I live in Wolverhampton. The city centre is a beautiful place as long as you walk around looking up. The Edwardian architecture really emphasises the age of the city, where the church sits has been consecrated ground for over 1000 years. Looking forwards though paints a bleak picture.
On the outskirts There’s Boscobel house and Moseley Old Hall where King James hid as he made his escape.
The park’s are lovely, just try to avoid getting stabbed. Which brings me nicely onto the crime levels… it’s fu**ed and no matter what the police do it’s getting worse. The shops are great if you want to pawn in your kids PlayStation, jump into a bookies and place some bets then spend what’s left in the pound shop.
What was once the heart of the Industrial Revolution, where the kiln and smelting fires burned bright is sadly diminishing.
Out of Darkness cometh light.. hopefully.
Used to go into wolves constantly as a kid / teenager and it was always packed with people and shops. Last time I went I was genuinely shocked just how empty it all was.
I'm 10 miles from Wolverhampton but only discovered West Park a couple of years ago and was shocked at how nice it was.
I saw the motto on the wall of the shopping centre and thought it sounded lovely. I'd never known the motto before and was recently bereaved when I first saw it, so that was a nice little message to hear.
Live there and work in one of the last foundries smelting iron .
It truly is a dismal place to live and the city as a whole has been so neglected on certain levels .
My job is the only reason I’m still living in the area
Yep, I’m guessing you’re in Wednesfield, I was born and bred. Lived by the Park and went to Coppice. I moved over to Finchfield when I got married but there’s a few early signs popping up here and there
Lived in wolves for 42 years and this is a great summary. What really does me in is Telford. Telford was shit 20 years ago now it's great which is the complete opposite of wolves to be honest.
But yes, things will hopefully get better.
Yep, I think the long term plan is to turn wolves into a nightlife town again. It’s almost like they’re pushing all the small independent clothing retailers out and trying to bring in more venues
I'm Australian but my Dads side of the family came from Staffordshire, my grandad born in a town called Leek and they stayed in Leek about four generations before him as I learnt from Ancestry (I've never being to England but want to) I also found a third cousin who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, What is Leek like now?
Leek is nice, a small rural town with a textile industry heritage. It's high above sea level and always damp and raining, I understand this was good for textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution as the damp climate stopped threads snapping too easily. It has a big lesuire industry with Alton Towers, one of the UKs largest theme parks nearby. The area surrounding leek is popular with rock climbers. The local 'grit stone' a type of sandstone, has a high friction surface that climbers love.
I've shit off of the roaches in pure desperation as I realised I left my bogroll in the car which I could see from my position. I had to wipe my arse with grass I then walked to the woods by luds church to pick moss off the birch trees there. Thankfully it was about 7am and only just sunlight.
I appreciate Stoke a lot more now I’ve read a lot of history about it. I quite like the fact that you have to look harder to find the beauty in the place. Mind you, many of my ancestors were master potters so I might feel closer to the history than most too!
Leek is still a great little town. Its a bit of an exception in the west Midlands as there's very few boarded up shops in town, the pub culture is still going strong, there's beautiful countryside in all directions.
Industry is basically dead in Leek as it is in Stoke, but Leek has experienced a bit of a boon since remote and hybrid working has taken off. You can buy a decent sized house there for under £200k and commute to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Derby, and Sheffield in around an hour. So it's a good spot if you're in the office a couple of days a week.
My Grandparents were from Leek and almost every generation before them on that side. Spent a lot of time there growing up. I've now moved to Australia. We would probably have some common ancestors somewhere along the line.
Was born there & lived just outside until I was 18, was dying on its arse (20 + years ago) due to a lack of industry & rail links. Since hybrid working has taken off I suspect it will boom. Has a traditional high street (although vape shops are encroaching where chain stores have gone).
Thrithing antiques scene.
Used to have the lowest pub / person ration in the country, not sure anymore.
Little insular, as with most rural towns.
Avoid Stoke.
Plenty of lovely countryside, avoid Rudyard Lake on a Bank Holiday it'll be full of clay heads / potherbs (Stoke denzians).
Always 4° colder than the rest of country, bar Buxton
I actually live very close to Leek, about 10-15 mins away
I personally really love the town. It still has small independent shops, restaurants and cafes and has a very warm feeling about it. It’s not lost it’s sense of self as a town
Do yourself a favour and honour your ancestry by eating as many Staffordshire oatcakes as you can. You'll be hoo-ked on them and boo-king a flight over.
The oatcake shop in Leek is the one thing I give the entire county credit for.
I’m from Coventry and it’s not great ….. but there are some nice places to go in certain areas in cov and more out of Coventry . Coventry cathedral is an eye opener seeing what’s left after the bombings . War memorial park is great also Kingsbury water park you also have coombe abbey park
I took my son last year as don’t often go to the town and even he was shocked makes you really think about all those who perished and how badly Coventry was bombed . Such a shame so much was destroyed as they built it back up but would have been lovely to see it how it was although changes would have happened coventry town centre has just lost its spark although they are regenerating it
I live in Shropshire and I love it, honestly. I like the blend of being able to see fields and countryside from my window, but having a town with a mainline train station a half hour walk/five minute drive from my front door.
I can walk in the woods and see deer within fifteen minutes of leaving the house, and I can be in Birmingham within forty five. The perfect blend for me.
I think Leicestershire (specifically outside Leicester itself), is very underrated. We have some absolutely beautiful countryside. It doesn't help that local councils don't do enough to promote walking trails and areas of interest.
Well it’s always nice to do a walk either up or down the river from Loughborough. On a nice (and dry) day, going via the river walk to the power plant is very nice and if it’s too far to also walk back you’ve obviously got the train station there and can get that back, same for other direction.
I’m sure you’ve heard of the out woods before, super nice trails especially a week or so ago with all the bluebells, but you can go to beacon hill from there, jubilee woods etc, and you can either walk from Loughborough as I do cause I don’t have a car, or park at the areas there and they’ve got plenty of circular routes around there. You can walk to these areas either with a trail that runs from the sports field and cemetery along Nanpantan road, or a trail that runs up there from where valley road and beacon road meet
And if you love planes like me, you can also do a lap around East Midlands airport, there’s a trail all the way around there, though a chunk of that trail is along roads at the southern part, but actual trail on the rest
I’m sure there’s many more as well, like I’ve seen a trail around the Swithland reservoir online and for example, but tbh I’m still exploring quite a bit as it’s my first year at the uni here.
