Lonely Planet snub for the Black Country

The Black Country has been snubbed by travel bible The Lonely Planet — a year-and-a-half after it branded Wolverhampton the fifth worst city in the world.

Its Great Britain guide book makes no reference to the Black Country at all and the closest area to Wolverhampton to get a favourable review is the Royal Air Force Museum at Cosford.

The guide, released today, follows publication of the guide to England which did include a few lines about the Black Country Living Museum but nothing else about places of interest around the area.

In this latest guide there are 10 pages about Birmingham, which is described as "an industrial crucible reinvented as cultural melting pot, with the best food and nightlife in the Midlands". Stafford gets a mention as a "quiet little place that seems somewhat overshadowed by Lichfield and other towns around the county".

The city of Lichfield is described as a "quaintly cobbled market town worth a visit to tread in the footsteps of lexicographer and wit Samuel Johnson and natural philosopher Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles".