From foundries to fashion - 10 historic companies that have forged a place in the West Midlands

Here, we take a look at ten of those which have risen and grown from humble beginnings and in some cases are still run by descendants of those original founders all those decades ago.

Balfours

Balfours is an estate agency with bases across Shropshire whose origins can be traced back two centuries.

The company celebrated a landmark anniversary in 2025, marking 200 years since surveyor and valuer Timotheus Burd of Cardeston won his first management instruction, appointed agent for the land of a college at University of Oxford.

His sons Henry and Lawrence joined him in the business which then became Burd & Sons in 1859.

In 1920, James Cooke and Thomas Balfour set up Balfour & Cooke to cover Staffordshire and Shropshire and then in 1998 Balfour & Cooke merged with Burd & Evans, eventually becoming Balfours in 2001.

Today, the firm offers sales, letting and estate management services and has offices in Ludlow, Hereford and London alongside its Shrewsbury HQ.

Bodenhams

Bodenhams is an institution in Ludlow and has been in business since 1860.

The family-run company is one of the oldest department stores in Britain, stocking men's and women's clothing, lingerie and homeware.

It is itself housed in one of the county's oldest buildings in Broad Street which dates back to 1405 and was put up for sale in 2024, marking the first time it had gone on the market in centuries.

William Bodenham acquired the shop in 1860 and he and his wife Emma started their own business which has been passed down through generations of the Bodenham family and is currently owned by Roger Curry and his wife Monika.

Craven Dunnill Jackfield

Craven Dunnill Jackfield has been handcrafting decorative wall and floor tiles since being founded by Henry Dunnill in 1872.

It is still based at its original Jackfield Tile Works site in Ironbridge Gorge and is now run by managing director Simon Howells.

He is the fifth generation of his family to work for the company after Frederick Charles Howells joined as a trainee draughtsman before taking on the business in 1916.

Its tiles can be found in famous places such as Harrods and Kew Gardens in London - and closer to home at the The Horse and Jockey pub in Wednesbury - and as far afield as the US and Australia.

It also runs educational workshops throughout the year in partnership with the Ironbridge Gorge Museum.

Hill & Smith

Hill & Smith was founded in Brierley Hill by Edward Hill in 1824 and was known as Hill's Ironworks before his brother-in-law Henry Smith joined the business shortly afterwards and the name changed.

Early products sold by the company included fencing, hurdles, wrought iron shafts and rods, supplying such esteemed customers as Queen Victoria and Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The company then listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1969 and has since carried out a series of acquisitions to become an international outfit supplying infrastructure products and galvanizing services, headquartered in Shirley, Solihull.

Marston's

Marston's is now a pub and hotel operator but the renowned brand was started when John Maston first began brewing at the Horninglow Brewery in Burton-upon-Trent in 1834.

J. Marston & Son was amalgamated with John Thompson & Son in 1898 and seven years later merged again with Sydney Evershed to form Marston, Thompson & Evershed.

It first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1947 and, following further buyout deals, eventually became Marston's in 2007.

Following recent deals with Danish giant Carlsberg, the Wolverhampton-based company is focussed purely on operating pubs and inns rather than as a brewery.

Rubery Owen

Rubery Owen was founded in Darlaston in 1884 by John Tunner Rubery and his brothers Samuel and Thomas William as an ironworks which made gates and fences.

Nine years later, Alfred Ernest Owen joined John and replaced his two brothers and in 1903 the name Rubery Owen was established.

The company is now headquartered in Brierley Hill and operates in a broad range of markets such as materials testing, battery management and the manufacturing and packing of chemical liquids.

It was once involved in the BRM racing team, winning the F1 Championship in 1962, and the development of Donald Campbell's Bluebird and, at its height, employed 17,000 people worldwide including 5,000 in Darlaston.

Tanners Wine Merchants

William Tanner was born in Shropshire in 1839 and, after sailing around the world, returned in 1872 to go into business with his brother Henry to found W & HE Tanner in Shrewsbury.

Its old cellars were in what was the Victorian Market Hall, now demolished, while its offices were in Shoplatch.

The business later passed to Alfred Tanner of Shrawardine, a successful breeder and exporter of sheep and cattle, and he was succeeded by two of his sons - Frank who died in 1960 and Clive who died in 1983.

Managing director James Tanner is now the fourth generation of the family to run the business which, alongside its main cellar in Wyle Cop in Shrewsbury, has operations in Bridgnorth, Chester, Hereford, Llandudno and Welshpool.

The Golden Cross

The Golden Cross is reputed to be the oldest licensed pub in Shrewsbury and records suggest it was used as an inn as far back as 1428.

Housed in historic Princess Street, a very short walk from the town's equally historic main square, the venue is still an independently run pub, restaurant and hotel.

The earliest surviving record for the inn is a Bailiffs' Account for 1495 which shows that the sum of 13s.2d was spent on 'The King's gentlemen in sextre at the comyng home of Mr Prynce from London'.

The first known licensee of the inn appears in 1619 and it was recorded under the name The Golden Cross in 1780 for the first time while in the 1960s retired national hunt jockey Michael O'Dwyer and wife Audrey were the tenants.

Thomas Dudley

Thomas Dudley is based in Dudley and is now a group of engineering and manufacturing businesses but its birth can be traced back to 1920.

Thomas had helped to develop and manage foundries across the UK and then decided to set up his own business half a mile from the firm's current head office.

In 1934, land was acquired and the foundry relocated to its current site on the Birmingham New Road and two years later Thomas sailed on the Queen Mary's maiden voyage to America where he visited foundries.

Today, the family-run group comprises businesses which design, develop, make and sell products for use in fields such as plumbing, telecoms, automotive and medical.

Westley Group

Westley Group is one of Europe's largest non-ferrous foundry and engineering groups and believed to be the oldest business in Dudley.

Celebrating its 225th birthday this year, the company now employs 330 staff working in bronze metal casting and supplying clients mainly in the defence sector but also in fire safety, power generation and artwork among others.

It was started by William Westley at Queens Cross in Dudley in 1800 before moving in 1955 to Cradley Heath where its HQ remains today.

Expansion has come by adding around 40 other foundry businesses to the group since the 1980s and it is now run by director Tom Westley who is the eight generation of the family to lead the business.