Birmingham has recently bagged its fifth - yes, fifth - Michelin Star restaurant, with the German Market also announcing its return for the 2019 festive season.

Right now is a great time to live in the Second City, with all manner of exciting events (hello, Polar Express!) and attractions (Flight Club, Legoland, Drop Shot are among just a few to have opened in the last year) to sample.

Birmingham has plenty of positives to shout about, and we thought we would take a look at why we can be proud of the city’s many finest qualities.

So here are 18 reasons Birmingham is the finest place to live in the UK right now - and 18 things we do better than our rivals in the capital and North West (sorry, London and Manchester).

We’ve included a wide selection of things linked to the city - and if you can think of any more that you feel are worth a mention, then let us know.

Check out our things to do in Birmingham page to keep updated and follow our What's on Facebook page.

Christmas Markets

The opening day of Birmingham's Frankfurt Christmas market.

 

Birmingham offers a whole host of Christmas events and attractions every year, with the German market providing the centrepiece to the city's festive calendar.

A sure sign that Christmas is definitely on the way wherever you are is when a seasonal market sets up its stalls lit by the warm glow of sparkling lights.

Mulled wine and hot food enables visitors to get a warm glow of their own to keep the winter chill at bay.

And these attractions offer plenty of opportunities for eating, drinking, buying Christmas gifts and having a great day out with family or friends.

This is where every Christmas Market is in Birmingham this festive season.

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Michelin Star dining

Aktar Islam at Opheem.

It's a high-five for Birmingham - with another new addition to the city's list of Michelin starred restaurants .

Opheem in Summer Row earned its first star when the 2020 edition of the prestigous culinary guide was unveiled on Monday night, October 7.

And all four of Birmingham's other Michelin star venues - Adam's, Carters of Moseley, Purnell's and Simpsons, retained their places in the 2020 edition to give the city the highest number of entries outside London.

Michelin hailed the "progressive Indian cooking" of Opheem chef director Aktar Islam and said his food blended "traditional techniques with a modern outlook".

The guide said: "There’s no denying this large, modern Indian restaurant makes quite a statement – and not just in its bold decorative style.

"Aston-born chef-owner Aktar Islam uses recipes from across India as well as his own family’s favourites to produce visually arresting dishes with distinct, defined flavours."

Manchester, in contrast, has just one starred restaurant - the newly-listed Mana giving it its first entry for 40 years.

Non-Michelin Star dining

Birmingham is blessed with some top notch restaurants and we have to say we have tried a fair few over the past few years.

More keep arriving and it can be hard to know which one is best for you or where to book a table.

In a city with several fine dining eateries as well as places serving cuisines covering over 30 countries all over the world, it's safe to say we've got a decent choice of places to eat.

But if you're craving inspiration for the next time you head out to dinner, these are the 50 restaurants we reckon Birmingham should boast about.

We’ve been strict with the criteria, leaving out the multitude of cafes, pubs and bars serving fantastic food (as well as the stacks of superb street food enterprises) to focus purely on the restaurants.

How many have you tried? Check here.

Canals

Digbeth area of Birmingham, in Fazeley Street, looking down the canal

 

Birmingham has 35 miles of canal compared with the 26 in Venice.

And the entire Birmingham Canal Navigations system - a network of waterways connecting Birmingham and the Black Country - has 114 miles of waterways, though that's less than the 174 miles it had at its peak in the 18th century.

More cubic metres of water flow through Birmingham's canals than any other city in the world.

Birmingham’s timeless city centre network of canals offers a great day out for all of the family.

You can walk along the towpaths, sit out in bars admiring the views or even go sailing to enjoy the open water.

Diversity

Birmingham is the most culturally mixed city in the UK, with 33.3 per cent non-white according to 2007 figures, compared with London’s 30.7 per cent.

Outside London, Birmingham has the UK's largest Muslim, Sikh and Buddhist communities, the second largest Hindu community and the seventh largest Jewish community.

The city's Sikh celebrations of Vaisakhi are the largest in Europe.

TV and radio

The last Peaky Blinders Birmingham premiere at the Mailbox

 

In 1922, Birmingham became the first UK city outside London to have a BBC radio service and in 1949 Birmingham also became the first UK city outside London to have a BBC television service.

The city has a long history of television production, with many shows recorded in studios in Birmingham or filmed on location in the city, while others have been produced here but filmed elsewhere.

Among the programmes to come from Birmingham are Doctors, Hustle, Crossroads, Boon, New Faces, Spitting Image, Pot Black and Tiswas, plus the game shows The Golden Shot, Bullseye and Blockbusters.

In addition, The Archers, the world’s longest running radio soap, is recorded in Birmingham for BBC Radio 4.

In the Mailbox, have a go at presenting the news or making a weather bulletin, take a selfie with Doctor Who’s Tardis, see BBC WM and BBC Asian Network live on air and take a touchscreen tour of the drama studio where The Archers is recorded.

