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Birmingham was once famous as a ‘City of a Thousand Trades’ producing everything from pens, buckles, buttons, jewellery and guns…..to chocolate. Our Five for Friday looks at five such industries still proud to be flying the flag for Birmingham.
We simply had to start with the chocolate.
John Cadbury, in 1824, opened his grocer shop on Bull Street in Birmingham City Centre, selling a range of products as well as expensive cocoa. Over the decades it has retained and increased business levels, with Cadbury World in Bournville now providing a major family attraction, whilst still produces chocolate today in its Bournville factory.
Birmingham back to back houses
The Birmingham Back to Backs which were built in the 18th century are the last surviving court of back-to-back houses in Birmingham and they are examples of the thousands of similar houses that were built, literally back to back and are now operated as a museum by the National Trust.
Today the Jewellery Quarter produces 40% of the all the jewellery made in the UK from ear rings to bracelets and has since the 18thCentury. Not just Jewellery has been produced in area…Surprisingly, in the 18thcentury Birmingham could claim with pride that 75% of everything written in the world at the time was written with a ‘Birmingham’ pen. Today collections are exhibited at the critically-acclaimed
The Newman Brothers, brass founders and metal coffin fittings manufacturers, moved into the works in 1894 and produced some of the finest coffin furniture in the world that was used in the funerals for Sir Winston Churchill, Joseph Chamberlain and Diana, Princess of Wales.
HP Sauce Factory
The HP sauce factory used to be based in Aston and it was the best-selling brand of brown sauce in the UK in 2005, with 73.8% of the retail market.
Birmingham has many other historical places of interest, still symbols of pioneering industries of their time, to find other attractions that may interest you, please visit http://visitbirmingham.com/
