Michael Fabricant

Lichfield’s MP insists a survey that ranked the city 38th out of 57 in a list of Britain’s best cities doesn’t reflect the experience visitors get.

The YouGov study saw York and Bath finish on top while Bradford finished bottom.

Michael Fabricant
Michael Fabricant

But Conservative MP Michael Fabricant insisted the results reflected the need for Lichfield to do more to showcase its qualities to a wider audience.

“This survey reflects the knowledge the interviewees had of the cities which they ranked and most certainly not the beauty or the reality of the situation,” he said.

“When I have taken visitors to Lichfield for their very first visit, they immediately say ‘what a hidden gem’ or similar.

“While many would not wish Lichfield to be overrun by visitors, I think all of us have a role in promoting our beautiful city whenever we can. That is certainly what I do on radio and TV – even if I am being interviewed about something totally different like Brexit.”

Birmingham finish 47th in the list of 57 cities, but Mr Fabricant said local councils needed to think more about showcasing Lichfield to a wider audience.

He said: “It does beg the question of what more can Lichfield District Council and Staffordshire County Council do through their tourism boards to promote our ‘hidden gem’ more widely?”

The survey also saw Staffordshire come 33rd out of 47 English counties.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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Phil Atkins
5 years ago

Perhaps if mickey f spent more time worrying about Lichfield residents rather than tourists then the town as a whole would be better off. What’s the saying “get your own house in order”?

And why this obsession with getting the district and county councils to spend our council tax monies on attracting more tourists? His governments austerity programme means that councils can barely afford to look after the old or children in need.

brian pretty
5 years ago

mr fabricant on the bandwagon again -his government is stripping councils of cash then expects them to provide the goodies

Philip Allso
5 years ago

Well if you are not interested in a Cathedral or a ‘B’ class historical celebrity what else would bring you to Lichfield? Not HS2 that’s for sure. A once interesting medieval city which has (and still is) becoming over developed and offers little more than an expensive theatre, poor and expensive parking and little else. It is a better place to live than some of the nearby alternatives but that is a deteriorating situation. Bottom third of the list seems about right. A half a day should get you around it comfortably. On reflection, the childrens play area in Beacon Park is good and families do travel for it. It would be better with its own parking.

Chris
5 years ago

Lichfield is a good place to live because if you can drive then it is easy to get to other places that do have good shopping, entertainment, and jobs.

Dawn
5 years ago

Hold on there everyone, all is ok in Lichfield. I have just seen the city has been voted the most dog friendly place in the country and we also have the top beer garden in the county…who knew eh. Probably see MF claiming full responsibility for these prestigious titles and rightly so, they would not even have been noticed if not for his constant promotion of our fine city on numerous media outlets.

brian pretty
5 years ago

can you tell me who voted for best beer garden etc

Dave
5 years ago

No Dawn, Fabricant uses Lichfield as a means to an end forf his ceaseless self promotion. Most people in Lichfield are at the very least embarrased by his continual and increasingly bizarre attempts at headline grabbing, witness this weeks cringeworthy video on how the whips office works. If anything, Lichfield won these awards depite of Fabricant, not because of him.

John Dyott
5 years ago

Sir,

I feel I must rebut some of the comments made by Mrs Edna Welthorpe which for some inexplicable reason you have seen fit to publish. The views expressed in her post illustrate perfectly the problem our city faces in terms of public perception.

As a lifelong resident of the city I would say her views do not reflect those of the majority of Lichfield residents who in my experience are largely open minded and honest people fed up to the back teeth with being portrayed as green welly wearing bigots.

This lady is clearly a fully paid up member of the Michael Fabricant fan club which we all know is choc full of snobs and nimby types. Many of whom, not originally from round here, have migrated to the city in their German cars and Chelsea tractors like a zombie army of gentrification.

Concerning Michael Fabricant’s much lauded advocacy for Lichfield I would say I speak for the many (except Dawn of course), with an internet connection, who are mortally embarrassed by the tumescent Tory member’s incessant and mean spirited twittering. A toxic stream of snooty shire racism, anti-EU rhetoric and sanctimonious snipes at the very community he purports to represent. At best tedious and at worst a damaging diatribe we could well do without. As the former PM David Cameron put it “too many tweets make a tw*t. I note that Mr Fabricant himself hails from Brighton. A place generally acknowledged to be a hotbed of promiscuity of which even Queen Victoria herself was disparaging.

With regards to the £7M fiasco that is Friarsgate, the lamentable state of the bus station and the poor state of public conveniences I agree with Edna’s sentiments whole heartedly. Even if pressed with her comments about Bath. York however, despite the inferior quality of the chocolate they produce, is quite welcoming. Though I feel obliged to point that there are many public houses in Lichfield with gammon a plenty.

I should wish however to distance myself from Edna’s derisory comments about the ordinary working and young people of Lichfield who pay a high price for the impaired reputation of our city. Added to which we are all stuck with a lousy train service and face a dearth of employment prospects as captives of fate to the tenure of Mr Fabricant, Mr Smith and their conservative cronies.

I fully expect that dissatisfaction to be expressed in the ballot box in forthcoming elections and implore the fine people of Lichfield and Burntwood to take back control of our city.

John Dyott