Filming locations in Birmingham & the Black Country

Birmingham is the spiritual home of the Shelby family, the brooding heart of Peaky Blinders, and yet the show's grimy, gas-lit streets were rarely the modern city itself. To walk into that world you head just outside town, to a living museum in the Black Country where the early-twentieth-century England of the series was rebuilt to last.

The Black Country Living Museum near Dudley is the set-jetting prize. Its cobbled streets, working canal and rows of old workshops were dressed as Shelby-era Birmingham, including the haunts of the gang's Garrison quarter. Because it is a genuine open-air museum rather than a film backlot, costumed demonstrators keep the period alive between the camera-ready facades, and the place runs special Peaky-themed evenings that book out early.

Give it at least half a day. Entry includes a ride on the restored tram and a trip along the canal by narrowboat, both of which thread you through the same scenery the cameras loved. Dudley Castle and its zoo sit right next door if you want to stretch the outing into a full day in the Black Country.

Birmingham itself, meanwhile, has quietly turned its industrial bones into a characterful base. The old factories and the canal network that defined the city's smoky reputation are now walkable, lined with bars and restaurants, which makes the place an easy and atmospheric anchor for the trip even though the marquee filming happened out at the museum.

The practical play is simple: base yourself in central Birmingham for the food and the canals, then drive or take the short trip out to Dudley for the museum on a clear day. If you can time your visit with one of the after-dark Peaky events, do, because that is when the recreated streets feel most like the screen.