Birminham
"The Lonely Planet's latest edition of the Great Britain travellers guidebook, "England's second largest city...is shaking off the legacy of industrial decline, and spending some serious money replacing its drab 1960s concrete architecture with gleaming glass and steel." Highlights in the city centre include "a fountain topped by a naked female figure, nicknamed the 'floozy in the Jacuzzi' by locals, overlooked by a disapproving statue of Queen Victoria."
Rough Guides adds that the city's industrial past is "recalled in a crop of excellent heritage museums and an extensive network of canals," despite a "dispirited start" at Birmingham's New Street Station, which features "unreconstructed ugliness."
London
London is described as "one of the world's great, if not greatest cities," by Lonely Planet, which adds "you could spend a lifetime exploring it and find the slippery thing's gone and changed on you." Rough Guides also alludes to the city's size, adding that this is one of the most striking things about it. Not bad for a city that began life as a stores depot for the Romans in AD43. Both books salute the city's multiculturalism and diversity, from markets to exotic foods. We love Lonely Planet's section on Westminster Abbey, which says: "If you're one of those boring sods who boast about spending months in Europe without ever setting foot in a church, get over yourself and make this the exception."
Time Out London has a more pragmatic approach. "London certainly doesn't know which way to look at the moment. Certainly towards the London 2012 development...drawing the eye - and the city's focus - to the east. The city is also looking backwards, enviously over its shoulder to the recent past when money flowed and anything seemed possible. When it looks forward, it does so nervously, anticipating a difficult future of rising unemployment and increasing inequality, where harsh financial realities will have an impact on key areas such as transport and the arts."
Leeds
Identified as being "one of the fastest growing cities in the UK" by Lonely Planet, "Leeds is the glitzy, glamorous embodiment of newly rediscovered northern self-confidence." To sum up, they say, it has transformed from "near-derelict mill town" to "a vision of 21st century urban chic, with skyscraper office blocks, glass and steel waterfront apartment complexes and renovated Victorian shopping arcades."
Rough Guides stirs the pot in its latest edition of the Yorkshire guide by saying: "Leeds is Yorkshire's greatest city. The inhabitants of Sheffield, York and Hull...may deny it, but they know in their hearts that it's true."
Manchester
Much is made of Manchester's transformation in Lonely Planet's Great Britain, although it wasn't always so, apparently. In the 18th century, canals and cotton mills transformed it from a "small disease-infested provincial town into a big disease-infested industrial town." It pays homage to the "world-class museums and heavyweight art galleries" across the city centre and Salford Quays, as well as the "swirl of nightlife".
Let us not forget Manchester United, which is mentioned in the introduction of Rough Guides' Guide to Britain. "Its pre-eminence expresses itself in various ways, most swaggeringly in the success of Manchester United, the richest football club in the world."
Edinburgh
Described as a city of superlatives, Edinburgh's location - "perched on a series of extinct volcanoes and rocky crags" according to Rough Guides - coupled with fine dining and top shopping, make it a must-visit city. Lonely Planet gets positively poetical about the place, revealing: "every corner turned reveals sudden views and unexpected vistas - green sunlit hills, a glimpse of rust-red crags, a blue flash of distant seas." The Old Town is "unrelentingly medieval" adds the Rough Guides, and used to be the home of schizophrenic Deacon Brodie, said to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
But, although it extolls the delights of the city, Time Out Edinburgh says: "...it can't claim to be on a par with London, New York or Paris. Its population and location lead to suggestions that the city's more obvious peers are, perhaps, Copenhagen or Dublin, Helsinki or Oslo..."
Glasgow
If you like your cities unpretentious, Glasgow is the place to be, apparently. Lonely Planet says: "Once synonymous with bleak poverty and grim desperation, Glasgow has managed to turn things around to the point that it's now a byword for style and chic." Boasting top-notch food, live music, a vibrant gay scene and superb gothic architecture, it is set along the river Clyde and, according to Rough Guides, is "rejuvenated and upbeat".
Exeter
The river Avon cuts through the city, which is "buzzing" after "decades of neglect", according to Lonely Planet. It adds: "Bristol might not be as elegant as Exeter or as beautiful as Bath, but the city has plenty of life in it yet." Rough Guides picks out the Elder Lady Chapel in Bristol Cathedral as the place to go to for strange tomb carvings, including: "a monkey playing the bagpipes accompanied by a ram playing a violin."
Newcastle
There's a preconceived idea about northern cities - particularly Newcastle - and Lonely Planet sums up the reputation as being a "sooty, industrial wasteland for salt-of-the-earth toughies whose favourite hobby is drinking and braving the elements bare-chested." It then goes on to say: "Coal slags and cold slags? You may be in for a pleasant surprise." Watched over by Antony Gormley's Angel of the North statue, it is home to the Millennium Bridge - the world's first tilting bridge - and to a whole host of historical gems, modern statues and galleries.
York
Lauded for its medieval history, York pulls in around four million visitors annually. Rough Guides cites top attractions as the historical buildings of "the Minster, Clifford Tower, Fairfax House, Barley Hall and Merchant Adventurers' Hall." Lonely Planet praises the city's "medieval spider's web of narrow streets" and "magnificent circuit of 13th century walls." The guide also sheds light on confusing terms: "Just...remember that round these parts gate means street and bar means gate."
Liverpool
The city centre may have been "an unattractive mix of ugly retail outlets and depressing dereliction" according to Lonely Planet, but that urban regeneration, such as the "impressive, ultraswish Liverpool ONE shopping district" and the restored "magnificent waterfront around Albert Dock" has breathed new life into the city. Rough Guides goes further back, reminding us that Liverpool was the "apex of the slaving triangle", and that though "some may sneer at the very concept of Liverpudlian 'culture'", it is a city "with a Tate gallery of its own, a series of innovative museums" and is home to lots of Beatles memorabilia and two football teams.
Shefield
Despite the "brackish pools of dereliction", Rough Guides says of Sheffield: "once the greatest manufacturer of high-grade steel in the world, (it) is reinventing itself as a vital, modern, provincial city." It adds that getting around is a "doddle" but that using a car to get around is folly because "its labyrinthine one-way system will defeat all but the most knowledgeable local." Lonely Planet picks out the beautiful Winter Gardens, "a wonderfully ambitious public space with a soaring glass roof supported by graceful arches of laminated timber."
Cardiff
The capital of Wales toes the line between modernity (the waterfront) and historical gems (the fort). Lonely Planet describes the city as having "surprised itself with how interesting it has become." It adds that Cardiff has "entered the new millennium pumped up on steroids, flexing its architectural muscles as if it's still astonished to have them." Rough Guides describes the city as "rugby-mad" and adds: "the atmosphere in the pubs and streets when Wales have a home match - particularly against the old enemy, England - is charged with good-natured, beery fervour."
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Posted - 31 May 2011 : 04:26:43
