Birmingham Screwdriver Company building, Digbeth
Introduction
The photograph on this page of Birmingham Screwdriver Company building, Digbeth by A J Paxton as part of the Geograph project.
The Geograph project started in 2005 with the aim of publishing, organising and preserving representative images for every square kilometre of Great Britain, Ireland and the Isle of Man.
There are currently over 7.5m images from over 14,400 individuals and you can help contribute to the project by visiting https://www.geograph.org.uk
Birmingham Screwdriver Company building, Digbeth
Image: © A J Paxton Taken: 22 Mar 2022
The factory of the former Birmingham Screwdriver Company is now advertised as studio and office space, while Katjes (Katjes Fassin UK) make confectionery and other specialised products using 3-D printing in their 'magic candy factory' https://digbeth.com/directory/katjes-fassin-uk-1 , all of which reflects the shift away from metal trades to 'creative industries' in this part of town. The preserved ghost sign with its arm and hammer recall the crest on the Birmingham coat of arms Image The building stands at the corner of Floodgate Street and Little Ann Street. This Historic England e-publication on Digbeth & Deritend https://historicengland.org.uk/research/results/reports/7279/DigbethandDeritendBirminghamWestMidlands_OutlineHistoricAreaAssessment shows, however, on p93, a photo of this building taken in 2017 with no evidence of the 'ghost sign', which suggests that it is a recent postmodern joke, 'Birmingham screwdriver' as a humorous term for a hammer. Historic England describe the building on p94 as the number 4 works of the W.J. Wild component manufacture factory, erected between 1955 and 1967. It appears to have been a metal pressing factory, so the comments above about change of use still stand.
Images are licensed for reuse under creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0
Image Location
Latitude
52.476283
Longitude
-1.88394