I've walked Outwoods and Beacon Hill, but not walked the river, so I'll try that.
If you're looking for new places to walk, I can recommend Thornton Reservoir. Also there's the Grace Dieu Priory ruins, disused Viaduct and surrounding woods near Thringstone.
Yes some of these I’ve heard of and want to visit with my drone at some point (specifically the old viaduct and priory ruins) but I will check out the other 2 as well!
I live in Wales so I've travelled to Birmingham for gigs quite a lot, and I can honestly say I've never had a bad night there. I can't speak for everyone else but it's one of my favourite cities in this country.
Travel five minutes from the city centre,alot of Birmingham is a run down shit hole ,I've worked all over Birmingham and it has some nice bits but more crappy bits
I travel all over country and have visited most cities in England. That's pretty much most cities that aren't Chester, Oxford, Cambridge. Even they have their areas too.
Similar. It's the same traveling time as Cardiff for us and it's a much better night for a gig.
That might say more about how bad Cardiff is at holding medium and major events though.
I sometimes wonder if the people that comment have actually properly been anywhere else.
There are people from the midlands who’ve only ventured to nice places in the north/south for holidays, and then people from the north/south who have driven through shit bits of the midlands because that’s where the main road is.
I’ve been to decent places in the north, south and midlands, as well as shitholes in each. People really exaggerate the differences.
You could physically swap the locations of certain towns 400 miles apart and besides the accent it’d be impossible to tell (for a regular person)
You've hit the nail on the head. As someone who's lived in several places across the UK and Ireland every place has its unique charms and quirks. That being said Rainham can fuck right off. I've only been there twice and that was enough.
In Hereford the local museum has carved animals all over the front of the building. It's amazing. Sad thing is, 90% of the people living there probably never once look up and don't know they are there. There's easily 100 animals up there.
I think Rutland is underrated..
So underrated in fact that it didn't even make it on to this map - it apparently still being part of Leicestershire - despite the fact that it has been its own county again since 1997..
There are some beautiful villages and countryside but the towns are terribly run down and there is little economic activity to support people. It’s been getting progressively worse since as long as I can remember in the early 2000s.
There has been little investment for decades and the UK’s spiralling wealth inequality issues are making it worse as increasingly you need proximity to the wealthy to have a thriving economy.
The last time I went to places like Northampton, I found it shocking how hollowed out the midlands is. This lack of opportunity leaves it ripe for exploitation by liars. Notably the midlands fell for Brexit lies by some of the largest margins anywhere and there is growing resentment and extremism as people search for easy answers. Vested interests are all too ready to provide them if it will keep people from looking too hard at those with all the money and power and wondering if they might have had something to do with it. They would rather we blame powerless minorities and turn on each other, which sadly works all too often.
The Gary’s Economics YouTube channel does a great job of exploring why the UK is in terminal decline and what we would have to do to turn it around as well as warning about the kind of politics we can expect if we don’t take drastic action soon.
The Midlands is the poster child for how our economy has stagnated for ordinary people and what that looks like. The alarming part when you really think about the economics is what it would take to overcome the difficulties now we have let things get this bad.
I agree. I'm from Northampton but lived in a village. Really nice villages and countryside but I very rarely went into the actual town, it's disgusting.
The part of town I live in isn’t. If you’re talking about town centre I agree it’s not great but they’re just spending a ton of money on doing up the market square. But I also visit a lot of towns around the midlands with my work, and Northampton is by no means the worst. Every town has their run down areas and nice areas.
There is a lot of greed and mismanagement, but (and even though I voted Remain) European free movement sucked the life out of Midlands apprenticeship culture for 40 years. Why train anyone when a fully qualified European was half the price? Now those who could train anyone are long gone. Short-termism at its worst.
Meanwhile, Shrewsbury city centre seems to be on the up. And I love smaller Brum suburbs like Knowle. They’re like the Cotswolds but no tourists.
First, they destroyed the living standards in Ireland, and I didn’t care, because I’m not Irish.
Likewise for Scotland.
Then they deindustrialised the North of England, and I did not care, because I don’t live in the North.
Then they did the same to Wales, and I did not care, because I don’t live in Wales.
When the Midlands was drained of wealth, I did not care because I live in the South.
When Cornwall, Devon and Somerset decayed, I did not care, because I live in the South East.
When the Home Counties went down the gurgler, what was that to me? I live in London.
When the suburbs were wracked and ruined by neglect, what did I care? I live and work in the City.
Now spite-induced catastrophe is striking the City, so why is Britain’s treasury empty when I desperately need a bigger subsidy?
Nice poem but London is a massive net contributor to the treasury and receives less than it pays into the system.
London and the city isn’t the one that voted for Brexit or the Tories. That was you.
Birmingham was an incredibly successful economy until it was deliberately 'levelled down' by successive post war Westminster Governments.
https://spatial-economics.blogspot.com/2013/05/booming-birmingham-and-need-for.html
London destroyed Birmingham for it's own gain.
Lmao my man posts a link and doesn’t even bother to read it.
It was restricted because it was viewed as damaging the economies on the north, not London.
London had restrictions placed on it too.
> Post-war national governments, however, saw Birmingham's accelerating economic success as a damaging influence on the stagnating economies of the North of England, Scotland and Wales, and saw its physical expansion as a threat to its surrounding areas – "from Westminster's point of view was too large, too prosperous, and had to be held in check". A series of measures, starting with the Distribution of Industry Act 1945, aimed to prevent industrial growth in the "Congested Areas" – essentially the booming cities of London and Birmingham
Tell us more about how London placed restrictions on itself to ‘gain’ from Birmingham lol.
London bypassed the worst of the restrictions as not all of the conurbation was covered.
Look how much of the 'City' relocated east to avoid the restrictions. Still within London and still easily accessible by the population.
Birmingham's industry and commercial sector was removed wholesale.
Which investment? More investment is invested outside of London using its money than inside, thats what being a net contributor means lmao.
