The City That Built the Modern World
Birmingham made the steam engine, the gas lamp, the pneumatic tyre and the chocolate in your Easter egg — and then produced the Peaky Blinders
Birmingham is the most misunderstood great city in England. For two hundred years it was the workshop of the world — a place where, as the saying went, anything from a pin to a steam engine could be made, and usually was. Three-quarters of everything written with a metal pen in the Victorian world was written with a nib made within half a mile of where we’ll be walking.
By the early twentieth century it was also one of the toughest places in Britain — and that is where the Peaky Blinders come in. The real gang were violent, territorial young men from the slums of Small Heath and Cheapside who fought over street corners and racecourse pitches from the 1890s. The BBC series gave them twenty-first century glamour — but the real history beneath it is every bit as fascinating, and this tour tells you both.
Victoria Square — the grandest civic space in the Midlands, built on the wealth of a thousand workshops
Steelhouse Lane Lockup — you didn’t want to end up here. The real Peaky Blinders’ mugshots were taken on the top floor.
Inside Birmingham Cathedral — the Burne-Jones windows are among the finest Victorian stained glass in the world
Gas Street Basin — Birmingham’s canals carried more cargo than Venice at the height of the Industrial Revolution
The Full Route
From the grandest Victorian civic square in the Midlands to the ancient Bull Ring where Birmingham began — via the canals, the lockup and the Jewellery Quarter
We begin at Victoria Square and Birmingham Town Hall — a full-scale Roman temple in Anglesey marble where Mendelssohn premiered Elijah in 1846 and Dickens gave readings. Then on to the Cathedral and its Burne-Jones windows, the Museum & Art Gallery with the world’s finest Pre-Raphaelite collection, and the Steelhouse Lane Lockup where the real gang’s mugshots were taken.
From there we walk north into the Jewellery Quarter — St Paul’s Square (where Watt and Boulton worshipped), the extraordinary Newman Brothers Coffin Works, and St Chad’s Catholic Cathedral, Pugin’s first and finest. Then south-west through Centenary Square and the Hall of Memory, past Symphony Hall and the Black Sabbath Bridge, down to Gas Street Basin and the canal towpath.
We end at St Martin in the Bull Ring — the medieval parish church where Birmingham began in the thirteenth century, surrounded by 860 years of continuous market trading. New Street Station is two minutes away.
Remembering Ozzy — the Black Sabbath memorial on Broad Street became a pilgrimage site after his death in 2025
St Martin in the Bull Ring — Birmingham’s medieval parish church, where the city began in the thirteenth century
Pricing — 3 to 4 Hour Tour
Per Person — Guide Included
Entry fees not included. Child prices on request. Starts at Cathedral Square, St Philip’s. Ends at the Bull Ring — New Street Station 2 minutes away.
Book by email or through Viator when our listing goes live. Train from London Euston to Birmingham New Street takes around 80 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions Birmingham Peaky Blinders Tour
Location: Birmingham
Starting Point : Birmingham New Street Railway Station
Duration: 3-4 Hours
How to book the Birmingham and Peaky Blinders Tour
Pricing per person
1 person £160
2 people £140
3 people £120
4 people £110
5-10 people £90
Please contact us via email above or alternatively you can book through Viator / Trip Advisor below.
