12 Ways You Know You're a Brummie

The children’s TV show ‘Brum’, the story of a small self-driven car, was set in Birmingham, and the opening credits see the car whizzing around city landmarks with some of his friends. If you didn’t see the car in your childhood, are you even a Brummie? Some people still don’t know that ‘Brum’ is a play on words on the city’s nickname AND the noise a car horn makes. I know…

Don’t kid yourself. Most of us had their own little emo/goth phase and loved nothing more than buying Famous Stars & Straps t-shirts, new rocks and black nail varnish from Oasis Market in town. Some of us were even brave enough to use its piercing parlour. Yikes.

This is what Saturday afternoons were made for. Sitting around in Pigeon Park – yes, we know, it is a cathedral’s graveyard – with the same faces every single Saturday without fail. You’d occasionally venture to McDonald’s but only to use their toilet.

For some reason, the city centre is called ‘town’ by just about everyone who lives in Birmingham. Whether this is down to Birmingham not being granted city status until 1889 and the name sticking, who knows, but it’s quite an endearing trait.

Despite a message over the Pallasades shopping centre tannoy blasting out telling pedestrians to ‘keep to the left’ for ‘their own safety’, did anyone ever stick to this? Did they heck! You really are a Brummie if you remember using the ramp as a meeting point, and then getting annoyed when people walk in to you. Don’t forget being dragged in to town for your regular trip to Woolworths for pick n mix or the annual visit to see Santa at Christmas.

“Where do you want to meet?” “The Bull?” Just how many tourist photos of The Bull have you photobombed simply by waiting for your (annoyingly late) friends to arrive?

When someone asks where you’re from, why is it that everyone proceeds to accentuate the city name in a terrible mock-up of the accent? It’s not funny, bab.

One for the ’90s school kids. Cadbury World is great, and it’s amazing having such a prestigious institution right on your doorstep, but it gets a bit boring going every single year. That’s if you’re not lucky enough to be off swimming twice a week.

For one weekend in July it feels like every single Brummie in the history of Birmingham descends on Weston-super-Mare. To be fair, we are landlocked right in the middle of the country so a seaside visit is welcomed, but why is it that this place was (and still is to some extent) such a tradition?!

Snobs will be written in Birmingham folklore for years to come and even though it’s moved location, Brummies still descend on the place like there’s no tomorrow. Gone are the sticky floors, but remaining are the cheap drinks and wall of faces. Just make sure you can hack the hangover in the office the next day. If you were hardcore, in your teens you’d also head to Subway City on Tuesday for the infamous 90s night…

Everyone’s been to Mr Egg at least once, based on the name alone. Nightmares of drunkenly eating boiled eggs are far from it; think more kebab and chips with smotherings of chilli and mayo at 5am.

Brummies are known to bash the city every now and then, but if anyone’s allowed to, then it’s us. As soon as people from Manchester start talking us down, we don’t take it lightly. We are the second city after all…