There are also exhibitions about BBC programmes and you can join in with children’s activities during school holidays.

It’s on level 7 of The Mailbox, which has lift access, and is open seven days a week.

There are often free exhibitions at The Mailbox that are well worth a look too.

Find out more here.

Cillian Murphy as Peaky Blinders' character Tommy Shelby - holding a rifle in a promotional shot for Series Four in 2017
Cillian Murphy as Peaky Blinders' character Tommy Shelby - holding a rifle in a promotional shot for Series Four in 2017

And of course, there's Peaky Blinders, the television drama set in Birmingham after the First World War.

It follows the Peaky Blinders criminal gang, so called because of the hidden razor blades concealed in their caps which turned the headgear into weapons.

First broadcast in September 2013 the series included Cillian Murphy and Sam Neill in the cast, with Tom Hardy and Charlotte Riley added to the cast for season two, Paddy Considine starring in season three, and Adrien Brody and Sam Claflin roped in for seasons four and five respectively.

Trees

Cannon Hill Park is one of Birmingham's most beautiful spots.

 

Birmingham has "nearly 600 parks and public open open spaces" according to the city council, compared with the 400 in Paris.

Nick Grayson, climate change and sustainability manager at Birmingham City Council, gave a more exact number when he told The Guardian that Birmingham had 571 parks, more than 3,500 hectares of public accessible space, and 250 miles of urban brooks and streams.

Birmingham City Council reckons there are six million trees in the city. The 2,400-acre Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield is the largest urban park in Europe and the largest outside a capital city.

Shopping - til you drop

Perfect for a selfie: The Bullring bull - a great photo for after the run
Perfect for a selfie: The Bullring bull - a great photo for after the run

 

The Bullring is a retail complex in Birmingham city centre with more than 160 stores and 40 restaurants over four floors, making it one of the largest shopping centres in Europe.

It began as a market in medieval times, with the first mall - The Bull Ring Centre - opening in 1964.

That was replaced by a new development, just called Bullring, in 2003.

The site includes a landmark Selfridges - with a curved exterior covered in aluminium discs - and the fourth largest Debenhams in the UK, as well as a famous bronze bull sculpture known as The Guardian.

Elsewhere, in the Black Country you'll find Merry Hill, and down the M6 there is Resorts World, with a new Bicester Village-style shopping destination opening in Cannock too!

And the Jewellery Quarter area of Birmingham is home to Europe's largest concentration of businesses involved in the jewellery trade.

Around 40 per cent of British jewellery is made in this area. There are more than 100 independent specialist retailers and makers - and you can get bespoke gifts commissioned on site with huge savings on high street prices.

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This popular and trendy area includes galleries, restaurants, shops and other attractions includng the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter and two historic cemeteries (Key Hill and Warstone Lane) where famous figures are buried. There's also the Pen Museum marking the history of the city as the centre of the global pen manufacturing trade in the 19th century.

At the centre of this shopping atea is the Chamberlain Clock, put up in 1903 to mark Joseph Chamberlain's tour of South Africa after the end of the Second Boer War. Chamberlain, who lived in the Jewellery Quarter and helped local jewellers by campaigning to abolish the Plate Duties tax, made his career in the city as a screw manufacturer and a city mayor before becoming President of the Board of Trade, Secretary of State for the Colonies and Leader of the Opposition in the Commons.

At the Custard Factory, meanwhile, you'll find cool events, movies, cafes, independent shopping, and offices!

Set in 15 acres of beautifully restored Victorian Factories, just five minutes walk from the Bullring, it is the heart of Birmingham’s buzzing creative and digital district.

Free days out

Looking for things to do without spending too much money?

Family days out can often end up being expensive.

But there are plenty of things to do in Birmingham - or not too far away - where there is no admission charge so you don't have to spend a single penny to get in.

They include museums, parks and gardens.

So it's perfectly possible to do Brum on a budget when you are trying to find things to do at weekends, bank holidays and school holidays.

Here’s our updated guide to free things to do and places to go.

Man-made beaches

Kalia Smith, 18 months, with parents Louise and Kyle Smith at a previous Solihull beach event
Kalia Smith, 18 months, with parents Louise and Kyle Smith at a previous Solihull beach event

 

Every year, a number of man-made beaches pop up in and around Birmingham. And most of them are free.

They include the Costa del Solihull urban beach at the Touchwood shopping centre in Solihull, which runs through the summer holidays.

Another popular option is the beach at Bosworth Water Park at Market Bosworth, Nuneaton, which is free entry, you just pay £2 to £2.50 for parking.

The 50-acre parkland site features 20 acres of lakes and lagoons for boating, fishing and windsurfing. There are lovely walks and a cafe with a view across the Blue Lagoon.

