Birmingham has been transformed from a ‘low-skills economy built on metal-bashing’ 25 years ago to a vibrant city with a host of leisure attractions, says council leader Sir Albert Bore.

The man at the helm of Europe’s biggest local authority says the renaissance of Birmingham city centre and outlying areas such as Longbridge had instilled great pride within the city.

But he said the rebuilding of Birmingham was far from complete, with the likes of HS2 and Paradise Circus set to add to the jigsaw and continue the city’s programme of regeneration.

Speaking ahead of the Pride of Birmingham Awards on September 26, run by the Post’s sister newspaper the Birmingham Mail, Sir Albert spoke of his own pride in the capital of the Midlands.

“I came to Birmingham in 1969 to do a post-graduate degree at Birmingham University. During the four years or so I spent on it, I had the occasion to go out to Israel on an exchange visit and I can remember trying to find things about Birmingham to have pride in.

“Where would you take visitors? You were looking for things to have some uniqueness and there was not a great deal. If you go back to the 1970s or the early 1980s, where would you take people if you wanted to go to a good restaurant, which hotel would you put them up in?

“When you say the Plough and Harrow, that was the only place in Birmingham pretty much. Back in the 1980s, people would have been mad to have come to Birmingham for a weekend break.

“In the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, Birmingham’s unemployment was 25 per cent and in some parts of the city it was 50 per cent. 200,000 jobs were lost in less than 10 years.

“Back in the 1970s and 80s we had a low skills economy based on metal-bashing. What we had to do as a city was not just about investing in the physical fabric, there had to be investment in skills.”

Sir Albert said pride in Birmingham had shifted from its renown as a manufacturing base to its regeneration with the development of the ICC, the Bullring, hotels, restaurants and other facilities.

“People were proud of Birmingham because of what it made – and it made it for the world. Birmingham’s pride was around manufacturing.

“What you have today is a very, very different city. There is also a pride in Birmingham as a physical place – it is not just the city centre, there is an experience for visitors and residents alike.

“You can take visitors by the canalside and stop at a canal bar for a drink. There is now a pride in the city because of what Birmingham has to offer residents and visitors alike.”

Sir Albert said the city council’s decision to build the International Convention Centre had proved a catalyst for the city’s growth.

“When the ICC was built, we had a torrid time at the city council. The decision over the ICC was taken with a fairly narrow majority. There was dissent from both the Labour group and the Tory group.

“There was hostility to the ICC. Some said it was a white elephant. People said ‘we are about making things, stamping out metal.’ There was criticism across all parties.

“But from 1991, very shortly, the mood changed.

“People were seeing transformation in front of their very eyes.

“The decision on the ICC was taken when the mentality of Birmingham was all about ‘you want something made, we will make it in whatever numbers you want.’ We had a can-do attitude, a bloody good attitude.

“But the ICC was about changing that attitude and starting to develop leisure facilities, restaurants etc.”

Sir Albert said the formation of the Birmimgham Alliance – Land Securities, Hammerson and Henderson Global Investors – had helped city centre retail and the redevelopment of the Bullring.

“We had people pulling out of Birmingham city centre. They were fighting each other, driving rents down. Birmingham City Council brought them together and banged their heads together They formed the Alliance and came together.

“The Bullring became a visitor attraction. There was a pride in what was happening. The ICC and the Birmingham Alliance was something to take pride in.

“We are now the youngest city in Europe, a young city that is learning skills. We have other things to make the city attractive – good schools, good housing, lots of leisure attractions. Brindleyplace became a catalyst and a model of regeneration.”

Sir Albert said further development lay ahead, with the likes of HS2, Paradise Circus and the completion of New Street Station.

“New Street Station, when it is completed next year, will not have its equivalent anywhere in the UK. This city has not stopped moving forwards for the past 30 years and there is a lot more to come.”

He said the city had been the target of some unfair brickbats over the Trojan Horse controversy and children’s services.

“In some ways, we have been unfairly singled out. Many of these problems are also being found in other cities. Maybe the criticism we have taken was unjust in its ferocity.

“There is also a perception issue. People still talk about Queen Victoria drawing the curtains of the train as it passed through the Black Country.

“But there are loads of things for people to take pride in and I think that that pride is out there.

“We have seen the transformation of Birmingham but it is not finished – it will not be finished for a long time.”