Towns others make fun of

Liverpool does get it's fair share of bad press but then all Cities are the same now I think,I live just over the water from The Pier Head where we can now boast of big liners docking before they leave on their cruises,we have some of the most beautiful buildings housing the likes of the passport office's and such like St Georges Hall & The Liver Building going on to some of the best waterfront housing developments seen in the area for many a year.On my side of The River we have Port Sunlight the brainchild of Lord Leverhulme to accommadate his workforce which now has listed building status amongst it's buildings,so I am more than satisfied with my surrounding area with it's easy access to other places such as Chester/Manchester all with in 30mins drive.

Anyone recall the folk song:

From hell and Hull and Halifax
Good Lord deliver us.

MK just looks like banks of greenery this week. There must be a few buildings around here somewhere???
There are many things I will miss when I move (including gracesmum who is of course not a thing)

Yes I agree Moved. I must say we haven't been for years. We used to go in the scruffy days which was half the charm. The restaurants used
to be set up in what were the bedrooms of houses. They were the 'in' places to go when they first started off. We always got taxis. Happy days. I think we are a friendly bunch too !

But nowadays KatyK it is safe to leave your car in what we used to call the 'Balti triangle* in the early days you would get a taxi to Ladypool Rd and then one back out! It used to be scruffy and unhygienic but nowadays some of them are pretty posh!

My German colleague who used to work in Brum and live in Harborne really missed the people and didn't like it in Guildford and working in Kingston, said she missed all those lovely friendly people.

Lovely friendly people !

Thank you Moved. Yes we have all that. We usually go to see Tony Bennett when he comes to Symphony Hall and he always says he sung all over the world and the accoustics at Symphony Hall, along with one other hall in Texas, are the best he has experienced. We have a great jazz festival in July around the canal area, if the weather is good all the musicians are out on the streets. We were visiting the Balti belt years ago before Baltis became countrywide. Not saying Brum is better than anywhere else but feel I have to stand up for my home city sometimes !

I live 9 miles from Reading and agree with GadaboutGran up to a point.I have been there today and can't fault it : the shops are good, the new railway station is going to be magnificent, the buses are frequent and regular and the bus drivers are friendly. But that is in the daytime. I work there some evenings and the walk through the town to the station can be quite frightening. I contrast this with Oxford where I always feel safe walking through the town to the station. In Oxford people seem to be in groups or pairs. In Reading there are a lot more "loners"

Still think the developers that ripped Brum apart years ago need stringing up. All the old buildings that were torn down . Thankfully the city has risen above all of that now but it took a long time. Great place and lovely people.

KatyK we often visit Birmingham and I am always singing its praises. You have a world class orchestra and ballet company which your city supports. Your art gallery is amazing and you have great theatres.

When I worked in London people were so scathing about Brum but they mostly had never been there. Had they heard of Symphony Hall? No and they didn't believe it was the best in Europe, couldn't accept that London wasn't best for everything. Never did manage to convince anyone that Baltis were invented in Brum!

What about the jewellery quarter? DS2 travelled from Europe to buy an engagement ring made from a perfect diamond in a setting of his choice.

I think it is very narrow minded to criticise somewhere you have never been.

I have lived in Birmingham all my life. When I was on holiday once someone asked me where I was from and I said Birmingham, she said 'oh dear'. I have got used to the sympathetic looks over the years. I love it here. Lovely friendly people. The city centre is beautiful all around the canal area, there are restaurants, bars and cafes. In the summer it is always emblazoned with flowers. We have Symphony Hall, the ICC and bullring. We have the largest German market outside Germany (so I am told) every Christmas. It has it's problems like everywhere but I think some folks still have the old image of a dirty old town which (in the main) it isn't.

"Come friendly bombs and fall on Slough!
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow.
Swarm over, Death!

Come, bombs and blow to smithereens
Those air -conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans,
Tinned minds, tinned breath.

Mess up the mess they call a town-
A house for ninety-seven down
And once a week a half a crown
For twenty years.
etc. "
I often wonmder what Betjeman would have made of Milton Keynes...

Brought up in Swindon (Shudder).......so it gives me every excuse to titter whenever I see or read of something tacky (and I often do) happening there!

Sluff = Slough

Tunbridge Wells

Swindon

Milton Keynes

Pratt's Bottom, in Kent?

I live in Essex, need I say more.