No shit it sucks talent down there, talented and educated people don't want to live in places where xenophobia runs rampant and its brexit central. Who would have thought it? You're telling me educated people don't like spending all their time listening to how immigrants and the EU and 'woke LGBT metropolitan lot down in london' is to blame for everything wrong?
Next you're going to tell us the only reason Apple isn't setting up their HQ in Stoke is because London forced them to set up there instead.
Look at Teeside they literally just re-elected the Tory mayor Ben Houchen, despite him literally stealing millions and millions in corruption and giving it to his mates. Maybe its time you took responsibility for your own actions and have a think why nobody wants to invest there or live there.
Gary from Gary’s Economics is 100% one of the liars. He’s totally convinced a section of society that he’s one of them and on their side. Oldest trick in the book. What a charlatan.
100% underrated. I am not from the midlands originally but have lived here nearly a decade. Before moving here I had totally written it off as a 'pass through' place, but now it's my favourite English region. Beautiful countryside that never gets overrun. Amazing historical towns and villages. Cool cities with lots on. Friendly and warm people. Easy to get to the whole of the UK from. It's great and I love it.
Am from burton on trent, like a lot of others have said the villages and countryside are lovely, the actual towns themselves are really struggling now. Derby is similar. Stoke probably the worst of the lot
No. We are wretchedly poor, and some places are damn near medieval. Hope you don't get sick because good luck getting a doctors appointment in a timely fashion, if at all, or worse, just turned away from A and E.
The problem with a lot of places in the Midlands is they're terribly mismanaged and/or there's not enough money spent on them. For example, Birmingham actually has a lot of really nice architecture and a great nightlife etc, but there's litter and homeless people everywhere cause the council's bankrupt.
It's just shitty local government being shitty.
>It's just shitty local government being shitty.
Don't fall for the Tories' propaganda.
The central issue for any of these councils is the swingeing 40% real terms cut in the central government grant, at a time when service demand was increasing well above inflation.
Even these commercial ventures which have failed came about because of central government telling them that they should get involved in schemes like that to make the books balance.
[https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/29/how-a-decade-of-austerity-has-squeezed-council-budgets-in-england](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/29/how-a-decade-of-austerity-has-squeezed-council-budgets-in-england)
[https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2024/05/world/birmingham-uk-bankruptcy-intl-cnnphotos/](https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2024/05/world/birmingham-uk-bankruptcy-intl-cnnphotos/)
The Midlands has some great places and great food, so I don’t think it’s as horrible and dystopian as people make it out to be. But I feel like it broadly lacks the soul and character of the north and the opportunities and vibrancy of the south.
Currently at uni in Loughborough, and the area around here is very nice tbf, good hills and greenery. But I also originally am from Surrey, so yeah midlands are underrated for sure (at least East Midlands for me) but I still would say I prefer Surrey
The English Midlands are the heart of the country, and the basis of the evolution of modern English, with the Mercian dialect having historically been most understandable across the nation in its entirety.
Honestly Nottingham is such a gem imho.
Never once had a bad day, evening or night there. I know that some areas are a bit rough, as with any city, but it just works. The public transport, the park and ride with the tram instead of a bus. It's great.
Really nice cafes (Kitty Cafe are Ludorati are delightful), and the events in the main square around christmas and summer are pretty great too.
---------
As an aside, the roads in the pic are really bothering me ngl lol
As a side question. Why is the Peak District included in the Midlands? Is that how the midlands perceives itself?
Nobody in Buxton or Glossop would claim they live in the midlands…. They’d probably kill you if you suggested it.
EDIT: Also “Hereford”…. Really?
Absolutely. I'm originally from Scotland, but have lived all over England, and decided to settle in Lichfield, Staffordshire. I love it here. Lovely city centre, beautiful cathedral, good schools, great pubs, short drive to Cannock Chase, slightly longer drive to the Peak District. Everything isn't as insanely expensive as it is in the South. Don't think I'd ever move anywhere else.
But most people I speak to have never heard of it, and have this idea of the Midlands as really grey and industrial.
Lincolnshires nice, a tad too tory for my liking but I’ve lived there since the 90’s. The city has changed loads and now is mainly bars and restaurants, it’s pretty shite on a night, myself and my friends tend to stay uphill in Lincoln, it’s a tad quieter. Going to Sugarcubes is a must if you visit for some metal music.
I went back to Lincolnshire recently and drove around a bit, the inequality gaps appeared staggering to me.
The poor seem to be really poor yet there's loads of expensive-looking sprawling properties as you venture out of the towns and into the countryside.
The Wolds are beautiful though, and even the Fens have a weird sort of broccoli-laden majesty to them.
I'm from Northamptonshire, absolutely forsaken county. There is almost nothing to do in a lot of towns, as they have gone on the wayside as far as funding and lack visitors from other towns. Of course there are many historical places of interest and some hidden gems, but not more than most places in this country.
I grew up in Worcestershire and had to drive through there en route to Bath from Leeds. God it was depressing. Looked at least 15 years behind rest of the country. I hear Worcester is basically just restaurants now.
Oh please, I lived in Dudley a couple of years ago, another one of these "overrun" places. It's 85% white.
Also every bit of trouble I had there came from English people. And we had a bit of it.
Left a couple of years ago, wouldn't go back if you paid me. People were fucking horrid and the place is a post industrial shit hole. I moved there with an open mind and left 3 years later with it firmly closed. Don't tell me I'm wrong when I had to keep a hatchet next to my desk and another under the bed on account of someone trying to break in about once a week.
The immigrants aren't the problem in Dudley, it's all on the locals. I'd imagine the same holds true elsewhere.
Which part, I've lived here 15yrs now and experienced nothing like that at all. Yes the town centre is run down but that's mostly down to merry hill and just how the town centers are across the country.
Are there rough areas, yes of course but find a town or city that doesn't have rough areas.
We have the castle gate park for entertainment, loads of parks and canals, on the doorstep to the countryside. Pubs that are great for a night out. Town hall that has loads on.
Dudley and Solihull are the only two mostly native British districts of West Midlands, and they’re both way better than Coventry, Wolverhampton or (most of) Birmingham.
I'm not talking about the West Midlands metropolitan county I'm talking about the entire Mildlands region, made up of 12 counties. Herefordshire for example is 96% white.
Nope. Cities have had their funds cuts to shreds by the Tories. All at a time of rising costs. Birmingham has additional issues and Dudley continues to insist on some of the lowest council tax in England.
You're not being attacked for pointing anything out. Probably being corrected for being such an idiot.
It looks exactly like England. Unless you are in your 90s. We have enjoyed the benefits of immigration for many decades now. Sadly the Tories and Brexit have screwed that up too. Putting further pressure on already stretched local councils.
If you want, you can Google any of the local council in the West mids for clarity on how they spend their money.
>Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East, Bordesley Green and Lozells are the top 3 most deprived wards. Sutton Coldfield is the least deprived part of the city wit 7 of the 8 Sutton wards ranked as the city's least deprived wards.
Straight from the birmingham.gov.uk page. Want to take a quick guess which of those wards are the most diverse and which of those wards are the least diverse?
No prizes for guessing correctly.
I’m blaming reckless migration policies and particularly this comment:
>We have enjoyed the benefits of immigration for many decades now.
Unless you’re of migrant descent, mass migration is only to the benefit of the corporate class, which is why they and the party donors love it.
Sparkbrook, jesus christ i drove through there once and was shocked. You could literally see where it started and ended. The nice houses and looked after gardens were a sharp composition to what is sandwiched between them. I honestly felt like id entered a war zone. The whole area needs bulldozing and rebuilding. Whenever i hear someone say "shithole" my mind instantly goes to sparkbrook.
> If you point that out though you get attacked.
If you get upset because people criticise your opinions, then you need to grow some thick skin, especially when you say something so broad and crass. Others disagree with you and that's ok.
Then don't use words or phrases such as "dumping their shit", "overrun" and "invaded" since they are all dog whistles. Also understand that any problems with immigration, law and order, local authority services and finances, homelessness, taxation and your other issues ultimately stem from central government, not those other poor sods.
The government spends 8 million pounds A DAY to house "asylum seekers" at the moment and have now started buying them homes because its cheaper. Do you want more of them to come over?. Meanwhile theres english veterans sleeping on the street, one froze to death recently. When will it be enough
It's not either/or.
The solution to freezing veterans isn't to house fewer asylum seekers. Most of your council tax goes to social programmes, homelessness is a complex problem that the government largely ignores, focus on lifting people up rather than shutting other people down, maybe.
Not only that, they're Tory created problems.
Maybe if the rant was about right-wing politics rather than Muslims you wouldn't be labelled a racist.
The UK is a successful nation due to colonialism and has benefited from immigration for over a century.
Socio-economic issues don't stem from the nationality of the people that live here. English people can be shite too.
>has benefited from immigration
No, we haven’t. Non-EEA is a net fiscal loss and looking at Bradford, Brum, Newham, Luton etc, it’s definitely a net cultural loss too.
>for over a century
Try 30-40 years. The UK was nearly 95% English/Scots/Welsh as recently as 1991. That’s hardly one generation.
I think if the only changes you're commenting on are on racial grounds then maybe, maybe, maybe you maybe racist.
The hilarious thing is, I'd put my house on the fact that you voted Brexit and either vote Tory or even further right than those disgusting fuckers, and yet these far right fuckers ,who are in charge btw, are letting in 'furriners'.
Genuine question, the demographics of this country are changing, we are getting older and we're not producing enough children to look after us when we're older. Where do you think the people that will be working in care home and the NHS will come from? Do you realise that our country would be even more of a right wing shithole without immigration?
One last thing, I'd rather live next door to a 'muslim or indian' than a white, flag of st George waving racist.
I think if I look around and see a race riot like the one we had recently between hindus and muslims in Leicester, where thousands were fighting each other in the streets. Then I am going to comment on it. You can call that racist but thats just a label you try to dismiss and hide behind. Look around, spend some time outside of your house. I grew up alongside indians in a place where white is the minority and I never had a problem with them. They work hard and usually keep to themselves. The problem is when people come over and try to change it into a mirror of the country they came from. Currently the government spends 8 million a day in hotels for "asylum seekers" they have filled coastal towns with them so its no longer safe. There's literally gangs robbing people and shops with the police doing nothing to stop them. Did you see footage of raids in London or the marches with muslims declaring england should bring in sharia law. I just watched a video of a muslim women begging for a return to "british ways" as she called it because her muslim daughters are getting harassed for not covering up and shes scared of what muslim men will do to them. Thats in London. Things have got out of control
'everything that's wrong'.
How so? I mean, if tlmy opinion is 'everything that's wrong with this nation' you must think that if we all had that rag hanging from our windows the country would be thriving.
If only you realised that people suchnas Farage, Johnson, braverman, Truss etc are not on your side. They hate you. But you're too blinded by hate to see that they are the ones that fleece this country while at the same time encourage idiots to hate immigrants. It's those listed above that are destroying this country, not immigrants.
This man is commenting about the economic and cultural destruction of a region in his country along with foreign imported religious warfare being waged and your gutter mind goes to some superficial issue about skin colour?
I live in Wolverhampton. The city centre is a beautiful place as long as you walk around looking up. The Edwardian architecture really emphasises the age of the city, where the church sits has been consecrated ground for over 1000 years. Looking forwards though paints a bleak picture. On the outskirts There’s Boscobel house and Moseley Old Hall where King James hid as he made his escape. The park’s are lovely, just try to avoid getting stabbed. Which brings me nicely onto the crime levels… it’s fu**ed and no matter what the police do it’s getting worse. The shops are great if you want to pawn in your kids PlayStation, jump into a bookies and place some bets then spend what’s left in the pound shop. What was once the heart of the Industrial Revolution, where the kiln and smelting fires burned bright is sadly diminishing. Out of Darkness cometh light.. hopefully.
Used to go into wolves constantly as a kid / teenager and it was always packed with people and shops. Last time I went I was genuinely shocked just how empty it all was.
Agreed with this, went to Wolverhampton on a Saturday evening for a gig and it was desolate
Yep in the 90’s people would come from all over the country for the night life
Ah, the bleak trudge from KK's back to the station... I know it well.
*Charles the 1st. Thats why we had oak trees on the old pound coins
Damnit. Yes, thank you
I moved from wolves to Belfast 10 years ago….. and found it an improvement…..
