This robust city of nearly half a million people has much in common with Liverpool and Manchester. Impressive architecture, a legacy of the industrial revolution, alongside massive redevelopment makes this a must see city. Much of the centre is now pleasantly pedestrianised, with benches where you can sit and listen to the street musicians.

Victorian and Edwardian buildings incorporate elaborate sculptures over doors and windows. Stone-carved heads of gods, poets, scientists, kings and queens peer down from the high ledges of banks and old linen warehouses.