A bit like part of Birmingham, creating surprise? (8)
I believe the answer is:
astonish
'surprise?' is the definition.
(astonishing is a kind of surprising)
'a bit like' is the wordplay.
'a bit' becomes 'aston' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'like' becomes 'ish' ('ish' can be similar in meaning to 'like').
'aston'+'ish'='ASTONISH'
'part of birmingham creating' acts as a link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may be part of another bit of the clue.
(Other definitions for astonish that I've seen before include "Flabbergast" , "Floor" , "Greatly surprise, amaze" , "Shock with surprise" , "Greatly impress" .)