Intro

Birmingham has a pretty rotten reputation within the UK - based mainly on the awful things done to the city centre during the 1960's. Some of these - such as the "concrete collar" of the inner-ring road are being removed, others, such as the infamous Bull Ring shopping centre have being replaced. If you want to find out about people, you could visit some of the Birmingham Bloggers.

Places To Eat

Birmingham:

• Cafe Soya
• Ikon Gallery
• Le Petit Blanc
• Warehouse Cafe
• Jyoti's
• Sabai Sabai
• Satsuma (Soho, London)
• Shogun Sushi And Noodle Bar

Birmingham plus also has some independent restaurant reviews at: http://www.birminghamplus.com/reviews/reviews.asp

Places to avoid : Little Italy

Pubs and Bars

• The Anchor
• Jug Of Ale
• Market Tavern
• Midlands Arts Centre
• The Medicine Bar
• The Rainbow
• The Prince Of Wales
• The Wellington

http://www.birminghamcamra.org.uk/Pubs.htm

Places to go

Gig venues

• Custard Factory and The Medicine Bar
• The Drum
• Fiddle And Bone
• Flapper And Firkin
• Jug Of Ale
• Market Tavern

Cinemas

• Electric Cinema
• Midlands Arts Centre AKA The MAC
• Odeon Cinema - http://www.odeon.co.uk/pls/Odeon/Odeon_general.cinema_xyz?CINEMA=birmingham

Theatre

• Crescent Theatre
• Midlands Arts Centre AKA The MAC
• The Rep

Galleries

• City Space (Occasional Gallery)
• Ikon Gallery
• The New Art Gallery Walsall
• Periscope
• Springhill Institute
• St Pauls Gallery

Misc

• Jewelry Quarter
• Soho Road
• Wren's Nest

What's on Guides

• See also: venues listed above
• Arts Central- http://www.artscentral.co.uk/whatisonsearch.asp
• Ents24 - http://www.ents24.com/web/whatson/music/B13.html - Choose Music, Theatre etc..
• Fused Magazine Arts & Music listings - http://www.fusedmagazine.com/Events/
• Birmingham Alive - http://www.birmingham-alive.com/
• http://www.solihull-online.com/gigguide.htm - Seems to be mainly Birmingham rather than Solihull, but I'm not complaining!
• Gig Guide - http://www.birmingham101.com/101gigguide.htm
• http://www.heartfm.co.uk/events.asp - Mainly large venues
• Upcoming.org - http://upcoming.yahoo.com/place/Vi0zzpuYA5txvw
• What's on in Brum - http://www.whatsoninbrum.co.uk/

Weather

If you're thinking of visiting Brum, you'd probably like to get an idea of what the weather is like here. This site should allow you to compare our climate with yours: http://www.worldexecutive.com/cityguides/birmingham/weather.shtml