Digbeth Birmingham

Summary

Birmingham’s Victorian industrial quarter — canal-side warehouses, the Irish Quarter, and multiple hire-out creative studios make this Peaky Blinders country.

About this location

Digbeth lies south-east of Birmingham city centre, running from the Bull Ring down to Deritend. The area developed as Birmingham’s main industrial district in the 19th century and retains a substantial concentration of Victorian brick warehouses, canal wharves, and workshop buildings alongside the River Rea. The Custard Factory arts complex occupies a block of former Bird’s Custard factory buildings; the Fazeley Street canal corridor gives continuous waterside industrial architecture.

The area is most widely known in production circles for its association with Peaky Blinders, which used Digbeth locations extensively for its Birmingham scenes, alongside purpose-built sets in the Black Country Living Museum. The visual character — dark brick, narrow arched entrances, cobbled yards, and canal basins — is consistent enough to read as generic late-Victorian industrial urban Britain without extensive art direction.

Multiple buildings in Digbeth actively market their event and production hire capacity: the Bond Company on Fazeley Street, the Digbeth Dining Club site, various warehouse arches under the railway viaduct. Birmingham Film Office can facilitate access to the council-owned public realm and introductions to private owners. The area is within 10 minutes’ drive of Birmingham city centre and New Street station. The Grand Union Canal towpath runs through the district; CRT permits apply for towpath filming.