An industrial hub for 200 years, the area’s historic workshops are being turned into flats
In the dusty workshop basement of luxury jeweller Deakin & Francis, grooves have been worn into the wood of workbenches used by generations of skilled hands to create pieces for over 200 years.
It’s England’s oldest manufacturing jeweller and has been based in the heart of Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter since 1786 and, while the world around the factory has changed, inside it feels as if time has stood still. “The entrance stairs are worn away from slightly overweight Deakins coming in and out for seven generations,” said Henry Deakin, the firm’s current owner.