A Guide to the West Midlands County, Naturally
Birmingham is England’s second-biggest city. Home to the atrocious Spaghetti Junction (the equally ugly Birmingham Library was knocked down to be replaced by another ugly building – before that, books were housed in a beautiful Victorian building, long gone).
It’s one of the most multi-cultural cities, so don’t visit here if you’re a ‘little Englander racist’, as you will be made to feel most unwelcome, and rightly so! It gave rise to some of our best music – Joan Armatrading, ELO, UB40 (named after the benefits they used to claim) and Duran Duran.
It was also home to the wonderful late poet and animal welfare campaigner Benjamin Zephaniah. He called his home city ‘concrete with a heartbeat’, and did all he could to change the perception of Birmingham as ‘benefits street’ to the general public. Make a vegan Balti curry in his memory!
When I left Birmingham for London, I found myself passionately defending the city of my birth. As a proud Brummie survivor I’d like to think that my achievements are a model antidote to TV programmes that depicts Brummies as workshy.
Even though we have a proud industrial heritage to when Birmingham was ‘the workshop of the world’ and ‘city of a thousand trades’.
Dame Barbara Cartland (grandmother of Princess Diana) was born in Edgbaston. Aside from writing romantic novels, she helped design the first aircraft-towed airmail delivery glider (with two RAF officers). So not just pink dresses and heavy makeup!
Green Finds in Birmingham
Sutton Park is one of Europe’s largest urban parks (over 2400 acres) and nearby Sutton Coldfield is also known for its beautiful parks.
The Birmingham Brewing Company makes local vegan beers (including stout) with many alcohol-free versions. It also sells wholesale (including draught) for pubs, restaurants and hotels.
Profits help local charities (air ambulances and people with alcohol and mental health issues). It also makes Brummie gin (by mixing leftover beer mash with six botanicals).
The Clean Kilo is England’s largest zero waste shop, started by a young couple who also sell drinks in the reusable Brummie Cup, which you take with a deposit, then return it next time you’re passing. For food, just take along your own clean jars and tubs, fill up and save money on packaging.
The Clean Kilo (A Zero Waste Birmingham Supermarket)
The Clean Kilo (Birmingham) is England’s largest zero-waste supermarket, founded by a couple that use a tare system to weigh food in your own clean containers
, so you never pay for packaging (which makes up a third of the price in normal shops). Beautifully fitted, the shop includes chilled plant milk dispensers, and machines to make your own orange juice and peanut butter.
Most food is organic and bought in bulk from local suppliers (even the crisps) and they use a reusable Brummie Cup that you can return after use. Alas it has no lid, but you could use a reusable silicone coffee cup lid with it.
Before cooking, read up on food safety for people and pets. Indie shops can learn which plants and flowers are unsafe near pets, to know what not to sell to people with animal friends.
How George Cadbury Helped A Village (from the grave!)
Now here’s a story to make you smile, even if eventually, Tesco did kind of win (as they unfortunately always tend to, same thing happened in Sheringham, Norfolk):
Bournville is a small village just outside Birmingham, built by George Cadbury, a devout Quaker, who invented drinking chocolate, to dissuade his workers from drinking gin (he was a strict teetotaller!)
He looked after his staff well, and built this village with nice houses and pretty green spaces, to give a good quality of life, amid the city slums of yesteryear.
Cut to a few years ago, and Tesco Express opened a store nearby, and applied for an alcohol license. It was refused, because local people (concerned more about glass litter and hooliganism than George’s religious beliefs) opposed it.
So Tesco Head Office went into action, and launched a legal challenge. And guess what? Clever Mr Cadbury had wrapped the deeds up so well, that it became the first store where it lost, and Tesco had to open this branch, with no alcohol. A triumph of the little man winning!
Alas, Tesco got around it by selling alcohol at a nearby petrol station.
Wolverhampton (home to England’s friendliest people!)
If you’ve never been to this city just next door to Birmingham, you haven’t met the friendliest people in England!
Wulfrunians (that’s one to help you win at Scrabble) are fed up of people portraying their city as some urban ugly place. In fact, it’s home to many beautiful medieval streets, outside of the main shopping areas.
Classical composer Elgar was a huge fan of Wolverhampton Wanderers, and would cycle 40 miles from his home in the Malverns, to watch them play. He even composed the first football anthem – no doubt a bit more demure than ‘It’s coming home, it’s coming home, football’s coming home!
Coventry – A Sad History of Blitz Bombs
Coventry suffered terribly during the war, when Hitler’s army dropped bombs on the city in 1940, causing 500 deaths and also destroying the cathedral. At one time, this was the fourth wealthiest city in England, and has the third largest church spire in England (after Salisbury and Norwich).
Home to Lady Godiva, in recent years it became the setting for the successful TV series Keeping Up Appearances.
It was also the unlikely and surprising setting for parts of The Italian Job (the scene where Minis speed through tunnels, were actually filmed in Coventry’s sewers). The film starred Michael Caine in a film set in Turin, but has become known more for its iconic line:
You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!
