The Jewellery Quarter
The Jewellery Quarter is Europe’s largest concentration of businesses involved in the jewellery trade and produces 40% of all the jewellery made in the UK.
Home to the world’s largest Assay Office, which hallmarks around 12 million items a year. Historically the Jewellery Quarter has been the birthplace of many pioneering advancements in industrial technology.
According to the Birmingham Directory of 1780 there were 26 jewellers at the time. It is thought that by the start of the 19th century there were around 12 jewellery manufacturing companies, employing approximately 400 people and by the mid century the jewellery trade was considered the most lucrative in the city, with jewellers being some of the best paid workers in the city.
Jewellery Quarter has become somewhat of a tourist attraction as many of the workshops retain their 19th-century appearance.
In the 1980s Birmingham City Council established a museum and a trade centre to rival Germany and Italy.
Museum of the Jewellery Quarter
Situated on Vyse Street within the historical district of the Jewellery Quarter, the museum is one of nine run by the Birmingham Museums Trust, the largest within the UK.
In 2008, the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter was named as the third best free tourist attraction in Europe by TripAdvisor, behind the Pantheon in Rome and the National Gallery in London.
For over 80 years the family-run firm of Smith and Pepper produced gold jewellery from the factory that is now the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, with very few changes in working practices, equipment or the appearance of the workshop. When the elderly owners retired in 1981, they simply locked the door.
Everything was left as it was: tools on benches, overalls hanging on coat hooks, even cups of tea and jars of jam and Marmite.
The museum preserves this ‘time capsule’ of a jewellery workshop and also tells the 200-year story of the Birmingham Jewellery Quarter, the centre of the British jewellery industry, and its traditional craft skills.
A must visit for those who love jewellery!
Birmingham Parks
Birmingham has 591 parks and open spaces, totalling over 3,500 hectares, more than any other equivalent sized European city.
The centrepieces of Birmingham’s park system are the five Premier Parks. Fifteen parks have received the prestigious Green Flag Award. The city also has five local nature reserves, one national nature reserve and a number of Wildlife Trust nature reserves.
One of Birmingham’s most popular parks is Cannon Hill Park which covers 250 acres consisting of formal, conservation, woodland and sports areas. Recreational activities at the park include boating, fishing, bowls, tennis, putting and picnic areas.
The largest of the parks is Sutton Park covering 2,400 acres making it the largest urban nature reserve in Europe. Birmingham Botanical Gardens are a Victorian creation, with a conservatory and bandstand, close to the city centre.
The Winterbourne Botanic Garden, maintained by the University of Birmingham, is also located close to the city centre.
Bullring Shopping Centre
Bullring Shopping Centre was master planned and designed mainly by Benoy.
The shopping centre consists of two main buildings, East and West Mall, are connected by an underground passage lined with shops and is also accessible from St Martin’s Square through the glass doors.
The glass roof known as the SkyPlane, shelters the passageway which covers 7,000 square metres awe inspiring in its structure as it appears to have no visible means of support.
The balustrades in the East Mall consist of integrated glass ‘jewels’ within the metal framework,with vibrant colours used throughout. It features the flagship store for Selfridges designed by the Future Systems architectural practice.
The store is clad in 15,000 shiny aluminium discs and was inspired by a Paco Rabanne sequinned dress.
The multi-storey car park is connected to the Selfridges store via a 37-metre long, curved, polycarbonate-covered suspended footbridge, known as the Parametric Bridge.
Where to collect
DBS Jewellery Ltd
Unit 206F
JQ Modern
120 Vyse Street
Birmingham
B18 6ND
Our Email
info@dbsjewellery.co.ukOur Contact Number
0121 798 0880