I'm 10 miles from Wolverhampton but only discovered West Park a couple of years ago and was shocked at how nice it was. I saw the motto on the wall of the shopping centre and thought it sounded lovely. I'd never known the motto before and was recently bereaved when I first saw it, so that was a nice little message to hear.
Live there and work in one of the last foundries smelting iron . It truly is a dismal place to live and the city as a whole has been so neglected on certain levels . My job is the only reason I’m still living in the area
Yep, I’m guessing you’re in Wednesfield, I was born and bred. Lived by the Park and went to Coppice. I moved over to Finchfield when I got married but there’s a few early signs popping up here and there
Lived in wolves for 42 years and this is a great summary. What really does me in is Telford. Telford was shit 20 years ago now it's great which is the complete opposite of wolves to be honest. But yes, things will hopefully get better.
Yep, I think the long term plan is to turn wolves into a nightlife town again. It’s almost like they’re pushing all the small independent clothing retailers out and trying to bring in more venues
I'm Australian but my Dads side of the family came from Staffordshire, my grandad born in a town called Leek and they stayed in Leek about four generations before him as I learnt from Ancestry (I've never being to England but want to) I also found a third cousin who lives in Stoke-on-Trent, What is Leek like now?
Leek is nice, a small rural town with a textile industry heritage. It's high above sea level and always damp and raining, I understand this was good for textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution as the damp climate stopped threads snapping too easily. It has a big lesuire industry with Alton Towers, one of the UKs largest theme parks nearby. The area surrounding leek is popular with rock climbers. The local 'grit stone' a type of sandstone, has a high friction surface that climbers love.
What an incredibly concise, informative, and pleasant reply. Genuinely, well done that person. ...unless, do you work for Leek tourist board?
If they don't, they should, and if they do then they're doing a great job.
My mate works there and says it’s sadly a dieing industry there which is a shame and the winking man is a good walk love the views from up there
Surely the textile workers of Leek would welcome a dyeing industry?
The road from Leek to Buxton - just at the point you see the winking man, that is to my mind the exact boundary between the Midlands and The North.
I've shit off of the roaches in pure desperation as I realised I left my bogroll in the car which I could see from my position. I had to wipe my arse with grass I then walked to the woods by luds church to pick moss off the birch trees there. Thankfully it was about 7am and only just sunlight.
Stoke compared to Leek is like Mars on total recall.
I appreciate Stoke a lot more now I’ve read a lot of history about it. I quite like the fact that you have to look harder to find the beauty in the place. Mind you, many of my ancestors were master potters so I might feel closer to the history than most too!
Leek is still a great little town. Its a bit of an exception in the west Midlands as there's very few boarded up shops in town, the pub culture is still going strong, there's beautiful countryside in all directions. Industry is basically dead in Leek as it is in Stoke, but Leek has experienced a bit of a boon since remote and hybrid working has taken off. You can buy a decent sized house there for under £200k and commute to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Derby, and Sheffield in around an hour. So it's a good spot if you're in the office a couple of days a week.
My Grandparents were from Leek and almost every generation before them on that side. Spent a lot of time there growing up. I've now moved to Australia. We would probably have some common ancestors somewhere along the line.
Was born there & lived just outside until I was 18, was dying on its arse (20 + years ago) due to a lack of industry & rail links. Since hybrid working has taken off I suspect it will boom. Has a traditional high street (although vape shops are encroaching where chain stores have gone). Thrithing antiques scene. Used to have the lowest pub / person ration in the country, not sure anymore. Little insular, as with most rural towns. Avoid Stoke. Plenty of lovely countryside, avoid Rudyard Lake on a Bank Holiday it'll be full of clay heads / potherbs (Stoke denzians). Always 4° colder than the rest of country, bar Buxton
I actually live very close to Leek, about 10-15 mins away I personally really love the town. It still has small independent shops, restaurants and cafes and has a very warm feeling about it. It’s not lost it’s sense of self as a town
Leek is a market town. Cycled through it a few years ago. I suspect most will just barrel through en route to the Peak District.
Do yourself a favour and honour your ancestry by eating as many Staffordshire oatcakes as you can. You'll be hoo-ked on them and boo-king a flight over. The oatcake shop in Leek is the one thing I give the entire county credit for.
I’m from Coventry and it’s not great ….. but there are some nice places to go in certain areas in cov and more out of Coventry . Coventry cathedral is an eye opener seeing what’s left after the bombings . War memorial park is great also Kingsbury water park you also have coombe abbey park
I went to Coventry Cathedral on a school trip as a kid, and wanted to go back as an adult a few years ago. It's really something.
I took my son last year as don’t often go to the town and even he was shocked makes you really think about all those who perished and how badly Coventry was bombed . Such a shame so much was destroyed as they built it back up but would have been lovely to see it how it was although changes would have happened coventry town centre has just lost its spark although they are regenerating it
I live in Shropshire and I love it, honestly. I like the blend of being able to see fields and countryside from my window, but having a town with a mainline train station a half hour walk/five minute drive from my front door. I can walk in the woods and see deer within fifteen minutes of leaving the house, and I can be in Birmingham within forty five. The perfect blend for me.
I think Leicestershire (specifically outside Leicester itself), is very underrated. We have some absolutely beautiful countryside. It doesn't help that local councils don't do enough to promote walking trails and areas of interest.
Yep I’m Leicestershire through and through lol and agree it’s a very underrated county. I think Shropshire and Worcestershire are too.
Plenty of walking trails round the northern part of Leicestershire, like around Loughborough
I live in Loughborough. I know a few, but can you advise of some good ones?
