The Ladybird Inn was constructed in 1905 in a very different age. At that time, it was both an Inn and a Hotel and was built to serve Bromsgrove Station which had been completed some years earlier together with the extensive railway workshops that were operational at that time (now a housing estate). Aston Fields was originally a standalone village surrounded by open fields but these days it is connected to Bromsgrove with continuous housing all the way along New Road. However, it is still regarded by the residents as “the village” and there is a strong sense of village community. The Ladybird Inn is, and always has been, the focal point of the village. The McConnell Room is named after James Mconnell the first chairman of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers who met at The Ladybird Inn in 1846 to discuss the idea of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers.