Matthew Revell

Telegraph journalist James Hall is unimpressed by what Wolverhampton has to offer of a Wednesday evening:

“Decided to have a night off writing, so hit Wolverhampton ‘city centre’ to see what was shaking.

…

Sadly, absolutely nothing was going on. Part of the problem is that it’s not really a city and it has no discernable centre. The other problem is that Wednesday nights in small West Midlands towns are not generally known for their liveliness. Was back at the hotel (and I use that term loosely) within 20 minutes.”

I’m happy to acknowledge that, if you’re looking for anonymous encounters and a panoply of entertainment choices, Wolverhampton doesn’t match up to the UK’s biggest cities on a Wednesday evening. I also don’t expect gushing praise from a journo spending a night in the city.

What irks me is James Hall’s laziness. The bloke clearly walked in the wrong direction from his hotel, as the only explanation for him believing there’s no “discernable (sic) city centre” is that he failed to find it. It’s a city centre with music venues that are a required stop on most acts’ tours, two theatres, an art gallery that attracts interesting and varied work and many pubs/bars/clubs.

As a city of 250,000 people, we’re not a small West Midlands town. We’re a city with a proud industrial heritage and, hopefully, a bright future. Maybe the explanation for the lack of people on the 14th May (when James visited) was that they were at home with their families, resting before a day of work. Seriously, dude, what did you expect?