The final season of Peaky Blinders has officially come to an end, and once again we’ve been treated to plenty of incredible sets based here in Manchester.
Our city is often used by BBC film crews for the series, despite the drama actually being set in post-war Birmingham.
The excitement started building way back in spring last year when Cillian Murphy and his co-stars were spotted filming scenes around Castlefield.
In previous years, Peaky Blinders cast and crews have descended on locations like Victoria Baths, London Road Fire Station, and Stockport Plaza.
There have been masses of familiar locations that have popped up on screen this year too.
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And a warning – spoilers lie ahead.
Chrome Hill
Chrome Hill was a filming location in the Peaky Blinders finale. Credit: BBC
One of the most spectacularly visual scenes of the whole season of Peaky Blinders was right at the end, where Tommy has taken himself off to live in a caravan in the hills.
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Those hills aren’t too far from Manchester – it was all filmed near Chrome Hill in the Peak District.
The beautiful peaks around here are sometimes nicknamed the ‘Matterhorn of the Peak District’ thanks to its pyramid-like shape, similar to that of the iconic Toblerone mountain in the Alps.
Ashton Memorial, Lancaster
Gina in Peaky Blinders inside the Ashton Memorial. Credit: BBC
The stunning art deco room where Gina Gray (played by Anya Taylor-Joy) lounged in a lot of her scenes was meant to be in America.
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But it’s actually in the north west – the incredible white marble interiors are the inside of the Ashton Memorial in Lancaster.
You’ll find the Grade I-listed building in Williamson Park.
Le Mans Crescent
Scenes at Le Mans Crescent in Peaky Blinders. Credit: BBC
The sweep of Grade II-listed buildings in the centre of Bolton regularly pops up in historical dramas, and Peaky Blinders is no different.
One of the end units in the grand terrace became the Shelby Sanatorium for Sick Children, where Tommy and his wife Lizzie sadly spent a lot of time in this series.
It cropped up in several episodes – including the gut-wrenching moment where the lead character found out his daughter had died.
One of Greater Manchester’s most iconic historical buildings pops up, very briefly, as a location in this final season of Peaky Blinders.
When Tommy – who is MP for Birmingham South as well as a notorious gangster – pops along to give a speech to Labour party supporters, it’s Salford Lad’s Club that he approaches.
The club has been there since 1903.
Arley Hall
Both the inside and the outside of Arley Hall have become familiar sights while watching the BBC’s hit gangster drama.
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And this year was no different – including an, erm, explosive moment right in the final episode.
The grand Cheshire mansion has been there from the very opening scene of season six, and its rooms have doubled up as Tommy’s study and the family’s dining room.
Castlefield
Castlefield’s historic cobbled streets have doubled up as Birmingham’s Small Heath for the final instalment of Peaky Blinders.
It caused a lot of excitement when the huge set was built, including a mock-frontage of the Garrison Pub owned by the Shelby clan.
The area beneath the railway bridge was even used in the season finale’s dramatic shoot-out scene.
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Castlefield, again
Castlefield was a major filming location for Peaky Blinders this year. Credit: BBC
Castlefield was also used for Chinatown, complete with red lanterns and fake tea houses.
The pyrotechnics were back out in force here, when Tommy dropped a bomb off one of the footbridges over the canal.
There were 1930s-style Chinese adverts plastered on billboards too, along with a poster advertising Shelby Dry Gin.
Lee Quarry, Bacup
Over in Lancashire, the Lee Quarry in Bacup provided a dramatic backdrop for Tommy’s encounter with his ex-sister in law Esme.
The former working quarry is now a free-to-use mountain bike trail.
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Hotel Gotham
Hotel Gotham was one of the locations used in Peaky Blinders. Credit: BBC
There’s absolutely no mistaking this Manchester landmark, even if the Peaky Blinders team have rebranded it to the Midland.
This is the Hotel Gotham on King Street, a huge art deco five-star hotel that is one of Manchester’s most beautiful buildings.
Its familiar exterior only gets a very brief appearance before Tommy heads inside to a nondescript hotel room.
Featured image: BBC
TV & Showbiz
Legendary Bury Black Pudding reveals secrets – including powdered blood
Daisy Jackson
Bury Black Pudding is one of Greater Manchester’s most famous and excellent exports, creating a breakfast staple that puts the borough on the culinary map.
This familiar sight on a full English breakfast has been being made using a traditional time-honoured recipe for generations.