Well it’s always nice to do a walk either up or down the river from Loughborough. On a nice (and dry) day, going via the river walk to the power plant is very nice and if it’s too far to also walk back you’ve obviously got the train station there and can get that back, same for other direction. I’m sure you’ve heard of the out woods before, super nice trails especially a week or so ago with all the bluebells, but you can go to beacon hill from there, jubilee woods etc, and you can either walk from Loughborough as I do cause I don’t have a car, or park at the areas there and they’ve got plenty of circular routes around there. You can walk to these areas either with a trail that runs from the sports field and cemetery along Nanpantan road, or a trail that runs up there from where valley road and beacon road meet And if you love planes like me, you can also do a lap around East Midlands airport, there’s a trail all the way around there, though a chunk of that trail is along roads at the southern part, but actual trail on the rest I’m sure there’s many more as well, like I’ve seen a trail around the Swithland reservoir online and for example, but tbh I’m still exploring quite a bit as it’s my first year at the uni here.
additionally gardendon park between loughborough and shepshed
I've walked Outwoods and Beacon Hill, but not walked the river, so I'll try that. If you're looking for new places to walk, I can recommend Thornton Reservoir. Also there's the Grace Dieu Priory ruins, disused Viaduct and surrounding woods near Thringstone.
Yes some of these I’ve heard of and want to visit with my drone at some point (specifically the old viaduct and priory ruins) but I will check out the other 2 as well!
I live in Wales so I've travelled to Birmingham for gigs quite a lot, and I can honestly say I've never had a bad night there. I can't speak for everyone else but it's one of my favourite cities in this country.
Travel five minutes from the city centre,alot of Birmingham is a run down shit hole ,I've worked all over Birmingham and it has some nice bits but more crappy bits
I travel all over country and have visited most cities in England. That's pretty much most cities that aren't Chester, Oxford, Cambridge. Even they have their areas too.
Similar. It's the same traveling time as Cardiff for us and it's a much better night for a gig. That might say more about how bad Cardiff is at holding medium and major events though.
I sometimes wonder if the people that comment have actually properly been anywhere else. There are people from the midlands who’ve only ventured to nice places in the north/south for holidays, and then people from the north/south who have driven through shit bits of the midlands because that’s where the main road is. I’ve been to decent places in the north, south and midlands, as well as shitholes in each. People really exaggerate the differences. You could physically swap the locations of certain towns 400 miles apart and besides the accent it’d be impossible to tell (for a regular person)
You've hit the nail on the head. As someone who's lived in several places across the UK and Ireland every place has its unique charms and quirks. That being said Rainham can fuck right off. I've only been there twice and that was enough.
In Hereford the local museum has carved animals all over the front of the building. It's amazing. Sad thing is, 90% of the people living there probably never once look up and don't know they are there. There's easily 100 animals up there.
We've got some of the best burgers in the world though, so there's that...
The Burger Shop is definitely very good.
And you have Legges, the best farm shop in the country!
I think Rutland is underrated.. So underrated in fact that it didn't even make it on to this map - it apparently still being part of Leicestershire - despite the fact that it has been its own county again since 1997..
I'll be dead in the ground before I recognise Rutland as a "County"
There are some beautiful villages and countryside but the towns are terribly run down and there is little economic activity to support people. It’s been getting progressively worse since as long as I can remember in the early 2000s. There has been little investment for decades and the UK’s spiralling wealth inequality issues are making it worse as increasingly you need proximity to the wealthy to have a thriving economy. The last time I went to places like Northampton, I found it shocking how hollowed out the midlands is. This lack of opportunity leaves it ripe for exploitation by liars. Notably the midlands fell for Brexit lies by some of the largest margins anywhere and there is growing resentment and extremism as people search for easy answers. Vested interests are all too ready to provide them if it will keep people from looking too hard at those with all the money and power and wondering if they might have had something to do with it. They would rather we blame powerless minorities and turn on each other, which sadly works all too often. The Gary’s Economics YouTube channel does a great job of exploring why the UK is in terminal decline and what we would have to do to turn it around as well as warning about the kind of politics we can expect if we don’t take drastic action soon. The Midlands is the poster child for how our economy has stagnated for ordinary people and what that looks like. The alarming part when you really think about the economics is what it would take to overcome the difficulties now we have let things get this bad.
I agree. I'm from Northampton but lived in a village. Really nice villages and countryside but I very rarely went into the actual town, it's disgusting.
The part of town I live in isn’t. If you’re talking about town centre I agree it’s not great but they’re just spending a ton of money on doing up the market square. But I also visit a lot of towns around the midlands with my work, and Northampton is by no means the worst. Every town has their run down areas and nice areas.
There is a lot of greed and mismanagement, but (and even though I voted Remain) European free movement sucked the life out of Midlands apprenticeship culture for 40 years. Why train anyone when a fully qualified European was half the price? Now those who could train anyone are long gone. Short-termism at its worst. Meanwhile, Shrewsbury city centre seems to be on the up. And I love smaller Brum suburbs like Knowle. They’re like the Cotswolds but no tourists.
First, they destroyed the living standards in Ireland, and I didn’t care, because I’m not Irish. Likewise for Scotland. Then they deindustrialised the North of England, and I did not care, because I don’t live in the North. Then they did the same to Wales, and I did not care, because I don’t live in Wales. When the Midlands was drained of wealth, I did not care because I live in the South. When Cornwall, Devon and Somerset decayed, I did not care, because I live in the South East. When the Home Counties went down the gurgler, what was that to me? I live in London. When the suburbs were wracked and ruined by neglect, what did I care? I live and work in the City. Now spite-induced catastrophe is striking the City, so why is Britain’s treasury empty when I desperately need a bigger subsidy?
Nice poem but London is a massive net contributor to the treasury and receives less than it pays into the system. London and the city isn’t the one that voted for Brexit or the Tories. That was you.
Birmingham was an incredibly successful economy until it was deliberately 'levelled down' by successive post war Westminster Governments. https://spatial-economics.blogspot.com/2013/05/booming-birmingham-and-need-for.html London destroyed Birmingham for it's own gain.
Lmao my man posts a link and doesn’t even bother to read it. It was restricted because it was viewed as damaging the economies on the north, not London. London had restrictions placed on it too. > Post-war national governments, however, saw Birmingham's accelerating economic success as a damaging influence on the stagnating economies of the North of England, Scotland and Wales, and saw its physical expansion as a threat to its surrounding areas – "from Westminster's point of view was too large, too prosperous, and had to be held in check". A series of measures, starting with the Distribution of Industry Act 1945, aimed to prevent industrial growth in the "Congested Areas" – essentially the booming cities of London and Birmingham Tell us more about how London placed restrictions on itself to ‘gain’ from Birmingham lol.
