please advise me where this good night life is in Brum? I have the misfortunte to have to go up from time to time as my partners family live in soliholl & I have always found it to be really provincial & behind the times. Esp resturants & bars.

Need more details about what kind of thing you're into...the coolest place in my view is The Medicine Bar at the Custard Factory

The Medicine Bar at the Custard Factory. Sounds somewhat surreal!

Well as mentioned on the cuba thread, I am a big fan of cocktails, but at the ripe old age of 31 I have become a spirits snob.
A friend took me to Mojo's in Leeds a few weeks back ( aledgely Chris Moyles favourite bar, so I should have known it would be amiss...) and I was served up the worst mojito I have ever tasted - two mouthful and I couldn't drink it, the rum was so awful - had to get the bar to swap it for a bottle of corona.) Plus this sounds abit ironic considering essentially I AM a student, but I hate studenty places.
Despite my east-end roots I am an uptown girl these days & like a ponceY-bar / resturant.
I used to go to the Medicine bar in Shoreditch years ago when I lived around there - remember a cracking night with Norman Jay. Is the one in Brum, owned by the same folk?
As for food - if someone else is paying I really like swish pan-asian like Yoatcha, Hakisan or Roka in London + i couldn't afford a glass of water in any of those places on my teaching salary!

Mojito - is that the one with rum and mint? And I completely understand what you mean about studenty places - most are either cheap 2 for 1 dives, or places which try desperately hard to be trendy, but are filled with the most poncy, stuck up undergrads you could ever try to avoid.

Hey Matthew, just a good guess, he really is a big name in that dept, always has press interviews when his research is published. He's very motivated by his research, guessing he will make an excellent supervisor (if you get the funding).

Pea, I've always found the restaurants and bars to the rear of the Mailbox to be fantastic, then there's the canalside and Brindleyplace. The Raddison restaurant (Beetham tower)is fantastic but a bit pricey.
As for clubs, I'm only really familiar with the gay quarter, but the new oceania is supposed to be good, and every1 reaves about the custard factory in Digbeth.

cool thanks guys - hopefully I wont have to get stuck in some Yates in Mosley next time

I did my MSc in Birmingham, my PhD in Leeds and my BSc in Manchester, and Birmingham has been my favourite place to live. The uni campus is really lovely and Selly Oak (where most students live) is the best student area I have lived in as it is in quite a nice part of the city. If you don't want to live in student ville its really easy to find other nice places to live, and accomodation tends to be quite cheap compared to the other cities I have lived in. The city center deserves a better reputation, as its been almost completely re-developed. If you are not into the mainstream bars/tacky clubs Digbeth is a good area to go out, especially the custard factory, and there is the odd really top quality night. As the city is large, with people coming to birmingham for work from every part of the country if not world, I did not get the usual 'them and us' vibe from the locals, where students stick out like a sore thumb, and generally found people to be laid back and friendly.

Thumbs up for Selly Oak /Studentville also, it must house some of the best balti houses in the UK!! :P

I agree that the university is great and especially the medical primary care centre is is very good. Als impressed by how helpful people were.
City a lot better than Southampton..

I did my masters at Birmingham, a lovely city, where I enjoyed every minute in my study and wished I will never leave it. the student accommodation there is wonderful, I stayed at Pritchatts House which has a lovely cocial centre and bar, the University and campus are great, the university is situated in Edjbaston one of the prettiest area of Birmingham, I highly recommend you go there