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Best Places to Live 2022
Midlands
Be in the centre of things but still get away from
it all, whether you want a bucolic bolt hole or a
panoramic pub — plus Brum plays a blinder
AVERAGE HOUSE PRICE
£263,000
Winner
Rutland roots
Max and Emma
Waterhouse and
Juno, Kit, Anouk
and Sasha
love living in
Uppingham,
below. Left:
Tommy Shelby
in Peaky
Blinders has put
Birmingham
back on the
mapBIRMINGHAM A
Va va Brum. You’ll seeing a lot
of Britain’s second city this
year — and not just Peaky
Blinders on the small screen.
The Commonwealth Games
will put the city on the global
map in the summer, and new
film studios will add a sprinkle
of stardust to Digbeth, already
the UK’s jolliest work and play
zone, and HS2 is arriving. But
it’s not gangs in flat caps
building empires here —
rather blue-chip businesses
such as Lloyds, HSBC and
Goldman Sachs.
With low-rise suburbs
stretching for miles in all
directions, Birmingham is not
short of houses. So where
should you base yourself?
The Jewellery Quarter is the
city’s most attractive
neighbourhood, with history
oozing out of the workshops
and warehouses in the streets
surrounding St Paul’s Square
in the shadow of the BT Tower
(a reminder, along with an
NCP car park, that you’re not
in 1850 any more). The 6,000
residents have 80 restaurants
and cafés to choose from,
along with art galleries,
smart shops and, in the Jam
House, an intimate live music
venue, and, in Albert’s
Schloss, a venue for intimate
late-night fun. And it is just
1 hour 50 minutes from
London Marylebone.
For something more
family-friendly with
outstanding schools, south is
always best. Traditionally,
the battle of the Birmingham
’burbs has been a two-way
fight between professional
Harborne and boho Moseley,
both with property
premiums. Our pick for 2022?
Kings Heath, one of the city’s
greenest, pleasantest and
diverse neighbourhoods, with
a new station on the way, as
part of a plan to reopen the
Camp Hill line to passengers
in 2023. Kings Heath is close
enough to Moseley to share inMICHAEL POWELL FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES; STPEHEN MCCORKELL; SHEILA HALSALL/ALAMYJAY GOLDMARK*Source: Halifax using Land Registry data
UPPINGHAM, RUTLAND ✪
They say that beauty is only skin deep, but in Uppingham it’s
built into the fabric of its honey-coloured houses. From the
thatched cricket pavilion to the market square, there’s a feast
for the eyes at every turn — cobbled alleys, pots bursting with
bay and box, and immaculate front gardens. Life here is
pleasingly traditional — and not just in November when the
streets are full of sheep and cattle for the fatstock show, or
April when vintage cars gather for the Stilton Cheese Run.
There’s unspoilt farmland all around and the centre is full of
lovely limestone houses. Everybody knows everybody else,
and they all gather in the square with a glass of champagne to
see in the new year. The venerable private school,
founded in 1584, looms over the town like a well-
scrubbed Hogwarts, sharing its theatre, pool and
sports facilities with the locals and getting involved
in Uppingham in Bloom’s medal-winning planting.
Yet it’s not just quilted jackets, friendly
neighbours and muddy lanes. You also get
a rare helping of serious
sophistication, courtesy of a
superior high street and the
extraordinary
Goldmark art
gallery. In no26 April 10, 2022