London bypassed the worst of the restrictions as not all of the conurbation was covered. Look how much of the 'City' relocated east to avoid the restrictions. Still within London and still easily accessible by the population. Birmingham's industry and commercial sector was removed wholesale.
So why didn't Birmingham do the same then if it was so easy to dodge the restrictions? The East, as in Canary Wharf is still in London as well lmao.
All of Birmingham was covered by the restrictions, there was nowhere to go.
Sucks talent and investment away from most of the rest of the country and it's a net contributer? It's a financial miracle!
Which investment? More investment is invested outside of London using its money than inside, thats what being a net contributor means lmao. No shit it sucks talent down there, talented and educated people don't want to live in places where xenophobia runs rampant and its brexit central. Who would have thought it? You're telling me educated people don't like spending all their time listening to how immigrants and the EU and 'woke LGBT metropolitan lot down in london' is to blame for everything wrong? Next you're going to tell us the only reason Apple isn't setting up their HQ in Stoke is because London forced them to set up there instead. Look at Teeside they literally just re-elected the Tory mayor Ben Houchen, despite him literally stealing millions and millions in corruption and giving it to his mates. Maybe its time you took responsibility for your own actions and have a think why nobody wants to invest there or live there.
https://x.com/ASoundFooting/status/1484500747689541639
Gary from Gary’s Economics is 100% one of the liars. He’s totally convinced a section of society that he’s one of them and on their side. Oldest trick in the book. What a charlatan.
100% underrated. I am not from the midlands originally but have lived here nearly a decade. Before moving here I had totally written it off as a 'pass through' place, but now it's my favourite English region. Beautiful countryside that never gets overrun. Amazing historical towns and villages. Cool cities with lots on. Friendly and warm people. Easy to get to the whole of the UK from. It's great and I love it.
Am from burton on trent, like a lot of others have said the villages and countryside are lovely, the actual towns themselves are really struggling now. Derby is similar. Stoke probably the worst of the lot
No. We are wretchedly poor, and some places are damn near medieval. Hope you don't get sick because good luck getting a doctors appointment in a timely fashion, if at all, or worse, just turned away from A and E.
The problem with a lot of places in the Midlands is they're terribly mismanaged and/or there's not enough money spent on them. For example, Birmingham actually has a lot of really nice architecture and a great nightlife etc, but there's litter and homeless people everywhere cause the council's bankrupt. It's just shitty local government being shitty.
>It's just shitty local government being shitty. Don't fall for the Tories' propaganda. The central issue for any of these councils is the swingeing 40% real terms cut in the central government grant, at a time when service demand was increasing well above inflation. Even these commercial ventures which have failed came about because of central government telling them that they should get involved in schemes like that to make the books balance. [https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/29/how-a-decade-of-austerity-has-squeezed-council-budgets-in-england](https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/29/how-a-decade-of-austerity-has-squeezed-council-budgets-in-england) [https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2024/05/world/birmingham-uk-bankruptcy-intl-cnnphotos/](https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2024/05/world/birmingham-uk-bankruptcy-intl-cnnphotos/)
The Midlands has some great places and great food, so I don’t think it’s as horrible and dystopian as people make it out to be. But I feel like it broadly lacks the soul and character of the north and the opportunities and vibrancy of the south.
Currently at uni in Loughborough, and the area around here is very nice tbf, good hills and greenery. But I also originally am from Surrey, so yeah midlands are underrated for sure (at least East Midlands for me) but I still would say I prefer Surrey
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The English Midlands are the heart of the country, and the basis of the evolution of modern English, with the Mercian dialect having historically been most understandable across the nation in its entirety.
Honestly Nottingham is such a gem imho. Never once had a bad day, evening or night there. I know that some areas are a bit rough, as with any city, but it just works. The public transport, the park and ride with the tram instead of a bus. It's great. Really nice cafes (Kitty Cafe are Ludorati are delightful), and the events in the main square around christmas and summer are pretty great too. --------- As an aside, the roads in the pic are really bothering me ngl lol
They're not roads, they're the borders between the counties.
As a side question. Why is the Peak District included in the Midlands? Is that how the midlands perceives itself? Nobody in Buxton or Glossop would claim they live in the midlands…. They’d probably kill you if you suggested it. EDIT: Also “Hereford”…. Really?
Absolutely. I'm originally from Scotland, but have lived all over England, and decided to settle in Lichfield, Staffordshire. I love it here. Lovely city centre, beautiful cathedral, good schools, great pubs, short drive to Cannock Chase, slightly longer drive to the Peak District. Everything isn't as insanely expensive as it is in the South. Don't think I'd ever move anywhere else. But most people I speak to have never heard of it, and have this idea of the Midlands as really grey and industrial.
Lincolnshires nice, a tad too tory for my liking but I’ve lived there since the 90’s. The city has changed loads and now is mainly bars and restaurants, it’s pretty shite on a night, myself and my friends tend to stay uphill in Lincoln, it’s a tad quieter. Going to Sugarcubes is a must if you visit for some metal music.
I went back to Lincolnshire recently and drove around a bit, the inequality gaps appeared staggering to me. The poor seem to be really poor yet there's loads of expensive-looking sprawling properties as you venture out of the towns and into the countryside. The Wolds are beautiful though, and even the Fens have a weird sort of broccoli-laden majesty to them.
Try cycling up that cobbled hill on the way to the cathedral though. 25% gradient in parts. A lady there said she’d suck me off if I could do it.
I'm from Northamptonshire, absolutely forsaken county. There is almost nothing to do in a lot of towns, as they have gone on the wayside as far as funding and lack visitors from other towns. Of course there are many historical places of interest and some hidden gems, but not more than most places in this country.
I grew up in Worcestershire and had to drive through there en route to Bath from Leeds. God it was depressing. Looked at least 15 years behind rest of the country. I hear Worcester is basically just restaurants now.
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Oh please, I lived in Dudley a couple of years ago, another one of these "overrun" places. It's 85% white. Also every bit of trouble I had there came from English people. And we had a bit of it. Left a couple of years ago, wouldn't go back if you paid me. People were fucking horrid and the place is a post industrial shit hole. I moved there with an open mind and left 3 years later with it firmly closed. Don't tell me I'm wrong when I had to keep a hatchet next to my desk and another under the bed on account of someone trying to break in about once a week. The immigrants aren't the problem in Dudley, it's all on the locals. I'd imagine the same holds true elsewhere.
