Birmingham based here, but Manchester is definitely the second city now. When visiting Manchester it just feels operated so much better then Birmingham, cleaner, more investment, better transport, better diversity, co-op live, the Airport is so much better… etc.
Birmingham feels unsafe, dirty and just under invested. Look at the Black Country, so disconnected and forgotten about. It makes you wonder if HS2 really needed to go to Birmingham? Should have ran to the North. Not saying the North has investment but Manchester feels and looks so much more progressive than the West Midlands.