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If anywhere can be described as the first purely industrial conurbation, it is BIRMINGHAM . Unlike the more specialist industrial towns that grew up across the north and Midlands, "Brum" - and its "Brummies" - turned its hand to every kind of manufacturing, gaining the epithet "the city of 1001 trades". It was here that the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution - James Watt, Matthew Boulton, William Murdock, Josiah Wedgwood, Joseph Priestley and Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles) - formed the Lunar Society , a melting-pot of scientific and industrial ideas that spawned the world's first purpose-built factory, the distillation of oxygen, the invention of gas lighting and the mass production of the steam engine. A Midlands market town swiftly mushroomed into the nation's economic dynamo - in the fifty years up to 1830 the population more than trebled to 130,000.
Now the second largest city in Britain, with a population of over one million, Birmingham has long outgrown the squalor and misery of its boom years and today its industrial supremacy is recalled in a crop of excellent heritage museums and an extensive network of canals. It also boasts a thoroughly multiracial population that makes this one of Britain's most cosmopolitan cities. The shift to a post-manufacturing economy is symbolized by the new Convention Centre and by the enormous National Exhibition Centre (NEC) on the outskirts, while Birmingham's cultural initiatives - enticing a division of the Royal Ballet to take up residence here, and building a fabulous new concert hall for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra - are first rate. Nonetheless, there's no pretending that Birmingham is packed with interesting sights - it isn't, though - along with its first-rate restaurant scene and nightlife - it's well worth a day or two - at least.
Birmingham's central restaurants long had a reputation as soulless places which emptied quickly, but this state of affairs has changed dramatically, with smart, new venues sprouting up in the slipstream of the growth in the conference- and trade-fair business, particularly along Broad Street, near the ICC. There's also a concentration of decent, reasonably priced restaurants in the Chinese Quarter, just south of New Street station, on and around Hurst Street. Birmingham's gastronomic speciality is the balti , a delicious and astoundingly cheap Kashmiri stew cooked and served in a small wok-like dish called a karahi , with nan bread instead of cutlery. Although balti houses have opened up within the city centre, the original and arguably the best balti houses are in the gritty suburbs of Balsall Heath , a couple of miles to the south of the centre, and Sparkhill , about three miles to the southeast. Some of these are listed here - all are unlicensed, so take your own booze.
City centre pubs vary as much as you'd expect. The liveliest, catering for a mixed bag of conference delegates and Brummies-out-on-the-ale, are liberally sprinkled along Broad Street, in the immediate vicinity of the Convention Centre, and in Brindley Place. Most of them are decorated in sharp, modern style, but there are one or two more traditional places here as well - as there are in other parts of the city centre.
Restaurants Chez Jules 5a Ethel St, off New St tel 0121/633 4664. Best medium-priced French restaurant in the city centre, with especially good lunchtime offers. Moderate. Chung Ying 16-18 Wrottesley St tel 0121/622 1793. The best Cantonese... read more >>
Pubs and bars Café des Artistes Custard Factory, Gibb Street, off Digbeth. Popular pre-club haunt in a laid-back arts complex that was once a Custard Factory. The nearest club - the Medicine Bar - is in the same complex. Serves good food too -... read more >>
Nightlife in Birmingham is thriving, and the club scene is recognized as one of Britain's best, spanning everything from word-of-mouth underground parties to meat-market mainstream clubs. There's a particular emphasis on special/specialist nights with leading DJs turning up at different venues on different nights. Live music is strong in the city, too, with big-name concerts at several major venues and other, often local bands appearing at some clubs and pubs. Birmingham's showpiece Symphony Orchestra and Royal Ballet are the spearheads of the city's resurgent high-cultural scene. The social calendar also gets an added boost from a wide range of up-market festivals , including the Jazz Festival in the first two weeks in July, and the Film and TV Festival in November.
For current information on all events, performances and exhibitions, pick up a free copy of the excellent, fortnightly What's On , Birmingham's definitive listings guide. It's available at all of the tourist offices and many public venues.
Clubs Baker's 162 Broad St tel 0121/633 3839. Small, artily designed disco-club with a wide range of speciality evenings. House a favourite. Bobby Brown's 52 Gas St tel 0121/643 2573. Chart and retro sounds for the over-25s, plus... read more >>
Classical music, theatre, comedy and dance Alexandra Theatre Suffolk Street, Queensway tel 0870/607 7533. Mainstream pop concerts, musicals and plays. Birmingham Repertory Theatre Broad St tel 0121/236 4455. Mixed diet of classics and new work, featuring local and... read more >>
