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For a night or two away from the kids.
We'd really like to be in the countryside or on the coast, but since I'm using IHG hotel reward points to pay for it, that limits our options a lot. We also need to drop our kids off in Ludlow so don't want to be doubling back on ourselves back South again. 2 hours is about as far as we'd want to drive, and we could do with a nice hotel, so that limits it to the Hotel Indigo in either Brum or Liverpool.
Never been to Liverpool really, no idea what's there, but it's not far from the North Wales coast.
Liverpool all the way, I'm slightly biased as I was born there, live just outside and work to promote cycling in the north of Liverpool and up towards Southport.
Loads to do both free and at a cost, if you want the coast head upto Crosby/Formby on the northern line out of Central station. Dock area is all refurbished and well worth a look too, tons of bars and restaurants.
You won't be disappointed.
Liverpool is more rewarding for a short visit I would say - more obvious attractions. Very imposing waterfront and architecture in general gives it a wow factor that you don't find in most other UK cities. The air of the spectacular. People have unique qualities, as well.
Liverpool.
Liverpool
Despite what you hear it was the capital of culture and the centre has something for everyone pretty much from theatres, museums,galleries pubs, clubs, comedy, fine dining, ferries and the yellow duckmarine! Bit of a beach at Crosby [ gormley statues] or Formby - red squirels etc
I love going to Liverpool for day trips- its a good place to take the kids as well IMHO
In fairness i dont know Birmingham but liverpool is a cracking place
Coming from a brummie... Liverpool.
Unless you're coming down when the German market is on then I would say Brum.
Molls - both the binnerettes love the Pool. So its an ideal place to put in the diary for a visit with the little Mollies. We regularly head over there for days out. I'd recommend getting a ferriiiiiiiiiie cross de Meeeeerseeeeeeeeeey to the [url= http://www.spaceport.org.uk/Pages/default.aspx ]Wallace and Gromit at Spaceport[/url]
You can't go wrong with Liverpool though. Its a great city. Go and see it before Peel Holdings concrete over the entire waterfront! Birmingham is a ****-hole, and a place you pass through en route to somewhere else.
Plenty of places to run in Liverpool Molly!
Liverpool, even when the German market is on. In fact especially if the German market is on.
Looks like Liverpool is looking favourable.
If you do fancy looking further up the coast to Crosby and Formby, our works website has some good info.
www.visitseftonandwestlancs.co.uk
The Formby squirrels were decimated a while back with the pox - not sure how many are left? We saw one at the weekend and people were standing and pointing as if they are now quite rare.Liverpool
Despite what you hear it was the capital of culture and the centre has something for everyone pretty much from theatres, museums,galleries pubs, clubs, comedy, fine dining, ferries and the yellow duckmarine! Bit of a beach at Crosby [ gormley statues] or Formby - [b]red squirels[/b] etc
The Yellow Duckmarine is a bit "rare" as well !
When was the last lime you actually went to Birmingham binners.. me thinks not recently?
For kids - thinktank , sealife center , new museum , cadburys world for starters. You could sneak off up to canncok for a couple of hours too 😉
Unless you're coming down when the German market is on then I would say Brum.
Are you sh!tting me? Birmingham's a nightmare when the market's on.
Don't know Liverpool well so not really in a position to comment, but I like Birmingham, the city centre's being rejuvenated and it has to be said a corking job is being done - it's still a work in progress but it's a long way from being the grim concrete hulk it was in the sixties and seventies. Plus, it's a lot nearer to Ludlow. 🙂 Birmingham too has theatres, museums, galleries, pubs, clubs, comedy and fine dining, and even if there's no yellow duckmarine there's (all together now) more canals than Venice.
+1 for Liverpool (although I too am biased)
That hotel is 5-10 mins walk from all the major touristy things to do. There are loads of museums and the waterfront to walk along. But also art festivals (unfortunately the Biennial is about to end), theatre, the Williamson tunnels, good real ale pubs, Cathedrals, Western Approaches museum.
+1 for Southport, Formby and the Gormley statues at Crosby if you want to get out of the city (you can walk down the coastal path if you want). Also the Wirral promenades are easy to get to.
And you can come home via a walk in the Clwydians or a visit to Llangollen / Pontcysyllte.
The only downside is that parking is quite expensive in the city.
Another Midlander saying Liverpool.
Went for the weekend about 18 months ago. Nice place, especially around the docks. Went to the Tate and then had the biggest (and best Chinese) meal I've ever eaten, slithered out like a snake that's just eaten a buffalo depsite leaving half the food!
We had 4 spring rolls each, what can only be described as a bucket of soup, the crispy duck pancakes we served by bringing out an entire duck and shredding it (not in the 'gnar' sense) in front of us. Then we got onto the main courses!
Parking isn't expensive although liverpool 1 is. There are plenty of car parks on the dock road area that are reasonable. They look a bit rough but we use them. Only a few quid for the day. There's a big one near the youth hostel.
Liverpool.
We were camping in Shropshire once & it peed it down one day, so we headed up to Liverpool. It was ace. Kids loved it. Probably not that important if your just firing up the Molgrips Love Machine for the weekend, but its just a nicer place to be.
When was the last lime you actually went to Birmingham binners.. me thinks not recently?
Actually I went for a weekend there with one of my mates who was doing a placement at the uni, a couple of years back. He despised the place as he said it was a complete and utter ****-hole
He wasn't wrong!
Binners, which part of Birmingham did you stay in? There's good and bad places to stay in all cities.
I think our binners was probebly a bit overawed by the size of our second city and though some shit student pub in selly oak was the main entertainment centre 😉
Very familiar with both cities. Birmingham has undoubtedly improved in the last 10 years or so. Substantial parts of the centre re-built and remodelled.
That said it's Liverpool all the way. Good people, great location (three Graces and waterfront are ace), loads to do, brilliant coastline all around and North Wales within striking distance.
+ if you get bored you can always make the short hop to Manchester. Now there's a real city.. 😉
I live equidistant from Birmingham and Liverpool.
Liverpool by the docks is great, and the Walker Art Gallery is really good (way better than the Tate), China town is ok, there's a good supermarket there. The rest of it is either miles of new shops, or a dump, which is a bit like....
Birmingham, although the new library is fantastic, the Symphony Hall is outstanding, the art galleries are as good as Liverpool's, you can go and see the Staffordshire Horde, the Back to Back's living museum is good.
There might just be a bit more to do in Birmingham... but there isn't much in it.
Your not going to get from Cardiff to Liverpool via Ludlow in less than 2 hrs
Ludlow to Liverpool in 2 hrs is going to be pushing it
Actually I went for a weekend there with one of my mates who was doing a placement at the uni, a couple of years back. He despised the place as he said it was a complete and utter ****-holeHe wasn't wrong!
Round by the Uni is cheap and cheerful-tastic, Selly Oak high street is quite a cheerful place when the kids are about, if you want cheap, decent food where you can BYB, that's our go-to spot. Plus you can go and watch the uni's american football team spannering whichever hapless opponents are up the other end of the pitch, AND drink cider at the same time*.
* There are other, arguably classier facets to Britain's Second City.
Actually while I think about it, can anyone recommend a good curry house, within walking distance of Birmingham New St Station? Good=nice food but not expensive flashy.
China town is ok, there's a good supermarket there.
Birmingham has a lovely Chinese quarter, handy for the Arcadian and the Bull Ring. 🙂
Actually... I do recall having a particularly outstanding curry there. Actually... sod it. I recant everything I've said. Go to Birmingham Molls!!! 😀
Actually while I think about it, can anyone recommend a good curry house, within walking distance of Birmingham New St Station? Good=nice food but not expensive flashy.
Indian friends from Leamington tell me to go to Asha's, might be ten minute's walk from New Street -www.ashasrestaurants.com/
Nice round there - the Wellington is a proper real-ale pub in the city centre, if that's your bag. 🙂
Free museums,lots of great big buildings old and new stuff, albert dock, leeds liverpool canal, otterspool prom,cx race there saturday,mersey ferries,liverpool one shopping centre, giant bike shop, evans bike shop, and lots more.
Brum has new street station currently being rebult and thats about it.
Come to Liverpool, you will have a great time & my fellow locals & I can recommend endless palces to go & things to do! Loads already listed above!
Indigo Hotel in a deceent location as well, close to everything but wont be right on top of night life!
Ashas is nice, right by my office, and opposite the best coffee shop ever, bar none. Pretty cheap too at lunch.
As someone who goes into brum everyday, I'd probably pick Liverpool, but burns not without its charms these days, it's a great city to work in.
