Birmingham Black Country Museum

Birmingham Black Country Museum is an expansive open-air museum that immerses visitors in the industrial heart of the West Midlands. Spread across a former industrial site of canals, warehouses and workshops, the museum recreates everyday life in the Black Country from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, focusing on ordinary people rather than grand historical narratives.

The museum’s streets are its greatest strength. Carefully reconstructed buildings, many moved brick by brick from across the region, form a living townscape of shops, houses, pubs and workplaces. Cobblestones, period signage and gas lamps create an atmosphere that feels authentic and grounded. Walking through the site feels less like observing history and more like stepping into it.

Costumed interpreters bring the space to life. They work as shopkeepers, metalworkers, teachers and labourers, speaking candidly about their lives, opinions and working conditions. Their performances are conversational rather than theatrical, giving visitors a sense of how hard, communal and politically charged everyday life could be in an industrial landscape.

Canals cut directly through the museum, reminding visitors how vital water transport was to industry. Narrowboats still move through the site, passing ironworks and warehouses, reinforcing the sense of a working environment rather than a preserved display. Machinery demonstrations, steam engines and furnaces add sound and movement, making the museum feel alive.

The museum is also closely linked to popular culture through its connection to Peaky Blinders. Many exterior scenes from the series were filmed here, using the museum’s streets, factories and canals as a stand-in for early 20th-century Birmingham. The raw brickwork, industrial backdrops and narrow streets perfectly capture the gritty atmosphere of the show, making the museum instantly recognisable to fans. This connection has introduced new audiences to the site and highlighted how accurately it reflects the period.

Beyond industry and television, the museum explores domestic life, leisure and social change. Visitors can step inside workers’ homes, schools and places of worship, offering insight into how families lived alongside factories. Traditional food shops add another layer of immersion, grounding the experience in taste as well as sight.

The Birmingham Black Country Museum is powerful because it refuses to romanticise the past. It presents a world shaped by labour, inequality and resilience, made vivid through place, people and story.