Birmingham is the second city of the UK with about 1,000,000 people. In the past its had a reputation of putting industry over pleasure but not any more. Birmingham has a great shopping centre and an excellent club scene, and its far more compact than London.

If you're visiting Birmingham for the first time or you don't know your way around that well, start at New Street Station for shopping and Broad Street for nightlife. Broad Street has a great buzz to it in summer - the only place I've seen that beats it is Soho in London.

To get to Broad Street by foot from the city centre, walk up to the city hall and follow the signs to Paradise Gardens. Walk through Paradise Gardens and when you get to the far end, you're there. By car, study a map but there are lots of NCP car parks around so you can always park if you're prepared to stump up the cash.