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Family Jewellers of Birmingham FOR OVER 40 YEARS - Book Appointment | WhatsApp
Family Jewellers of Birmingham FOR OVER 40 YEARS - Book Appointment | WhatsApp
People come to the Jewellery Quarter expecting a shopping street. What they usually find is something else entirely. Workshops operating on upper floors while the shop below sells finished pieces. A hallmarking office that processes twelve million items a year. Streets of Victorian buildings where the same skills have been practised in the same rooms for over two hundred years.
There is nowhere else in the UK quite like it. And for anyone buying an engagement ring, a wedding band, or any piece of fine jewellery, understanding what makes the Jewellery Quarter Birmingham so significant changes how you think about where to buy.
Manna Jewellers has been at 16 Hockley Street in the Quarter since 1977. Browse the engagement ring collection, wedding bands, and pre-owned jewellery in store or online.
The Jewellery Quarter Birmingham produces around 40% of all jewellery made in the UK from a single square mile of the city.
It is Europe's largest concentration of businesses involved in the jewellery trade.
The Birmingham Assay Office, based in the Quarter, is the world's largest, hallmarking around 12 million items per year.
The area was designated a World Craft City in June 2025, joining a global network that includes Kyoto and Jaipur.
Most Birmingham jewellery shops in the Quarter are open Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm. Many are also open on Sundays.
Over 200 buildings in the Quarter are listed. More than half are jewellery-related.
The first goldsmith recorded in Birmingham was Roger Pemberton, noted in a survey of 1553.
It did not happen all at once.
According to Birmingham City University's Jewellery Quarter history, in 1780 there were just 28 jewellers recorded in the city. By 1800, that number had grown to 400, pulled by the momentum of the Industrial Revolution and the concentration of metalworking skills already established in the city. By 1913, over 30,000 people were employed in the Jewellery Quarter alone. It was not one large factory that drove this. It was a dense network of small specialist workshops, each responsible for a specific part of the process. One workshop cast the metal. Another engraved it. Another set the stones. These workshops sat side by side in the same streets, passing work between them in a system that was efficient precisely because it stayed compact.
The Quarter survived two world wars, significant bomb damage during the Birmingham Blitz, and the broader decline of British manufacturing in the mid-twentieth century. What remained was leaner but still skilled. Today, around 700 jewellers work in the area, and the quarter still accounts for roughly 40% of the UK's jewellery output from within a single square mile of Birmingham city centre.
The Birmingham Assay Office was established in 1773, largely through the efforts of Matthew Boulton, the manufacturer and co-founder of the Lunar Society. Before that, Birmingham's metalworkers had to send their pieces to Chester for hallmarking, which was both expensive and slow. Boulton lobbied Parliament successfully, and Birmingham got its own office.
The Birmingham hallmark is an anchor. The story behind it is that Boulton, while in London pushing for the legislation, stayed at the Crown and Anchor Tavern. Sheffield was awarded the crown. Birmingham got the anchor. Whether the coin-flip story is entirely accurate is debatable, but the anchor has been on Birmingham gold and silver ever since.
Today, the Birmingham Assay Office is the world's largest, hallmarking around 12 million items a year. It tests precious metal purity independently of the jeweller who made the piece, which is the whole point of the system. When you buy a hallmarked ring, you are not just taking the seller's word for what the metal is.
Expert tip: The Birmingham Assay Office's consumer guide to understanding hallmarks explains what each symbol inside a ring means and how to read the fineness marks: 375 for 9ct gold, 750 for 18ct gold, and 950 for platinum. Reading this before you buy is ten minutes well spent, especially if you are buying second-hand jewellery in the Jewellery Quarter Birmingham where pre-owned pieces carry the same hallmark system as new ones.
The Quarter is not just engagement rings, though there are plenty of those. The range of what is available across the Birmingham jewellery shops here is wider than most people expect before their first visit.
New jewellery: engagement rings, wedding bands, eternity rings, earrings, pendants, chains, bracelets, and bespoke commissions. Most independent jewellers here carry their own designs rather than stocking national brands, which means more individuality and often better value than the high street.
Pre-owned and second-hand jewellery: the Jewellery Quarter Birmingham has a long tradition of pre-owned fine jewellery. Pieces from estates, vintage collections, and part-exchanges sit alongside new stock in many of the shops. Quality varies, so buying from a jeweller with an in-house workshop who can inspect and service a piece before sale is worth prioritising.
Jewellery repairs Birmingham: repairs are a core part of what the Quarter does. Ring resizing, stone replacing, claw retipping, chain soldering, re-plating. Because many jewellers here have workshop facilities on site, turnaround times for jewellery repairs in Birmingham are often faster and more affordable than elsewhere.
