Watch: What is the difference between Brummie and Black Country accents?

The West Midlands boasts a broad range of accents. They’re often challenging for outsiders to distinguish - much to the chagrin of many of us. Birmingham and the Black Country often take pride in not sounding too much like the other side. I’m here in Birmingham to see what differences people notice.

Chris says: “So I first moved to the West Midlands, maybe about 15 years old. And it took me a while to adjust to the Black Country and even Birmingham accent but there are significant differences. Now in terms of specific words, you hit a time ‘Bab’ a lot - especially in small independent shops here in Brum, but there’s a particular twang about the Black Country but this makes it distinct. Definitely not the same.”

Esher says: “I’m from Leicester, so I think the Brummie accent kind of sounds a bit like home to me, especially when I’m outside of the Midlands. I think the Black Country accent is a bit less droney than the Birmingham accent. I think the Brummie accent is very sort of elongated, but I kind of, you know - unpopular opinion - I kind of like it!”

Julianne says: “I can’t really tell the difference between the accents. They’re very similar to me. They sound quite funny because where we come from, it sounds quite strange. But I can’t really define the difference between Birmingham, Walsall, Wolverhampton… they all sound the same.”