'I need to get outta here now!': American YouTuber slams Birmingham in vlog visit to 'grim' city
An American YouTuber sprinted to catch a train out of Birmingham in a desperate rush to end his first visit to the "grim" city in a travel vlog.Vlogger It'sJPS said it would have "killed" him to spend another hour in Birmingham, after his brief walk through the city centre and Digbeth left him desperate to leave.
Among his lengthy list of complaints were the weather, litter, the number of homeless people and there not being anything to do.
On his YouTube channel, many Brummies left comments on the video pointing out the numerous attractions he could have visited or areas of the city he could have explored.
He showed himself running to New Street station to catch a train out of the city and later said he had travelled to Oxford, where he was feeling a "lot happier".
The visitor, whose real name is Joel, admitted he hadn't bothered to research the city before he arrived and was condemned in online comments for missing all of Birmingham's best bits.
He told his near 80,000 subscribers there wasn't much to do in the city centre on a Monday morning, that construction was taking place on every street and it was not a fun place to live.The only positive comment he had was for the artwork covering the streets of Digbeth which he said beat Berlin hands-down.
The clip began with him walking through the Bullring towards St Martin's Church. He said: "Alright guys, we've made it to Birmingham- the city that nobody wanted me to visit but I like it a little bit so far, everyone seems happy, seems like a normal city to me, we will see how that changes for better, for worse.'But as he headed towards Digbeth his mood changed. He starts complaining about not having much to do during the week. "One thing I will say I am pretty certain about Birmingham, other people have told me this and I have already witnessed it, just being here for a bit but there is really not much to do here. It just looks grim right now with how gloomy it is."
As he walked past the Selfridges building, he said: "If Birmingham could be summed up in a three minute video, or a three second video, I'd take a clip of that (points to a crane), there's been construction on every single street I have walked down." After a moan about the amount of homeless people, he then panned the camera around and complemented graffiti. He says: "I have to say this artwork here is pretty top-tier - look at this. That pretty cool, that blows most of the Berlin I saw graffiti away. Most of the Berlin graffiti, you couldn't tell from ten streets down, it was all the same."
JPS also commented on the 'disgusting' canal water where he 'half expects a dead body'. He then focused on the 'tons of trash' he saw. "The parking lot is literally littered with trash, just walking down the street there's glass everywhere."There's rubbish everywhere, all up and down the street, I mean it's a really dirty city. If you treat your city like that, then it says a lot about the citizens really in my eyes, should it not. It's not always the citizens I guess, it might be the council or whatever government body they have here hasn't done good for them but at the same time, have a little bit of respect for where you live ?"Maybe I'm hating on Birmingham but this is not a great experience so far."Desperate JPS then sprinted to his train to Oxford, saying the thought of staying in the city an hour longer would literally 'kill' him.He said: "Birmingham did not have much to offer, I've got to be honest. Sorry if you live here but it was not fun to visit, not at all."
On his YouTube channel, people from Birmingham have been leaving their thoughts and highlighting what Birmingham has to offer:Yasz4300said: "Joel, I'm sorry that you didn't have a very good experience in Birmingham. It's a real shame that you missed out so much such as Cadbury World, a canal trip, ThinkTank, the back to back houses which are very historic and original buildings which have been restored to reflect different eras through time."We also have the beautiful Botanical Gardens and the biggest Greggs in the world. I think that having someone to take you round would have improved your experience. immensely."Sph476 said: "I'm originally from Birmingham and god knows what made you go to the places you did. Brindley Place and the canal network is stunning and full of history, and its right in the city centre so is the art gallery centenary square the national indoor arena."Kaskasificationwrote: "Birmingham is rich with history, architecture and more canals than Venice....you needed a Brummie guide, the people are lovely too."Peterbaker1932 posted: "HI Joel, You should have visited the bullring, the mailbox, Brindley place, a trip on the canals, with it's bars and restaurants, a ride on the Metro, a visit to Cadburys and the Bournville village."Birmingham has so much more to offer than what you seen, we have a vibrant and youthful city. It's such a shame you didn't experience it."