West Midlands city named one of UK's worst places to visit is 'unsung' gem, according to travel guide
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According to author Ben Aitken, writing in The Times, visiting the UK’s worst cities for a staycation is actually a brilliant thing to do.
He claims the UK’s ten worst places for a city break - one of which is in the West Midlands - are actually ‘unsung’ spots. He shares why he rates them and what you should do when you’re there.
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Hide AdHe writes: “Last year I discovered a life-enhancing travel hack — city breaks in unsung places. After a string of unsatisfying weekends in the likes of Edinburgh and Rome, I decided to give such hotspots a breather and seek out unfancied locations instead.
“After compiling a league table that ranked cities by popularity, based on stats supplied by tourism boards, I turned the thing upside down and proceeded from there, starting with Sunderland.
“Over the next year I visited some of the least fashionable cities in the UK — and loved every one of them. The outcome of my unconventional adventure is a book called Shitty Breaks, which is a celebration of the underdog, a love-letter to the wrong direction, and a small and imperfect answer to overtourism. Here are my top ten unsung cities in the UK. “
So which West Midlands city was declared the worst (but the best)?
According to Mr Aitken: “Wolverhampton is a Black Country diamond that’s the equal of Birmingham.”
Must see spots include:
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Hide Ad- Wolverhampton Art Gallery, (not least for its pop art)
- National Trust’s Wightwick Manor
- Wolverhampton Racecourse
- The Mount Hotel
- Architecture - art deco to medieval
He said: “I enjoyed learning that the old constituency office of Enoch Powell, infamous for warning of the horrors that would be delivered by a multicultural Britain, is now a social hub underpinned by the local Afro-Caribbean community.
“Wolverhampton luminaries include the singer Beverley Knight and two excellent writers in this paper’s employ — Caitlin Moran and Sathnam Sanghera.”
Shitty Breaks by Ben Aitken (Icon £18.99). To order a copy go to timesbookshop.co.uk.
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