Ahh Birmingham... I chose that city to land in when I stopped off in the UK on my way to Germany. My hotel was right across from the train station, and around the corner from a porn shop! lol! I was surprised at just how cheap hotels were across England compaired to here in the US.
In Germany, the city I stayed in was SPOTLESS (again, compaired to America), so I asked my instructors where the ghettos were, and she said "Oh, you'd have to go to Berlin if you want to see a ghetto. Here, this is a tourist region." :) I never did get to Berlin, maybe someday when I return to Germany, a country that I fell in love with.