I come from Leicester, which in the years that I was there was a particularly unremarkable mid-sized city, lacking any decent shopping, no stand-out industry and seemed to serve only as a butt of the jokes of London writers (e.g. EastEnders plot lines).
After I left it gained firstly a sporting pedigree (rugby, football and cricket teams all winning major national trophies in the same year), a shining example of ethnic integration during the riots, a King found under a council car park and then international recognition with the Premiership going to the football club. Since then it has become the COVID-19 hotspot, but still retains much kudos from its recent history. Hopefully the improvement was not just due to me leaving.
Following Uni and post-uni life, I moved to a suburb of Birmingham with little going for it. Described in a national newspaper as Bournville's (of chocolate fame) dishevelled neighbour. It was nothing more than a decaying ribbon development a little too crowded around one of Birmingham's major thoroughfares, but with decent transport links and a remarkable community feel despite high levels of depravation.
However since then it has gained a new input of creatives put off the more trendy neighbouring areas by accomodation prices, and was recently described as one of Britain's top 10 coolest suburbs in a national publication. Which is nice. It is still more than a bit dishevelled, mainly due to the damage cause by Tesco and Lidl knocking buildings down and then doing nothing, and by developers and land owners sitting on assets without doing anything, but if you want great quality Malaysian, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Italian, Bangladeshi/Pakistani food, as well as very good British options, as well as other artisans and activities/displays put on by a myriad of local community groups and people, then my adjacent suburb (not Selly Oak) is the place to go. And still on a major bus route, cycle path and train line as well as road into the city centre.
