BIRMINGHAM
Birmingham is the UK’s second city and a major European centre. It is a city of business and ballet, canals and world-class concerts, jewellery and jazz, historical interest and contempo-rary vision; and has a rich and diverse community that creates a vibrant, multicultural and exciting place to live and work. So it is no surprise that Birmingham has been chosen by the Rough Guide as one of the Top 10 places in the world to visit in 2015. Symphony Hall, considered one of the world’s greatest concert venues and home to the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO), forms part of the International Convention Centre at the hub of the UK’s canal network. The Hippodrome Theatre is home to the internationally renowned Birmingham Royal Ballet. Outside London’s West End, Birmingham boasts the highest concentration of live theatre in the UK, including regular tours by major opera companies. It is also home to the recently opened £189 million Library of Birmingham – the largest in Europe. Part of Birmingham City University, the £57 million Birmingham Conservatoire boasts five new public performance spaces, including a 500-seat concert hall, a 150-seat recital hall and a 100-seat organ studio. Furthermore, the new building includes The Lab, a cutting edge, completely flexible black-box studio, and the first permanent jazz space in any UK conservatoire – the 80-seat Eastside Jazz Club. The historic Conservatoire’s new state-of-the-art home is the first purpose-built music college to be constructed in the UK since 1987 and the only one in the country which has been specifically designed to cater for the demands of the digital age. The City Museum and Art Gallery houses the world’s finest collection of Pre-Raphaelite paintings, alongside a major collection of Old Masters, Modern and Contemporary pictures. The National Indoor Arena, the National Exhibition Centre, National Motorcycle Museum, National Car Heritage Museum, and the National Sealife Centre are other visitor magnets while the iconic Bullring is one of the largest dedicated shopping facilities in Europe. Sports and recreation are well served; the city offers interna-tional Test cricket, top-flight football, international champi-onship golf and top-class rugby. Birmingham is also home to over 200 restaurants serving up 27 kinds of cuisine, and has more Michelin starred restaurants than any other English city outside London. Birmingham is within an hour’s drive of Stratford-upon-Avon and the Cotswolds. From Birmingham International Airport, more than 50 different airlines operate scheduled services to 100 destinations worldwide.
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