Aqil tells us how his perspective of Birmingham changed dramatically after moving here from the capital city for his degree.
Growing up in London, I had a very specific view of the rest of the UK. Namely: why would you ever leave the M25?
To my younger self, everywhere outside the capital existed in a strange haze of barren countryside, empty high streets, and people voluntarily spending their weekends in shopping centres. And Birmingham? Like most of the UK, I thought it was a dump. But that’s just putting it mildly.
Now, before the Brummies reading this throw me into the nearest canal, let me explain. I think many Londoners grow up with a certain arrogance about the capital. I know because I’m one of them. You see, London is treated less like a city and more like the centre of the universe. Growing up there, you start to absorb the idea that everywhere else is somehow 'less than'. So, when the conversation about university started happening, Birmingham was not exactly my dream destination.
However, my parents were determined that I move out for university and staying in London just wasn’t affordable. That said, I still wanted the energy of a big city. I couldn't imagine myself somewhere quiet and rural where the nearest thing to nightlife was a Tesco Extra that closed at midnight. If it wasn't London, it had to be either Birmingham or Manchester.
Food was another important factor. As a Muslim, I knew I wanted to live somewhere with a good range of Halal food options. And Birmingham had something Manchester didn't: the Balti Triangle.
For those unfamiliar, the Balti Triangle is Birmingham's legendary curry district, stretching across Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, and Balsall Heath. It's widely considered the birthplace of the Balti, with restaurants like Shababs serving sizzling curries in thin pressed-steel bowls since the 1970s and 1980s. For a Muslim moving away from home for the first time, there was something reassuring about knowing good Halal food would never be difficult to find.
And so it was that I decided to move to Birmingham for university, primarily motivated by my rumbling stomach rather than any notion of academic success or future employability. Finding out that the University of Birmingham excelled in both was a coincidental bonus.
Moving to Birmingham was strange at first. It felt familiar enough to not be intimidating, but different enough to constantly remind me that I wasn't in London anymore. The pace was slower, people were friendlier, and the water was softer. But the more time I spent here, the more I started falling in love with Birmingham's character.
Birmingham is a city built on industry. The Industrial Revolution practically started here, with the 'City of a Thousand Trades' once producing everything from steam engines to cutlery. You can still feel that history everywhere. In the Jewellery Quarter, old red-brick factories sit beside independent cafés and workshops, while Digbeth looks like someone turned an old industrial estate into an art project. Warehouses covered in murals, creative studios hidden behind shutters, independent cinemas, music venues, and photography spaces. It all feels raw, creative, and alive.
It was in Birmingham that I really began my acting and writing career. Through communities like Reel Brum and BYFN, I started meeting creatives carving out spaces for themselves in the city, inspiring me to do the same. Organisations like the MIAH Foundation and Soul City Arts showed me how art could genuinely connect with communities rather than exist purely for aesthetics.
Coming from London, I expected the creative industries to feel competitive with access policed by gatekeepers. Birmingham surprised me. People actually wanted to collaborate. They wanted to help each other make things. Before long, the city I once mocked had become the place shaping me most as an actor-writer.
I came to Birmingham expecting a compromise, believing it was a place you moved to because London was too expensive. Instead, I found a city still shaped by the weight of its industrial past, but never stuck in it, constantly remaking itself with a relentlessly restless energy. Birmingham moves with its own rhythm, expansive, inventive, and self-assured, and in doing so becomes something far more compelling than a comparison could ever be.
It’s more than just a 'second city'. It's Birmingham.
MA Creative Writing
MA Creative Writing student at the University of Birmingham
