A little piece of Birmingham in Coventry

This Town set recreated in Coventry Music Museum.

Steven Knight’s new BBC TV drama has been exciting viewers with its gritty action and a ‘to die for’ soundtrack. The show based in the West Midlands, takes the 2-Tone sounds of the area to create something very special (pun intended).

Many of the scenes take place in the Happy Trooper pub that once stood in Birmingham’s Chelmsley Wood area of the city, now long gone the pub interior was recreated for the series. Now, The Coventry Music Museum has recreated the set and its visitors are invited to stand behind the bar and have their photograph taken.

Museum Curator Pete Chambers BEM said: “I was lucky to get a tiny cameo on the show, I’m on there for about three seconds, but the scene I was in, was set in the Happy Trooper. The location was actually a redressed pub in West Bromwich. When we decided to make our next exhibition about This Town, we thought it would be great to recreate the Happy Trooper bar, of course historically and in the show it’s a Birmingham City hang out, but of course we welcome anyone. It’s a little piece of Birmingham right here in Coventry, and like the show it’s a true West Midlands mash up.”

The Coventry Music Museum is open Thursday to Sunday and its This Town exhibition entitled Our Town was opened by two of the stars of the show Ben Rose (Bardon) and Freya Parks (Fiona) and runs until next year and features costumes and memorabilia from the show. For more information contact [email protected].