IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Barn Street, BIRMINGHAM, B5 5QD

This untitled mural has been painted on the frontage of Avonstar Trading Co Ltd, metal fabricators of Barn Street, Digbeth.

The watery references may be due to the triangle between them being a mill pond, until it was drained in the 1840s.

Formerly the Floodgate Tavern.

The footbridge forms part of a path connecting Gibb Street and Floodgate Street. The path runs entirely underneath the railway viaduct, passing through arches, one of which is visible at the left of this photo. Path and bridge are well-used, as they are located in the hip 'creative' and nightlife quarter around the Custard Factory. We are looking downstream, to the northeast; in the distance can be seen the former factory of the Birmingham Screwdriver Company, with its arm and hammer symbol Image Like many urban rivers, the Rea (which rhymes with 'day') has suffered pollution and neglect and has been hidden away in culverts, but is now beginning to be rediscovered and appreciated once more.

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.