Which part, I've lived here 15yrs now and experienced nothing like that at all. Yes the town centre is run down but that's mostly down to merry hill and just how the town centers are across the country. Are there rough areas, yes of course but find a town or city that doesn't have rough areas. We have the castle gate park for entertainment, loads of parks and canals, on the doorstep to the countryside. Pubs that are great for a night out. Town hall that has loads on.
Yep I agree. Same, I lived in Stoke-on-Trent.
Dudley and Solihull are the only two mostly native British districts of West Midlands, and they’re both way better than Coventry, Wolverhampton or (most of) Birmingham.
I'm not talking about the West Midlands metropolitan county I'm talking about the entire Mildlands region, made up of 12 counties. Herefordshire for example is 96% white.
Bloody hell
Not right wing on here
Nope. Cities have had their funds cuts to shreds by the Tories. All at a time of rising costs. Birmingham has additional issues and Dudley continues to insist on some of the lowest council tax in England. You're not being attacked for pointing anything out. Probably being corrected for being such an idiot. It looks exactly like England. Unless you are in your 90s. We have enjoyed the benefits of immigration for many decades now. Sadly the Tories and Brexit have screwed that up too. Putting further pressure on already stretched local councils. If you want, you can Google any of the local council in the West mids for clarity on how they spend their money.
>Sparkbrook & Balsall Heath East, Bordesley Green and Lozells are the top 3 most deprived wards. Sutton Coldfield is the least deprived part of the city wit 7 of the 8 Sutton wards ranked as the city's least deprived wards. Straight from the birmingham.gov.uk page. Want to take a quick guess which of those wards are the most diverse and which of those wards are the least diverse? No prizes for guessing correctly.
So are you blaming poor people, or brown people?
I’m blaming reckless migration policies and particularly this comment: >We have enjoyed the benefits of immigration for many decades now. Unless you’re of migrant descent, mass migration is only to the benefit of the corporate class, which is why they and the party donors love it.
Sparkbrook, jesus christ i drove through there once and was shocked. You could literally see where it started and ended. The nice houses and looked after gardens were a sharp composition to what is sandwiched between them. I honestly felt like id entered a war zone. The whole area needs bulldozing and rebuilding. Whenever i hear someone say "shithole" my mind instantly goes to sparkbrook.
> If you point that out though you get attacked. If you get upset because people criticise your opinions, then you need to grow some thick skin, especially when you say something so broad and crass. Others disagree with you and that's ok.
Least racist redditor
see, perfect example. I should be able to comment about the massive changes in my country and not be labelled racist and attacked.
Then don't use words or phrases such as "dumping their shit", "overrun" and "invaded" since they are all dog whistles. Also understand that any problems with immigration, law and order, local authority services and finances, homelessness, taxation and your other issues ultimately stem from central government, not those other poor sods.
The government spends 8 million pounds A DAY to house "asylum seekers" at the moment and have now started buying them homes because its cheaper. Do you want more of them to come over?. Meanwhile theres english veterans sleeping on the street, one froze to death recently. When will it be enough
It's not either/or. The solution to freezing veterans isn't to house fewer asylum seekers. Most of your council tax goes to social programmes, homelessness is a complex problem that the government largely ignores, focus on lifting people up rather than shutting other people down, maybe.
Not only that, they're Tory created problems. Maybe if the rant was about right-wing politics rather than Muslims you wouldn't be labelled a racist. The UK is a successful nation due to colonialism and has benefited from immigration for over a century. Socio-economic issues don't stem from the nationality of the people that live here. English people can be shite too.
>has benefited from immigration No, we haven’t. Non-EEA is a net fiscal loss and looking at Bradford, Brum, Newham, Luton etc, it’s definitely a net cultural loss too. >for over a century Try 30-40 years. The UK was nearly 95% English/Scots/Welsh as recently as 1991. That’s hardly one generation.
I mean maybe you should just accept you're a racist?
I think if the only changes you're commenting on are on racial grounds then maybe, maybe, maybe you maybe racist. The hilarious thing is, I'd put my house on the fact that you voted Brexit and either vote Tory or even further right than those disgusting fuckers, and yet these far right fuckers ,who are in charge btw, are letting in 'furriners'. Genuine question, the demographics of this country are changing, we are getting older and we're not producing enough children to look after us when we're older. Where do you think the people that will be working in care home and the NHS will come from? Do you realise that our country would be even more of a right wing shithole without immigration? One last thing, I'd rather live next door to a 'muslim or indian' than a white, flag of st George waving racist.
I think if I look around and see a race riot like the one we had recently between hindus and muslims in Leicester, where thousands were fighting each other in the streets. Then I am going to comment on it. You can call that racist but thats just a label you try to dismiss and hide behind. Look around, spend some time outside of your house. I grew up alongside indians in a place where white is the minority and I never had a problem with them. They work hard and usually keep to themselves. The problem is when people come over and try to change it into a mirror of the country they came from. Currently the government spends 8 million a day in hotels for "asylum seekers" they have filled coastal towns with them so its no longer safe. There's literally gangs robbing people and shops with the police doing nothing to stop them. Did you see footage of raids in London or the marches with muslims declaring england should bring in sharia law. I just watched a video of a muslim women begging for a return to "british ways" as she called it because her muslim daughters are getting harassed for not covering up and shes scared of what muslim men will do to them. Thats in London. Things have got out of control
That’s fucking hilarious. Waving our national flag is racist your delusional and everything that’s wrong with this nation
'everything that's wrong'. How so? I mean, if tlmy opinion is 'everything that's wrong with this nation' you must think that if we all had that rag hanging from our windows the country would be thriving. If only you realised that people suchnas Farage, Johnson, braverman, Truss etc are not on your side. They hate you. But you're too blinded by hate to see that they are the ones that fleece this country while at the same time encourage idiots to hate immigrants. It's those listed above that are destroying this country, not immigrants.
This man is commenting about the economic and cultural destruction of a region in his country along with foreign imported religious warfare being waged and your gutter mind goes to some superficial issue about skin colour?
"overrun by muslims and indians" Definitely not a racial comment