You can also go paddling, build a sandcastle, play on the pirate adventure playground or enjoy a round of crazy golf.

Walking tours

Huge turn out at the Birmingham Shine Walk, which was raising awareness and money for Cancer Research

 

There are free walking tours of Birmingham offered by two resident Brummies running an independent social enterprise.

Real Birmingham runs the tours on selected Saturdays from 10.30am to 12.30pm.

It's chance to discover the unique history and culture of England's second city on a fun, friendly and free walking tour.

From the birth of heavy metal to the city's rise as the 'workshop of the world', you can get an insight into what the walk organisers call "one of the world's most misunderstood cities."

More info at the Real Birmingham website

Gardens

Purple reign... the magnificent garden at Aston Hall
Purple reign... the magnificent garden at Aston Hall

 

There is an admission charge to enter the Aston Hall main building - but the café and gardens are FREE to visit and are open during Aston Hall opening hours.

The attraction is open Tuesday to Sunday, and Bank Holiday Mondays, from 11am to 1pm from March 30 to November 4. It's closed when Aston Villa are playing at home.

Admission to the hall is £8 for adults, £3 for children and £6 for concessions.

The visitor centre, cafe and gardens are FREE to visit and are open during Soho House opening hours.

Soho House was the home of industrialist and entrepreneur Matthew Boulton and has been restored to reflect the style of the late Georgian period.

Boulton had a nearby factory making buttons, buckles, clocks, vases and tableware - and where the steam engine was invented in collaboration with engineer James Watt.

St Paddy's Day

Birmingham's St Patrick's Day Parade is the third biggest in the world, with more than 80,000 people turning out to celebrate the occasion.

New York boasts the world’s biggest St Patrick’s Day parade, with 150,000 people marching, while Dublin’s parade takes second position.

Birmingham has a large Irish community - dating back to the Industrial Revolution when Irish people moved here to work in construction and factories - and is estimated to have the largest Irish population in the UK. The city has the UK’s only Irish Quarter, centred on Digbeth.

A trip to the flicks

The Electric Cinema in Station Street, Birmingham City centre.
The Electric Cinema in Station Street, Birmingham City centre.

 

Oscar Deutsch, born in Balsall Heath and the son of a scrap metal dealer, opened the first ever Odeon cinema in Perry Barr in 1930. He had previously opened a cinema in Brierley Hill, Dudley borough, two years earlier but the Perry Barr cinema was the first under the Odeon brand.

Star City - for a period of time - boasted the UK’s largest cinema complex with 30 screens, which was later reduced to 25.

Six screens are devoted to Asian films, making this the largest Bollywood movie centre in Europe.

The Star City complex also boasts the UK’s largest casino with 40 gaming tables.

The Giant Screen cinema at Millennium Point has now closed, but for a time, was the largest screen in the Midlands (72ft wide, 40ft high) and the second largest in the UK.

And the city's Electric Cinema is the oldest working cinema in the UK, too.

Traffic and travel

 

As well as its famous waterways, Birmingham is home to the Gravelly Hill interchange, better known as Spaghetti Junction and probably the best known motorway junction in the UK. The nickname Spaghetti Junction was coined by journalists on the Birmingham Mail. The M6 passes through Birmingham on the Bromford Viaduct, which at 5,600m is the the longest bridge in the UK.

Birmingham was also the terminus for both of the world's first two long-distance railway lines - the 82-mile Grand Junction Railway of 1837 and the 112-mile London and Birmingham railway of 1838.

Birmingham's New Street station is the busiest train station in the UK outside London and a national hub for CrossCounty, the biggest long-distance rail network in Britain.

In addition, the Number 11 outer circle bus routes are said to be the longest urban bus routes in Europe, reaching a length of 26 miles.

Literary classics

JRR Tolkien drew inspiration from his surroundings in what is now Moseley.

 

Acclaimed author J.R.R Tolkien spent his childhood in Birmingham (living variously in Kings Heath, Hall Green, Rednal and Edgbaston), with Sarehole Mill, Moseley Bog, Perrott’s Folly, Edgbaston Waterworks tower and the nearby Lickey Hills among the many influences on his famous works Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit.

Famous novelist Charles Dickens gave the first public performance of A Christmas Carol in Birmingham Town Hall in December 1853, 10 years after its publication. He performed it over three and a quarter hours in front of a crowd of 2,000 local people - taking only a 10-minute break for a quick swig of beef tea.

It’s said a Victorian man, thought to be the ghost of Dickens himself, can still be seen sitting in the empty hall, in the gallery or strolling along the corridors. The figure was once approached by a member of staff only to vanish before their eyes.

Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of fictional detective Sherlock Holmes, lived and worked in Aston for several months each year from 1879 to 1882. He was working as a pharmacy assistant in the breaks between his studies at Edinburgh University.

