The Second City.

Detritus

Nothing to do with Stroud Green but I though an interesting topic for debate. If we are saying the whole of the uk then I would say Glasgow or Edinburgh. But if we are talking about England then Leeds. Pretty much slap bang in the middle good transport links large population and it's not Manchester. But I am a tad biased. http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/business-26472423

andy

The answer to this question is obviously Manchester. But as a Leeds fan, I suspect you would prefer the answer to be 'anywhere but'.

Detritus

There is that.

Toddlesocks

<font size="2">I would have to say Glasgow but <span style="font-family: 'lucida grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', tahoma, sans-serif; line-height: 28.479999542236328px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">I am a tad biased as well since spent a fair part of my childhood there, staying with my grandparents and going to primary school.</span></font>

Sutent

Won't hs2 have a influence in that. I like Liverpool but probably too small. Nice people in Liverpool

miss annie

I cast my vote for Brighton.

vetski

In population terms, isn't it Birmingham?

gardener-joe

...

Mirandola

Chicago

yagamuffin

If Scotland leaves the Union and HS2 & 3 are completed there will be no second cities, just London with one huge commuter belt.

Idoru

If, as the article says, cities create hubs which boost whole regions, rather than making one second city, shouldn't we actually be trying to build several? 

Detritus

Do we need to build more cities, or should we put more money into ones that are already there? The north south divide is just getting bigger.

Idoru

Sorry, I didn't mean build new cities, but rather build up the ones that are already there. So instead of one (massive) hub in the south-east and one smaller in the north. So maybe Cambridge in the east, Portsmouth or Brighton in the south, Manchester or Birmingham further north, Edinburgh or Glasgow in Scotland and Cardiff or Swansea in Wales and invest in them all. <div><br></div><div>I watched the TV programme that goes along with that article last night and based on what that said this does seem to be a better idea than having one second city. Cambridge features as a success story (looking very pretty and bike filled) due to having positioned itself as a research hub. The population is growing and money is flowing in. The downside of which is that it's getting very expensive. </div>

Detritus

I think you are right about Cambridge it has the infrastructure in place but it's seen as a southern city. Birmingham on size is rightly so the second city, outside of London Leeds has the largest law chambers and as previously stated its not Manchester but admittedly thats not a good argument to put forward.

ADGS

Brighton isn't the second city - it's barely even a city. It's pretty much just London's beach. London's shitty, pebbly, up-itself beach, Hoxton-on-Shingle. I prefer to sit on the sand by the Thames at low tide.

miss annie

I like Frinton.

ChangN4N6

Frigid Freda from Frinton had a fumble with Fred in his Hilton The Imp backfired and pier it transpired Had a hole where miscarra fell through doing the conga. Chang

Sutent

Cambridge is a wonderful scientific hub. The people at the university are well nice. They make complex maths and science so easy. They are supported well by the private companies. Am on my way there noem the hitchin flyover is such a stunning construction

miss annie

I'm going next week for work. Can you see the impressive flyover from the train? <div><br></div><div>Visiting Birmingham and Manchester in the next couple of weeks, I will investigate second city potential.</div>

Mirandola

I spent 9 years in Cambridge and love the place, but it always felt more like zone 6 than a separate city. Manchester, meanwhile, is awesome.

Arkady

I'm from near Birmingham originally.  It's improved a lot, and has some real highlights, but it's still not a place that I would choose to be.

Sutent

@missannie. There are 2 trains from Finsbury park to Cambridge per hour. The faster one leaves at 58 mins past the hour. Both trains stop at Hitchin. Within a dew seconds of leaving hitchin you will notice the train elevating on to new flyover. It has newer tracks so the journey becomes much smoother. Sit on the left side of the train and watch yourself elevate over the north to south east coast mainline tracks. Its wonderful. Enjoy and report back.