James Tucker in Cov

One of the things Birmingham is trying to make itself known for is its canal network. The canals run through the centre of the city, meeting in a couple of places right downtown. The canals were used before trains to transport goods to and from the factories of Birmingham, and were therefore essential to the growth of the city as a centre of industry. They connect to the network of canals that run across the United Kingdom. Stratford and Oxford are both on canals that connect rather easily to Birmingham.
The Gas Street Basin (right) is the centre of the whole network, where a couple of different canals meet. There are a number of narrow-boats there, and it passes under clubbing district of Broad Street (above left). At the bottom is a boat roundabout to handle the traffic-- something I've never even heard of before.
The canals were private property, and were run by separate companies, in the manner of the railways in a later era. As a result, there are few ways in an out of the network, and even then the entrances are usually tucked away in the form of small doors, or stairs off the side of bridges. As the canals are also lower than the average street level, they form in many places a sort of parallel city you can slip into, visible off the occasional bridge, or down an alley. But, of course, Birmingham is trying to revitalise itself, and the canals are a natural point to build new development. At the moment, it's rather like the Waterfront in Toronto, with cultural institutions springing up beside sushi places and new bars. At the Mailbox and Brindleyplace (left), on opposite sides of the Gas Street Basin, the process is complete, and they are probably amongst the nicer places in Birmingham, if all very new and shiny.
Below is the aforementioned traffic island (outside the National Indoor Arena), and to the right, the canal system heading off into the Jewellery Quarter down a system of locks, and a more low-key development of condos built around them.