England: Height of success

Birmingham is a quintessentially English city and these days it's shaken off it's grim industrial past. Photo / Supplied

There was a time when I was convinced Birmingham was the most glamorous city in the universe. The year was 1984. I was 14 and obsessed with Duran Duran. The walls of my bedroom were smothered with pages ripped out of Smash Hits magazine - pictures of Simon Le Bon and the "wild boys" in various smouldering poses, with their New Romantic gelled and coloured hair, pouting in too much make-up and oversized jackets with the sleeves pushed up to the elbows.

Duran Duran famously hailed from Birmingham - which made the city the height of chic in my books. Yeah, I know, it was a bit thick of me. Obviously Duran Duran's flashy peacocking and loads-a-money behaviour (the models, the yachts, the white suits) was a desperate reaction to the gritty reality of life in the Midlands.

In the 80s Birmingham was a desperately bleak place, the industrial heart of Thatcher's Britain, grey and grim, rebuilt from virtual ruins after World War II. This dour environment didn't just spawn New Romantics like Duran Duran. It was also the birthplace of heavy metal. Black Sabbath are a Birmingham band.

In fact Ozzy Osbourne was back visiting his home town on the weekend I arrived in the city. Ozzy says he still loves Birmingham. I doubt he even recognises it. And I don't mean just because he's drug-addled. I mean that Birmingham has changed so much in the past decade that it is quite a different place now.

Sure, the grimy buildings are still there, trapped by the tortured tangle of ring roads as you approach the city, but the heart of Birmingham has been vigorously reinvented. Inner-city streets have been given a new lease of life, repaved into quaint boulevards lined with cafes, restaurants and shops. Londoners will insist that the shopping in Birmingham now rivals their own city.

Certainly it's more relaxing to zip into the Zara store or H&M in Birmingham's spacious indoor-outdoor mall, the Bullring, than it is to face the crowds in Knightsbridge or Oxford Circus. And the glorious silver-blue, aluminum-studded Selfridges building designed by hip architecture firm Future Systems stands out particularly as a work of art to rival any cool building in any city anywhere.

As well as the ring roads there are the canals. "It's the Venice of the Midlands", a friend tells me archly, and while you might not want to punt along them, the canals are pretty. There's a very good aquarium in the city, too, and the chocolatey lure of the original Cadbury's factory which gives daily guided tours.

Birmingham's biggest drawcard, though, is simply its genuine Englishness. The city has a native charm that London no longer possesses. London is an international city, full of Australian tourists, Polish hotel concierges and Russian oligarchs.

Birmingham might be England's second biggest city, but unlike London it is a true Brit city. In Birmingham you are not just another tourist clogging up the Underground. They are genuinely pleased you came to visit.

At the Novotel we are warmly welcomed in a thick, Brummy accent (recently voted the worst accent in Britain - although I don't know why).

The Novotel is in the very heart of the city on Broad St, the central avenue of Birmingham. It's not quite Hollywood, but there is a Walk of Fame on Broad St. Ozzy Osbourne has a star embedded in the pavers here. So does Slade's Noddy Holder and comedian Jasper Carrott. Duran Duran have one - of course. If you walk a block further down from the Novotel you'll find yourself outside the Hyatt Hotel.

This is hallowed ground for a Duran Duran fan. The Hyatt was built on the spot where the Rum Runner Club once stood and The Rum Runner, as any Duranie worth their salt knows, is the place where it all began. It was 1980 when Simon Le Bon and co walked in off the street one day with a tape of their songs looking for a regular gig. Duran Duran found themselves a residency and paid jobs to boot. Roger Taylor worked as a glass collector at the Rum Runner, Andy Taylor flipped burgers, John Taylor worked as the door bitch, and Nick Rhodes deejayed for 10 quid a night.

The Rum Runner was torn down in 1987 but New Romanticism continues to dominate the pop culture in Birmingham. On Friday and Saturday nights especially the city does a time warp back to the 80s. By midnight the streets are flooded with teenage girls glammed up like Shirley and Pepsi in a Wham video in leopard print and fluoro on the way to 80s-themed clubs like Reflex. They'll take off their high heels and dance around their handbags to Wake Me Up Before You Go Go and Girls on Film.

It is just how I always imagined Birmingham would be. The height of glamour and excess. I may be 25 years too late, but it was still worth the trip.

Birmingham - A beginner's guide

* Get a city street map before you arrive so that you can navigate the tangle of ring roads that lead in and out of the central city. Once you crack the code the streets are easy. Many of the best bits of the inner city are pedestrian-access only.

* Go shopping. Birmingham has all the stores you'll find in London and the Bullring mall is a relaxed indoor/outdoor shopping environment to browse the stores. Go to Selfridges. Not just for the shopping but to admire the architecture - the disc-studded, silver-blue exterior of this curvaceous building is a thing of wonder.

* Chocoholics should definitely go to the Cadbury Bournville Factory - Curly Wurlys and Buttons!

* Birmingham's location in the central Midlands makes it perfect as a starting point for day trips or excursions into areas such as Shropshire and Herefordshire where you'll see some of the best English countryside including Tudor cottages and magnificent castles and ruins.

* Emirates Airlines flies daily to Birmingham from Auckland so you can arrive direct if you wish without going via Heathrow.

* The rates at Birmingham hotels are very affordable. The Novotel in Broad St is centrally located and does a brilliant breakfast menu.

* For more information go to visitbirmingham.com.

Stacy Gregg travelled to Birmingham with assistance from VisitBritain.