Back To Backs

The Birmingham Back to Backs is a National Trust property which were rescued from destruction a few years ago. They had been turned into shops and this is why these are the only remaining back to backs that have survived in Birmingham. The national trust have worked very hard and are still working on census records so these buildings can be brought back to the living standards of the time.

There are 3 houses to see, all set in different times from the mid 19th century to the 1950's.
Visits are by guided tour only and have to be booked. I am afraid that I cannot remember our guide's name, but she was a local lady as she said her parents had been born in back to back property and she also lived in one up until 1990's and she was a brilliant tour guide. We have no idea just how bad the living conditions were at the time and he really brought the the place and the era to life.

You can even touch things as you time travel though not in the tailors shop! I can certainly recommend this place as being one of the best properties in the National Trust, but do take heed of what they say regarding access.

I cannot recommend a visit highly enough, but be warned - although you will be under cover for most of the time, the tour starts and ends out in the (uncovered) yard, so bring a brolly in case it is raining. You will need comfortable shoes, as although there is not a lot of walking, there is a lot of standing around and few seats for visitors. And finally, allow nearly 2 hours - there is a lot to see.

As I was planning my first trip to Birmingham, I kept seeing the Back to Backs tour pop up at the top of lists and decided to give it a try. I am very happy that I did!

Tickets can be purchased in the little, clearly marked shop. Next, you'll head to the corner to await your tour guide. Our group's leader was Les and he was amazing; insightful, engaging, knowledgeable and funny. He led us quickly from place to place during the nearly 2 hour tour with interesting stories about the lives of the skilled tradesmen and their families who lived in the homes as well as asked thought-provoking questions about many of the features that made me think about what it must have been like to live during the decades covered by the tour and how differently our lives are today.

The Back To Backs is an excellent, affordable tour that you can't get almost anywhere else. If you enjoy history, you'll love it.

You buy your ticket from the shop and then meet the tour guide at the corner, outside the sweet shop. All tours have a tour guide with a group of around ten. It's a good number because some of the houses are small and also it allows for you to all hear the tour guide. The guides are incredibly informative and welcoming. They know so much about the houses (and I am sure they are volunteers )and always willing to answer questions. The tours comprises of the courtyard, three houses and a tailor's shop. Each house has been preserved at different eras. Really lovely to learn local history in such a fun and interesting way.

Visiting Birminghams 'Back To Backs' was for me an unforgettable experience.
Mostly I must admit due to the fact that I had my nan as a tour guide who spent the early years of her life here at the Inge Street slum.

Those early years of hardhip had some reward as we were waved through reception as relative VIP's and entered the inner courtyard finding ourselves on the tail of a tour group.

Famed for being outspoken and not shy of her roots my dear nan began to recounts stories from her time in the slum and Soon became centre stage, distracting tourists from the official tour with graphic details of life in the slum.

Realising that no tour guide could compete with first hand accounts the group were asked to move onto the next leg of the tour and left albeit somewhat reluctantly.

Seemingly satisfied, my nan and I continued with the rest our tour.

This place is a fascinating glimpse back to the dawn of the industrial revolution, and by extension the dawn of Birmingham as a city. It's a little known fact that the spot on which the back-to-backs sit was, at one stage, the very edge of Birmingham. One one side of the building the city was beginning to look like the place we know today. On the other side it was, literally, fields that would have stretched all the way down to the village of Stirchley.

This is a museum of the Birmingham slums, where the poor workers of the early industrial age found themselves living as they left the rural life for the city one. My Nan can remember being visited by relatives from the countryside in the 1920s who arrived by horse and cart - and the back to backs evokes this perfectly. How strange it must have been to have moved from the idyllic countryside to what was, by modern standards, an urban hovel. This place is well worth a visit if you want to get in touch with the early days of our city.

As an aside, the traditional sweep shop (which is on Inge Street and open to the public) is well worth a visit also.

When you're a foreigner student in Birmingham, you usually try to visit as much landmarks and landscapes as possible in a short period. So, every weekend we were able to check a different part of the city, exploring history and culture here. One of the most fascinating sites to check is Back to Backs, with no doubt.

A fascinating guided tour about (mostly) poor life condition in Birmingham during the period that covers from 1840 to 1970. It expresses the history of these popular working class houses. That's an excellent opportunity to understand a bit more of the history of Black Country and Industrial Revolution importance as well. Considered slums these houses are almost luxury items compared to what I understand about slums in Brazil and each room visited in these houses has features that shows what Birmingham became today.

If you like History, Back to Backs is something to check while visiting, studying or living here.

Take notes: The visits are all pre-booked so look for more information at the website or call the number 0121 666 7671 to inquire about it.