West Bromwich - Features

Features

The town is famous for its football club, West Bromwich Albion. The club was founded in 1878 and in 1888 it became one of the twelve founder members of the Football League. It won the league championship in 1920 and has won the FA Cup five times, most recently in 1968. The club recently won the Coca Cola Championship in 2008. Albion were based in and around the centre of West Bromwich during their formative years, but moved further out of the town in 1900 when they switched to their current ground, The Hawthorns. The Hawthorns is the highest football ground (above sea level) in the country.

Engineering and chemicals are important to the town's economy, as it played a crucial part in the Industrial Revolution during the 19th century and still retains many manufacturing jobs to this day, despite a steady nationwide decline in this sector since the 1970s.

Sandwell General Hospital (On the site of the former Hallam Hospital) is located near the town centre. It is part of the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the largest NHS teaching trusts in the United Kingdom.

William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth had his seat at Sandwell Hall. Legge was unusual as an aristocrat of this period by being a Methodist and attending the Wednesbury Methodist meetings, where fellow Methodists – many of them colliers and drovers – knew him as "Brother Earl".

West Bromwich Town Hall, situated in the centre of the High Street, is a Grade II listed building. It was built between 1874 and 1875 in brick and stone to an Italian Gothic design, and its interior reflects the Victorian interest in Gothic and Medieval architecture. Its Grand Organ, built in 1862, is considered to be of historic importance for its musical and technical qualities.

West Bromwich Manor House, Hall Green Road B71 2EA. Built by the de Marnham family in the late 13th century as the centre of their agricultural estate in West Bromwich only the Great Hall survives of the original complex of living quarters, agricultural barns, sheds and ponds. Successive occupants modernised and extended the Manor House until it was described in 1790 as “a large pile of irregular half-timbered buildings, black and white, and surrounded with numerous out-houses and lofty walls.” The Manor House was saved from demolition in the 1950s by West Bromwich Corporation which carried out an extensive and sympathetic restoration of this nationally important building.

In 2004, a modern community arts centre known as "The Public" was developed in the town centre. Designed by the architect Will Alsop, the £52 million venue consists of a massive cuboid building constructed in dark grey and silver metal cladding with irregularly-shaped windows edged in magenta. Its appearance has drawn comparisons with a fish tank. The development was beset by financial difficulties, going into administration and finally finished in 2009. Many people refuse to visit the venue as they consider it a waste of money and an extreme eyesore. A sound production and music industry practice course is run in the building by Major Key Studios and is provided by the University of Wolverhampton.

A large portion of the town centre has been procured by Tesco for the development of a Tesco Extra Store and shopping centre called New Square, West Bromwich. Since the early 2000s the tenants of homes and businesses have slowly moved out of the site to make way for the development. Cronehills Primary School (staff and pupils) relocated to the newly built Eaton Valley Primary School, which opened in September 2009. The police station relocated to a brand new building the other site of the ring road. Major works started on the site during October 2011 and the development should be complete by late Spring 2013.