West Midlands (region) Travel Guide — Things to Do, Food & Hotels
one of nine official regions of England
About West Midlands (region)
From around the 1870s until the 1970s, the region was "the workshop of the world", especially known for engineering, metal industries, beer production (due to the waters), and pottery fromStoke-on-Trent. There was also extensive coal mining. The centre of the industrial region, Birmingham, was known as "the city of a thousand trades" due to a vibrant free market in skills and an independent-minded population of workers. For complex reasons, this industrial base began to collapse from the 1960s onwards. Although much industry remains, hundreds of thousands of industrial factory-based jobs were lost in the collapse. The English counties that surround the urban core are still some of the most beautiful in England, especially Warwickshire, Worcestershire, most of north Staffordshire, and many
West Midlands (region) Travel Guide Sections
Our comprehensive guide covers 12 sections including: