A Victorian jailhouse that once held the real Peaky Blinders gang is being opened to the public for the first time

The jail that housed the real Peaky Blinders
The jail that housed the real Peaky Blinders

A Victorian jailhouse where the the real life Peaky Blinders gang were once locked up is being opened to the public.

Fans of the the Bafta award-winning BBC series can now get a look inside the eerie Steelhouse Lane Lock-up in Birmingham, which operated from 1891 to 2016.

The Grade-II listed 19th-century jail housed the original members of the Peaky Blinders, who inspired the gritty crime drama written by Stephen Knight.

The mug shots of Harry Fowler, Ernest Bayles, Stephen McHickie and Thomas Gilbert adorn the walls of the 128-year-old prison wearing their trademark flat caps.

Guests can walk in the footsteps of the infamous crooks and look inside the cells of the former custody suite, which has been transformed into a museum.

The building also features stained glass windows, a tunnel through which thousands of criminals made the walk to court, art deco door handles and old fashioned interview rooms.

Other West Midlands Police memorabilia will also be on display - including the biggest mugshot collection in the UK, and what is believed to be the oldest police custody photograph in the world.

Inspector Steve Rice, who works on the West Midlands Police Heritage Project, said: "Its a late Victorian building which over the years has had many notorious criminals."

"People often ask me if the Peaky Blinders are a real gang, they were and we have many photographs in our archives taken at this location."

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