 2023 by GlobalVillan

[sidcow]

On 27/06/2023 at 09:08, Chindie said:

Manchester is full of Mancs. Don't do it to yourself.

 

On 27/06/2023 at 09:51, sidcow said:

Not to be underestimated this. 

Without trying to stereotype too much you'll find brummies much more down to earth and Mancs generally smug, full of the themselves and full of Manchester is the most important place anywhere. A bit nauseating 

Also see yorkshiremen and the "gods own country" and "don't let anyone know about it or they'll all be here" whilst telling as many people about it as possible shite. 

 

As if to underline this uber nauseating Manc Andy Burnham was on Breakfast this morning immediately after the story about the unveiling of Ozzy the Bull at new Street.  Asked about it is said it's nice to see the third city getting some recognition in the media.