HOW IT RATES

Formerly the industrial heart of Britain, Brum has evolved into a forward-looking cultural centre. This vast West Midlands city has more miles of canal than Venice and is the country’s most racially diverse conurbation after the capital.

ARCHITECTURAL GEMS

The Council House in Victoria Square is hard to miss, as is Joseph Hansom’s 1834 Town Hall. Neo-Classical St Philip’s is England’s smallest cathedral. The Rotunda is a Bull Ring landmark dating from 1964. Although not generally rated as visions of beauty, the city’s expressways are an impressive example of a pioneering postwar townscape.

WHAT'S NEW

The Beetham Tower was completed last year and offers high-spec, high-rise city living (Midland Heart 0845 0130161). The House of York complex is part Victorian conversion, part new blocks (Quartz 01926 336726).

QUALITY OF LIFE

Pretty good and on the up. Formerly deprived areas are being rejuvenated: the Mailbox is a prime example of the transformation from disused postindustrial space to a prosperous leisure district.

TRAVEL

Such a central location makes it easy to reach from most parts of the UK. The M40, the M5 and the M6 all converge here and the international airport is just a 15-minute train ride from the city centre. Direct trains to London Euston take an hour and a half. Brilliantly, you can pay by card in Birmingham’s Black Cabs.

POPULATION

Currently 6,800 of the 1,001,200-strong population are students. There are 3,649 people for every square kilometre of city and the predicted population increase is about 5,000 people per year, equivalent to a 12 per cent growth rate.

SMARTEST STREETS

Houses in the Edgbaston area sell for about £1.5 million and are only a mile or so from the city centre – Ampton Road and Harborne Road have huge 19th-century red-brick houses.

BEST RESTAURANTS

Simpsons on Highfield Road serves luxurious French food in an elegant Georgian house, with a stylish winelist and delicious puddings. Jessica’s on Montague Road is a relaxed establishment with a sophisticated menu and decent dessert wines.

TOP NIGHTLIFE

The NEC Arena is hosting Dolly Parton and Razorlight in the coming months while the Symphony Hall has a floating base that minimises outside vibrations, keeping the music in perfect acoustic form. The Old Joint Stock is an ornately decorated city centre pub with cosy tables and good food.

EDUCATION

The King Edward VI Camp Hill single-sex state schools are excellent; both achieve 100% A*-C at GCSE, as does Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls. Birmingham’s Building Schools for the Future programme is the largest project of its kind in Europe. It intends to redevelop all the city’s local secondary schools.

WORKING LIFE

The current unemployment rate is 9 per cent, 4 per cent higher than the national average; 31 per cent of those who do have jobs work in public health and education. Work in the hotel, restaurant and distribution sector provides 21 per cent of all jobs, as do finance and IT.

UPSIDE

Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery runs excellent exhibitions. The PreRaphaelite collection is particularly good, as is the Edwardian tea room. This year’s European Indoor Athletics Championships took place in Birmingham this month. Children can live out their Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fantasies with a visit to Cadbury World.

DOWNSIDE

Being in the centre of the motorway network is all very well, until you’re stuck in a five-mile tailback at Spaghetti Junction attempting to navigate an impenetrable mass of sliproads.

£150,550

The average property price in Birmingham

3%

The increase in property prices in Birmingham over the past three months

160%

The increase in property prices in Birmingham over the past ten years

£17.1 bn

The annual output of Birmingham’s economy

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