BIRMINGHAM’S claim to fame used to be its residents’ joke accent and its collection of curry houses. Now, after a rapid and determined process of reinvention, England’s second city is less laughing stock, more desirable destination.

The city’s Victorian fathers bestowed an excellent infrastructure. The canals, parks and period buildings that once lay forgotten behind flyovers are now being revived as creative living and working districts. One, the Custard Factory area near Digbeth, is an expanding warren of bars, fashion workshops and dance studios. In the 250-year-old Jewellery Quarter, four residential developments (three new, one, Square on the Square, a conversion of a former gentleman’s club) have sprung up.

New apartment blocks are everywhere, and house prices have jumped 160 per cent in ten years, according to the Halifax.

The Mailbox area, formerly the Royal Mail’s sorting office, has had a £150million revamp as a canal-side leisure complex including Harvey Nichols, Emporio Armani, a Malmaison hotel and the BBC offices. Residential schemes include Holiday Wharf, with penthouses overlooking the canal, and the £40 million PostBox complex. Finally, construction has just started on The Cube, a futuristic amalgam of flats, offices, shops, bars and a rooftop restaurant to rival the city’s two existing Michelin-starred eateries, Jessica’s and Simpsons.

Old landmarks are changing too: the Bull Ring has been demolished and is now a shopping centre topped by the iconic Selfridges, and, after being closed for 11 years and a £35 million refurbishment, Birmingham’s beloved Neo-Classical town hall, built in 1834, will open in October as a high-tech public venue.

FACTFILE

The number of single-person households in Birmingham is forecast to grow by almost 30 per cent in 20 years.

Demand for rental properties is increasing because most people under 30 cannot afford to buy in the city.

The average price in the central Birmingham ward of Nechells is £109,000 and has grown by 69 per cent in the past four years. Source: Hometrack