Nottingham (city proper pop 800,000) has a rep in the UK for a meh place to be, which everyone foreign imagines a beautiful medieval village but Brits think a workaday town bombed in the war and whose castle was demolished. It's found it hard to shake the reputation despite that it's replaced much of its ugly concrete with local vernacular in brick and stone. Though the kids love it for its student orientated culture in shopping and nightlife.
In lockdown:
https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threa...lands.2226562/
https://www.leftlion.co.uk/media/491...ne-1-of-16.jpg
Not lockdown (but much thinned due to Covid):
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Newcastle (city proper pop 450,000) is more vibrant and has epic, slightly decaying cityscapes like you crossed Jane Austen (golden sandstone classicism) with industrial steampunk and some poundshops and ugly AF concrete. It's world famous for its nightlife, which is what you'd call fun and very messy -you'll also need a translator for their impossible accent.
In a region of deprivation (the British rustbelt), it's had a lot of regeneration since the 90s but is still gritty. Sublime streetscapes mix with sudden pockets of poverty.
Note this is BEFORE Covid with a lack of crowds and many closed up shops, despite the beautiful architecture. The mix is amazing, Victorian Chinatowns by medieval walls and office parks, then scudding brutalism before regency streets:
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It transforms after dark and is world famous for its nightlife, said to be the best in the country for its perma-tanned trash passed out on pavements -badly dressed, super friendly and noone cares, which is unheard of in the south. And they don't have coats (only one person in the pics below). This is literally hell for Londoners.