And while this delicious blood sausage might not be to everyone’s tastes, Bury Black Pudding is the king of them all.
It’s the leading brand in the UK, with a gold medal-winning recipe dating back more than 100 years, and has a whole variety of flavours including chilli, gluten free, vegetarian and white pudding varieties.
Recently, Bury Black Pudding revealed some of its secrets, allowing the BBC unprecedented access into its factory in Bury for an episode of Inside the Factory.
The series, hosted by Paddy McGuinness and Cherry Healey, went beneath the surface of this heritage brand, from production all the way through to packaging.
Viewers have been stunned to learn what goes into Bury Black Pudding, and it really isn’t as much of a bloody mess as your imagination might’ve led you to believe.
In fact, most of the ingredients are cereals – only 5% of it is blood.
And the blood in the blood sausage? It’s powdered.
Bury Black Pudding on BBC’s Inside the Factory. Credit: BBC
In the episode, production director Richard Morris (who has worked for Bury Black Pudding his whole life, following in his grandfather’s footsteps), said: “There’s no big tubs of blood.
“To actually transport it, it needs to be dry. And there’s also no bacteria in it, so we can use this over a 12 month period.”
Inside every delicious slice you’ll also find oatmeal, pearl barley, rusk, onions and pork fat.
Another surprising thing is the sheer size and volume of the black puddings before they’re portioned and packaged for our homes.
A 600kg batch will make about 3,000 black puddings, with the mixture added to a vacuum filler before being pumped under high pressure into recyclable plastic casings.
Hundreds of these tubes are cooked into a steam oven for an hour and 20 minutes, then sliced into the black pudding we recognise in an ultrasonic slicer.
3,000 sticks a day, five days a week, are sliced up for the shelves into around 120,000 slices.
Speaking of the opportunity to appear on Inside the Factory, brand and marketing manager Matthew McDermid said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to showcase the heritage and passion that goes into making our black pudding.
“We are incredibly proud of our history and our role in bringing this traditional product to consumers, we can’t wait for the nation to see how the UK’s leading brand of black pudding is made.”
Manchester streaming platform StreamGM unveils four-part creative industry careers podcast
Thomas Melia
A new four-partpodcast by StreamGM featuring some of Greater Manchester’s top creatives has launched with the aim of powering creative careers.
Produced by Rebecca Swarray, a.k.a. ‘RebeccaNeverBecky’ – the founder of the Manchester events and arts collective – this podcast is designed to “ignite and elevate creative careers in music.”
Swarray deep dives into the current Manc music scene and beyond with the help of fellow insiders who vary upon each episode.
There are four parts in this latest series and there’s lots to cover, especially in an industry that’s ever-changing and ever-challenging.
Some of the guests and speakers you can expect to listen to on ‘ICAM’ (In Conversations and Masterclasses)Credit: StreamGM/The Manc Group
Listeners can expect to learn all about ‘Women Behind The Music’ as part of the In Conversations and Masterclasses series with Sophie Bee, Sara Garvey and Kat Brown.
The next episode delves into another key music industry area, ‘Promoters, Venues And Events’, which is broken down by Baz Plug One, Strutty, Tashadean Wood and Liv McCafferty.
‘Artist Development And Management’ features Karen Boardman, Karen Gabay, Damian Morgan, and Via Culpan deep in discussion.
The final episode in this four-part series is ‘Videography And Photography In The Creative Industries’, which sees Johan Reitan, Alice Kanako and Ahmani Vidal talking all things visual.
These four features will be an incredible resource for any creative talents as it put together by professionals for upcoming professionals of any age from any background, race, gender and walk of life.
After all, that’s what is all about, right?
Abbreviated to ‘ICAM’, the podcast is certainly one to check out, with for aspiring artist managers, producers, photographers, promoters—anyone driven to make their mark in music and events.
These podcast sessions understand industry challenges, explore career journeys, creative influences, crisis management and lots more creative field concerns.
You can find the first episode in full down below:
The first episode of the new limited StreamGM podcast.
This run of shows is the second instalment by StreamGM: Greater Manchester’s phenomenal streaming platform dedicated to all things music, nightlife and culture.
Whether you’re a budding creative arts talent or just curious to find out insights into this wonderful innovative industry, you can listen to all the episodes from the series directly on StreamGM HERE.
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester music news, another very special event is kicking off very soon:
Daisy Jackson -
6th April 2022 