Brum has new street station currently being rebult and thats about it.
Birmingham has free museums, lots of great big buildings old and new stuff, lovely waterside around Brindley Place, miles of canals and tow paths, Bullring shopping centre, Specialized bike shop, Evans bike shop (as well as loads of other bikes shops) and lots more.
Like - I don't want to come over all Birmingham Tourist Board or anything, but people are bigging up Liverpool about stuff that Birmingham also has.
Like - I don't want to come over all Birmingham Tourist Board or anything, but people are bigging up Liverpool about stuff that Birmingham also has.
But its not exactly somewhere touristy, freindly, clean, maintained,and easy to get into.
But its not exactly somewhere touristy, freindly, clean, maintained,and easy to get into.
Well - with the exception of "touristy", I'd say that's exactly what Birmingham is. Ok, it doesn't have a big knockout focal point like the Albert Docks, but there's massive, prettily-regenerated ciyt centre that's great if you fancy pottering around shops, checking out galleries or museums, having a stroll along a canal or having a pint in anything from a real ale pub up to a banging cattle market and all points in between, and it's all in the city centre. Maybe I've just been lucky but the people seem pretty friendly (although you're going to be called "mate" or "bab", rather than "hen" or "pet"), it's as clean and well-maintained (especially around the centre) as any other UK city you'd want to name, and it sits plumb in the middle of the country at the end of the M5, M40, M6 and not too far from the M1, with excellent rail links. There's even an airport and everything, if you're bringing the Learjet. 🙂
Birmingham is a ****-hole, and a place you pass through en route to somewhere else.
Birmingham is a great place - actually as is Liverpool. Birmingham does have the benefit of you not suffering from its populace giving you constant reminders about the origin and greatness of the Beatles!
because they are still ashamed they gave us SLADE
FinishedTFY
Surely Macca has been on a one man mission for the last 2 years to ensure that nobody ever wants to hear another note of the ****ing Beatles ever again?
I worked on the design for the capital of culture bid, which was meant to be forward looking, creative, innovative blah, blah, blah.... and it was truly depressing listening to the big cheeses at the City Council insisting that they had a picture of the Beatles on every sodding page!
But if you studiously ignore the Beatles, then Liverpool is a good weekend
Loads of brummies come to liverpool for a weekend, not many scousers go to birmingham...
Liverpool constantly comes tops in polls for best place for a night out in the uk.
Liverpool all day.
The Beatles thing really does get boring, but as someone who drove a black cab for a while, you wouldn't believe how many tourists come because of the Beatles.
Bear in mind that it takes an age to get to and from Ludlow from anywhere bar Hereford by road. Liverpool is over 2hrs, just and while Birmingham is a lot nearer, once past the Bewdley bypass the journey is very slow.
From the Bewdley bypass to Five Ways island shows as 20 miles and 53 minutes as of right now, according to Google maps - that's not ferociously slow, for rush hour, is it?
because they are still ashamed they gave us SLADE
They were the first act to achieve three singles enter at number one with 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones. The British Hit Singles & Albums names them as the most successful British group of the 1970s based on sales of singles. A number of diverse artists have cited Slade as an influence, including Nirvana and the Smashing Pumpkins, the Ramones, Sex Pistols, the Undertones, the Runaways and the Clash, Kiss, Mötley Crüe, Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Poison and Def Leppard, the Replacements, Cheap Trick and Oasis.
🙂
Like - I don't want to come over all Birmingham Tourist Board or anything, but people are bigging up Liverpool about stuff that Birmingham also has.
Sea, beaches, docks, ferry?
More miles of canals than venice. Possibly more human faeces by the side of said canals too.
The midlands has a reputation for being crap, some of it is deserved, but I like it here. The Mrs can't stand brum though, so YMMV
Do you like The Beetles or Black Sabbath?
Sonia or Duran Duran?
Atomic Kitten or Napalm Death?
Sea, beaches, docks, ferry?
Sorry - my quote was specifically with reference to people saying things like clubs, museums, galleries, eateries, theatres and the like. Sea and beach access IS limited, of course - there is Gas Street Basin, where the canal networks meet, which has an abundance of nice places to eat and drink, but there aren't any ferries that I'm aware of. Which is, I think, a point in Birmingham's favour. 🙂