Working class life in the 1930s revisited

They give a fascinating glimpse of Black Country working class life in the 1930s.

Now, for the first time, visitors to the Black Country Living Museum are able to leave behind the hustle and bustle of the street and climb upstairs to the living areas of the new Oldbury Buildings.

The £10 million development at the museum has taken months of painstaking work in a bid to re-create the 1930s.

The row of four shops includes a building and decorating shop, a motorcycle dealership, a tobacconist and a radio sales and repairs shop.

However, above the shops are where visitors can get a peak of what life was like for residents in the Black Country.

On display are two bedrooms and two sitting rooms, laid out to look just like they would have done in the 1930s.

Curator David Eveleigh said: "The buildings are exact reconstructions of the shops and homes that originally stood in Birmingham Street, Oldbury.

"Every single brick and piece of timber is in the same position it would have sat for more than 100 years in Birmingham Street.

"Many of the period items were donated by members of the public after an appeal was made in the Express & Star last summer."