Bespoke commissions: this is the Quarter's real strength. The concentration of skilled goldsmiths, stone setters, and engravers in a small area means custom work can be done entirely in-house, from the first sketch to the finished, hallmarked piece. Manna Jewellers' bespoke design service is one example of this: consultations, making, and hand-finishing all done on Hockley Street.
Most Birmingham jewellery shops in the Quarter follow similar patterns, though individual shops vary.
The general guide: Monday to Saturday, 9 am to 5 pm. Many shops are also open on Sundays, typically from around 10 am to 3 pm or 4 pm. However, this is less consistent than weekday opening, and it is always worth checking directly with the specific shop before travelling. The Quarter is busiest on Saturdays.
At Manna Jewellers, appointments are available Monday to Saturday. Booking in advance means you get dedicated time with the team rather than waiting for availability in a busy showroom.
This is one of the most searched questions about the Quarter, and the honest answer is: some shops are, some are not.
The larger retailers and busier showrooms on Vyse Street and Warstone Lane tend to open on Sundays. Smaller specialist workshops and repair services often do not. If you are making a specific trip on a Sunday, particularly for jewellery repairs in Birmingham or a bespoke consultation, confirming opening hours with the individual jeweller before you travel is worth the extra step.
In June 2025, the Jewellery Quarter Birmingham was officially designated a World Craft City by the World Crafts Council. This placed it alongside Kyoto, Jaipur, and a small number of other locations recognised globally for their excellence in artisan craft traditions.
For the Quarter, the designation reflects what anyone walking through its streets already knows: that this is a living working district, not a preserved museum. The skills are still here. The workshops are still running. The pieces being made today are hallmarked at the same assay office that has been operating in the Quarter since 1773.
That continuity is what makes buying here different from buying anywhere else in the UK.
The Jewellery Quarter is a district in north-west Birmingham city centre that has been the heart of British jewellery manufacturing for over 250 years. It covers roughly one square mile and produces around 40% of all jewellery made in the UK. It is Europe's largest concentration of jewellery businesses, home to hundreds of independent retailers, goldsmiths, workshops, and the world's largest Assay Office. In June 2025, it was awarded World Craft City status by the World Crafts Council.
Most Birmingham jewellery shops in the Quarter are open Monday to Saturday, typically from around 9 am to 5 pm. Many shops also open on Sundays, usually from 10 am to around 3 pm or 4 pm, though Sunday hours vary significantly between individual jewellers. Always check directly with the shop you plan to visit, especially if you are travelling specifically for jewellery repairs or a bespoke consultation.
Many shops and showrooms in the Quarter are open on Sundays, particularly the larger retailers on Vyse Street and Warstone Lane. Smaller workshops and specialist repair services are less consistent with Sunday opening. If you are visiting on a Sunday, it is worth calling ahead or checking the specific jeweller's website to confirm hours before making the trip.
Several jewellers in the Quarter stock pre-owned and vintage pieces alongside new collections. Manna Jewellers' pre-owned jewellery collection includes rings, watches, and other fine jewellery that has been checked and serviced in the on-site workshop before sale. Buying pre-owned from a jeweller with in-house repair facilities means the piece has been properly assessed rather than just cleaned and re-priced.
Generally, yes. Because the Jewellery Quarter has a high concentration of working goldsmiths and setters in a small area, competition keeps repair pricing reasonable. More importantly, many Quarter jewellers carry out repairs in their own workshop rather than sending pieces away, which means faster turnaround and direct communication with the person doing the work. Manna Jewellers handles jewellery repairs at the Hockley Street workshop and publishes a repair price guide so you know costs upfront.
Manna Jewellers has been on Hockley Street in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter since 1977. The collection covers diamond and gemstone engagement rings, plain and set wedding bands, pre-owned jewellery, and vintage watches, all available in store and online. Bespoke design, jewellery repairs, ring resizing, engraving, and rhodium replating are all carried out in the on-site workshop. Every ring is hand-finished by the team before it leaves the building. Book an appointment to visit the showroom or discuss a commission.
How creating an engagement ring works: your complete guide to custom ring design: if the Quarter's bespoke tradition has you thinking about a custom commission, this guide covers every step from first consultation to finished hallmarked ring.
Ethical wedding rings: recycled gold and conflict-free metals: buying from a Quarter jeweller with an in-house workshop is one way to know exactly how your ring was made. This guide covers what responsibly sourced really means and what questions to ask.
How to care for your wedding ring: cleaning, storage and maintenance: once you have bought from the Quarter, this guide covers how to keep the ring looking right long term, including when to bring it back for a professional clean and inspection.
