JEWELLERY QUARTER Not for nothing was Birmingham once known as the ‘city of 1000 trades’, and in the 19th century, the Jewellery Quarter - just north of the city centre was one of its thriving epicentres. Busy workshops and howling factories lined the narrow streets spidering out from St Paul’s Square, and it’s said that by 1850 half of the gold and silverware products on sale in London jewellery shops had been produced in Birmingham. Almost 200 years later, those same red-brick workshops and townhouses are still here, making the ‘JQ’ arguably Birmingham’s most distinct neighbourhood. But a closer look reveals a handsome area successfully blending industrial heritage with innovative restaurants, low-lit bistros, quirky museums, pocket-sized craft stores, cool cafés, creative businesses and even a mural by the artist Banksy throw-in for good measure. A stroll past the busy al fresco bars of Ludgate Hill into leafy St Paul’s Square Birmingham’s only Georgian square - is one of the city’s finest introductions for firsttime visitors, especially in the summer when the locals come out and relax on the grass. But make sure to explore every inch of this unique neighbourhood, as there’s nowhere else in Brum quite like it.
Where Craft Meets Cool: The Jewellery Quarter’s Timeless Spark. 98