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Britain's Second City?

24

Comments

  • The BBC moving to Salford has widened the gap between Manchester and Birmingham
  • Oggy Red
    Oggy Red Posts: 44,955

    Truro.

    But then I'm biased. :smile:


  • sam3110
    sam3110 Posts: 21,260
    I'd say overall for culture, diversity, size and influence then Manchester takes it. 

    Anywhere not in England is irrelevant to this discussion 
  • Manchester 100% for me. For one, Birmingham's a s*** hole and Manchester's actually nice
  • And I bet if you asked people from other countries who they think Britain's second city, I think they'd say Manchester first as well. That is probably influenced by sport and specifically football though.
  • cafcdave123
    cafcdave123 Posts: 11,491
    sam3110 said:
    I'd say overall for culture, diversity, size and influence then Manchester takes it. 

    Anywhere not in England is irrelevant to this discussion 
    what the discussion called "britains second city"?


  • Manchester 
  • Rochester
  • Was Birmingham, and I like Birmingham, as it retains quite a bit of it’s industrial manufacturing base - I like it’s ‘grittiness’ 

    But Manchester has overtaken it now in my view 
  • CafcWest
    CafcWest Posts: 6,167
    Over the years its swung between Birmingham and Manchester depending on when and how you measure it as the population changes a lot ...
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  • Manchester all day long. I’d like to hear one thing Birmingham has going for it. Sprawling shitehole. 
  • Looks like Manchester has the edge on here and I agree.
  • From a Charlton perspective, it has to be Carlisle.
  • AFKABartram
    AFKABartram Posts: 57,825
    edited September 2022
    Manchester, as I’ve been there.

    Pretty much all my UK city exposure is with Charlton away. Am I unusual with that?

    The only UK cities I’ve been in outside of simply going to the game is London, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester and Southampton. And 3 of those were Charlton weekends 

    Liverpool, Sheffield, Bristol, Birmingham, Coventry, Luton, Portsmouth, Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, Wolverhampton, Oxford, Bradford, Cambridge, Colchester, Doncaster, Exeter, Norwich, Peterborough, Plymouth, Preston, Stoke, Swansea.  All those I’ve literally parked a couple of roads away from grounds and been in and out without even seeing a High St. or place of interest.

    So 61 UK cities and there are only 2 I’ve been to (in Wales and Scotland) that wasn’t Charlton related!
  • Leeds
  • se9addick
    se9addick Posts: 32,034
    Manchester all day long. I’d like to hear one thing Birmingham has going for it. Sprawling shitehole. 
    Birmingham had the fantastic Post Office Vaults pub (https://postofficevaults.co.uk/).

    If we play a midlands team and you don’t stop here for a couple you aren’t doing it right. 
  • CharltonMadrid
    CharltonMadrid Posts: 5,091
    edited October 2022
    If we are saying Greater Manchester that includes Bolton, Oldham, Rochdale, Wigan, Stockport and Bury. The actual population of Manchester itself is smaller than Liverpool and Bristol. So in a way it does depend what the parameters are.
  • theeenorth
    theeenorth Posts: 2,277
    York
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,348
    I like Cardiff and Durham (and a few more).. but 'powerhouse cities' they are not
  • SELR_addicks
    SELR_addicks Posts: 15,446
    Uk's second city is Edinburgh. 

    England's second city is Manchester. 
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  • soapy_jones
    soapy_jones Posts: 21,350
    edited October 2022
    London
    Manchester
    Birmingham
    Edinburgh
    Liverpool
    Glasgow
    Bristol
    Leeds
    Sheffield
    Newcastle

    In my perception at least and spent time in them all, albeit a few years ago in some instances.
  • Wiki's page on the question is an interesting read. 

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_city_of_the_United_Kingdom


  • Always been a big fan of Bristol - great medium sized city.
  • Always been a big fan of Bristol - great medium sized city.
    One of my nearer cities - historic and culturally very active but the desire for "radicalism", active promotion and acceptance of graffiti and the almost constant and permanent smell of weed is making it, sadly, less redeeming by the day. 
  • Off_it
    Off_it Posts: 28,845
    I do think these sorts of arguments are hilarious.

    Mate of mine is from Coventry (a widely accepted khazi) and he always says it's funny how when you go outside of London people can get quite fiercely obsessed about whether their town or city is bigger or better than another, but since he moved to London he realised that nobody here really gives a fuck!
  • St Davids
  • Croydon
    Croydon Posts: 12,728
    Manchester these days. Very much capital of the North, far enough away from London to have its own importance.

    Before independence, Dublin might have been considered the second city of the UK
    Dublin one of the most overrated cities in Europe imo
  • Croydon
    Croydon Posts: 12,728
    Birmingham gets a lot of stick but mainly from people who have never been or haven't been for years. Of course there's some total shithole areas but what city doesn't have the same? 
  • Croydon said:
    Birmingham gets a lot of stick but mainly from people who have never been or haven't been for years. Of course there's some total shithole areas but what city doesn't have the same? 
    There's nothing wrong with Birmingham, but it feel quite provincial. There's no feeling of "self importance" about the place, or a City designed to show itself off to the world, hence it lacks major historical sights for a City its size, and when compared to say Liverpool or Bristol.
  • Croydon said:
    Birmingham gets a lot of stick but mainly from people who have never been or haven't been for years. Of course there's some total shithole areas but what city doesn't have the same? 
    OK I haven't spent a lot of time in Birmingham, but anytime I have been, the city centre feels devoid of any history or culture bar a lot of shops, it also feels very dirty and dodgy. I know Manchester ain't exactly idyllic at times near Piccadilly Gardens and the Arndale but if you branch out to the areas around the very centre there is a lot of vibrancy and life in the areas surrounding it as well as lot of cultural history. Outside the very centre of Birmingham it just seems to turn into dodgy suburbs and big roads/highways.

    Again, might not be fair as I haven't spent an equal amount of time in Brum as I have in Manc but I've never, ever heard anyone say "I love Birmingham" after a visit.