Walk down Vyse Street in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter on a weekday morning and you will hear the tap of a hammer from a workshop doorway. Take a short walk from the city centre to Digbeth and you’ll find railway arches covered in murals and warehouses turned into studios. Head north-west to Soho Road in Handsworth and you’ll find a high street that has been shaped by generations of newcomers.
These places look very different, but they write many words, telling various stories; the West Midlands has always been a region that makes things, and that includes culture and trade, but most importantly, the West Midlands isn’t afraid to make communities.
A Region Built by Makers
Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter is the clearest example. An estimated 40% of British jewellery is still made there. The area is home to more than 700 jewellers, independent workshops and specialist trades, and its craft tradition stretches back over 250 years.
The Black Country’s foundries and forges, and the factories that gave Birmingham its “city of a thousand trades” nickname, left a similar legacy. Industry has changed, but pride in skill and in making things well has stayed with the region.
Handsworth and the Soho Road: A High Street with a Different Story
If Digbeth is the story of regeneration, Handsworth tells a deeper one about community. According to Red Pepper, Handsworth became a key destination for migrants from the Caribbean and South Asia after 1945. The same article describes Soho Road as one of Birmingham’s most welcoming high streets, home to many of the city’s oldest desi pubs.
Those pubs are a distinctly West Midlands institution. Writing in Eastern Eye, one contributor explained that desi pubs were formed out of necessity, as workers who had come from South Asia to staff the region’s factories, foundries, and public services-built places of their own. The Institute of Race Relations adds that the pubs were run by South Asian landlords who combined the British pub with the Punjabi kitchen. The same piece describes music as Handsworth’s lifeblood, with reggae meeting bhangra along Soho Road.
The Black Country Living Museum has also recognised this history. It has marked South Asian Heritage Month by looking at the role of pubs like the Elephant & Castle as spaces where different communities, including those from South Asia, came together to enjoy a pint.
It’s a useful reminder that the region’s high streets are not just about artisan coffee. They are places where cultures overlapped, where food and music were swapped, and where communities made themselves at home.
Independence Under Pressure
Even the most welcoming high streets face modern challenges. Red Pepper notes that as rents and property prices rise in Handsworth, three co-operatives (Loaf bakery, Artefact arts centre, and the Birmingham Bike Foundry) have joined forces to build a shared high street building. It’s a good example of local people finding practical ways to keep independent businesses rooted in their neighbourhoods.
Why Heritage and High Streets Belong Together
Here in the West Midlands, heritage helps independent businesses have a sense of place. A jeweller trained in traditional techniques, a pub with decades of history behind its bar or a bakery run by a local co-op all draw on the stories around them. In return, those businesses keep old buildings in use and give visitors a reason to explore beyond the obvious landmarks.
Culture also brings people through the door. Music fans heading to a gig in Digbeth stay for dinner, and visitors to the Jewellery Quarter browse the workshops nearby. A thriving high street is rarely about one big attraction. It’s about a mix of makers, traders, cooks, and publicans who give a place its character.
A Region Still Making History
The West Midlands has reinvented itself many times, and it’s doing so again. But the best chapters are not only written by new arrivals on the scene. They’re written by the communities who have been building the region’s high streets for generations.The West Midlands earned its reputation as the “city of a thousand trades” through generations of craft. Foundries, forges, workshops, and factories turned out everything from chains to pen nibs, and the region’s people became known for plain speaking and pride in their work.
That tradition hasn’t vanished. One of the region’s historic craft districts still produces an estimated 40% of British jewellery, and it is home to more than 700 jewellers, independent workshops, and specialist trades, carrying on craftsmanship that stretches back over 250 years. It’s a reminder that “heritage” here isn’t just something behind glass in a museum. It’s still a working, living part of the economy.