Birmingham's Sherlock Street - where Doyle is said to have bought a violin - and the surname of Birmingham printer John Baskerville were obvious influences on his later literary works, with the first Sherlock Holmes story (A Study in Scarlet) published in 1886 and The Hound of the Baskervilles appearing in 1901. Doyle’s time here is commemorated by a blue plaque on the building on the site of his former home at 63, Aston Road North.

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The Reverend Wilbert Vere Awdry, creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, was a curate at King’s Norton, Birmingham, from 1940 to 1946. While living here in 1943, he invented stories featuring trains - based on his experiences hearing the engines puffing along the railway line at Kings Norton - to entertain his son during a bout of measles.

In 1945, Awdry wrote his first book featuring his locomotive characters, then he made a model train for his son and decided to call it Thomas. His son wanted to hear stories about Thomas, and these were published in his book Thomas the Tank Engine in 1946.

Inventions

Of the 4,000 inventions copyrighted in the UK a year, 2,800 come from the Birmingham area. Peter Colegate of the Patent Office said: "Every year, Birmingham amazes us by coming up with thousands of inventions. It is impossible to explain but people in the area seem to have a remarkable ability to come up with, and have the dedication to produce, ideas."

Among the gadgets to come from Birmingham are the photocopier, smoke detector, household vacuum cleaner and mass spectrometer.

It was in 1856 that Alexander Parkes created celluloid, the first man-made plastic. In 1920, Charles Henry Foyle invented the folding carton and in 1929, Brylcream was created by County Chemicals at the Chemico Works in Bradford Street, Birmingham.

And it was the Birmingham chemist Joseph Priestley who discovered oxygen in August 1774.

Birmingham surgeon John Wright experimented with electricity in his spare time and discovered a process for coating metal objects in gold and silver. Wright’s associates George Elkington and Henry Elkington were awarded the first patents for electroplating in 1840. These two founded the electroplating industry in Birmingham and the technique spread across the world.

The world’s first pneumatic tyre was made by Dunlop in Birmingham, in 1888, by John Boyd Dunlop. He sold the rights to Harvey du Cross Jr who founded the Dunlop Rubber Company in 1889. The former tyre manufacturing plant Fort Dunlop - today home to a number of businesses including the Birmingham Mail - was built in 1916 and was at one time the largest factory in the world, employing more than 3,200 people.

In 1922, Dunlop invented a tyre that lasted three times longer than any other, and Dunlop tyres have helped many drivers and their cars to victory at the Grand Prix, Le Mans, Formula 1 and British and world speed records.

It was Birmingham engineer William Murdoch (sometimes written as Murdock) who discovered the use of gas for lighting. Murdoch had come down to the city from Scotland in 1777, walking the 300 miles on foot, and found work with steam engine manfucturer James Watt. He lived in Birmingham for much of the rest of his life but also spent time in Cornwall helping maintain the steam engines that pumped water from the tin mines. It was in 1792 that he discovered gas lighting and lit his Cornish residence with gas - this has been claimed to be the first house in the world to have gas lighting, though Archibald Cochrane, ninth Earl of Dundonald, had lit his family estate with gas a few years earlier, in 1789.

In 1798, Murdoch used gas to provide internal lighting for Birmingham's Soho Foundry - a factory making steam engines - and in 1802 he lit the outside of the building in a public display that amazed local residents.

In 1806, Birmingham inventor Joseph Pemberton lit the outside of his own factory with gas, and this eventually led to the first public street lighting by gas, which was in London in 1807. It was in 1818 that Birmingham had its first street lighting by gas, with the lights made in Gas Street. The Birmingham and Staffordshire Gas Company, set up in 1825, opened the country’s largest gas works at Swan Village, West Bromwich, in 1829.

Tap water

Severn Trent say householders across the CV11 area have been hit

 

THE West Midlands has the country’s best-tasting tap water, according to a panel of food and drink experts.

Severn Trent was voted the UK’s top tap water at a blind taste test in a competition held at a London restaurant.

The panel of judges, which included Michelin-starred chef Tom Aikens, gave each sample a mark out of five for clarity, smell and taste.

They praised Severn Trent water for its “clean taste” and for being very fresh.

Sommelier Richard Rotti even described the water as “beautifully pure, a mountain stream of freshness”.

Homes were left without water after a burst water main.
Homes were left without water after a burst water main.

The vote was a ray of sunshine for Severn Trent after one of the most difficult years in the history of what is the fifth-largest company in the West Midlands.Last month it was confirmed the company would be fined a total of £35.8 million after regulator Ofwat said it had deliberately provided false information and given poor customer service.

Just a day before it had been fined another £2 million by the Serious Fraud Office for lying about the extent of water leaks.

The company was losing as much as half a billion litres of water a day from its 29,000-mile network of pipes when it lied to the industry regulator.