City of a thousand trades
The city of a thousand trades is a nineteenth-century nickname for Birmingham, describing an economy of countless small workshops making everything from buttons and pens to guns and jewellery. Unlike cities built on a single industry, such as cotton in Manchester, Birmingham grew on variety and skill.
In practice
Workshops filled the back streets and courtyards of districts such as the Jewellery Quarter and the Gun Quarter, many run by skilled craftsmen with a few employees. The city was also a centre of invention and enterprise: the Lunar Society of Matthew Boulton, James Watt and their friends met here, and Boulton and Watt's steam engines were built at Soho, on the edge of Birmingham. The canals and railways connected the workshops to the rest of the world.
Why it matters to newcomers
The phrase explains why Birmingham still prides itself on making things and on small and medium businesses, and why its economy today is broad, from manufacturing and engineering to finance, law and the creative industries. Museums such as the Museum of the Jewellery Quarter and Soho House bring the story to life.
Related
- Brum - the city's short name
- Jewellery Quarter - one trade that never left
- Back to Backs - where the workers lived
- Gas Street Basin - the canals that carried the goods
Source: Birmingham Museums.