Stoke-on-Trent

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City of Stoke-on-Trent
Image:EnglandStoke.png
Geography
Status:Unitary, City (1925)
Region:West Midlands
Ceremonial County:Staffordshire
Area:
- Total		Ranked 252nd
93.45 km²
Admin. HQ:Stoke-on-Trent
ONS code:00GL
Demographics
Population:
- Total (2004 est.)
- Density		Ranked 45th
238,000
2,547 / km²
Ethnicity:94.8% White
3.5% S.Asian
Politics
Image:SOT Coat Of Arms.jpg
Stoke-on-Trent City Council
http://www.stoke.gov.uk/
Leadership:Mayor & Council Manager
Mayor:Mark Meredith
(Labour)
MPs:Mark Fisher, Robert Flello, Joan Walley

The city of Stoke-on-Trent (also known as The Six Towns or The Potteries) is a City in The Midlands, United Kingdom.

Stoke-on-Trent is situated almost equidistant to all the major cities in the North/Midlands of the UK (Manchester, Birmingham, Leicester, Nottingham, Liverpool, Sheffield). The city is named after the town of Stoke, as the main line railway station was situated there at the beginning of the 20th century.

This city runs into Newcastle-under-Lyme, which is administered separately. Together they form a conurbation with a population of 362,403.

Unlike most English cities, its council is led by a directly-elected mayor; the first was Mike Wolfe (independent) then, from May 2005 to date, Mark Meredith (Labour Party). The city is the only one of the twelve English districts with elected mayors to use the mayor and council manager system rather than the mayor and cabinet system.

Stoke-on-Trent is twinned with Erlangen in Germany.

Contents

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History

The Federation of the Six Towns brought together the boroughs of Hanley, Burslem, Longton and Stoke, together with the districts of Tunstall and Fenton as the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910. Stoke-on-Trent was officially granted city status in 1925.

The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful or A United Force is Stronger. See picture (borrom right).

Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, conventionally the City Centre is regarded as being in Hanley. Its county borough status was abolished in 1974, and it became a district of Staffordshire. It was restored as a unitary authority independent of Staffordshire county council on April 1, 1997.

Since the 17th century the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing, with such world renowned names as Royal Doulton, Spode, Wedgwood and Minton being born and based there. From 1864 to 1927 it housed the repair shops of the North Staffordshire Railway. Lesser known is the locally-loved Potteries Oatcake (very different from the Scottish version), whose fame has yet to travel outside of North Staffordshire, and Lobby, a stew not unlike lancashire hot pot. There is also a distinctive local spoken dialect, although its broadest use is now becoming confined only to older residents.

Although there are actually Six Towns, the city or 'the Potteries' is more well known as the Five Towns - from the books by Arnold Bennett. It has been incorrectly stated this can be seen from the Lord Mayor's car carrying the number plate VT1. The actual registration is 1 VT and has nothing to do with Arnold Bennett and the five towns. The simple explanation is that VT was the registration used for Stoke on Trent (along with EH) in the 1960's - it just so happens that the Lord Mayor has number 1 of the VT registration letters.

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Economy

North Staffordshire is a world centre for fine ceramics - a skilled design trade established in the city since at least the 12th Century.

In the late 1980s & 1990s Stoke-on-Trent was hit hard by the general decline in the British manufacturing sector. Numerous factories, steelworks, mines, and potteries were closed, including the renowned Shelton Bar steelworks. This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'high-skilled but low-paid' workforce. However, at Q2 2004 the unemployment rate had recovered to almost the same as in the wider West Midlands. The city's present employment levels are currently stable and likely to grow from 2004 to 2008, according to a detailed 2003 study by Experian Business Strategies. About 9,000 firms are based in the city.

In 2005 the fortunes of the city were on the brink of changing rapidly, with the city starting to shrug off its undeserved image of industrial decay. Numerous service-sector & logistics companies have established themselves, and new business parks are bringing fresh economic life to the city. The old mass-production pottery companies are now far fewer, but small high-value craft & heritage pottery producers are thriving.

KPMG's 'Competitive Alternatives 2004' report declared Stoke-on-Trent to be the most cost-effective place to set up a new UK business. The city currently has the advantage of offering very affordable business property - while being surrounded by a belt of extremely affluent areas (The Peak District, Stone, South Cheshire, Newcastle-under-Lyme) and having excellent road links via the A500 and nearby M6 and rail links.

The city's housing market boomed in 2004 and 2005, with terraced houses rising at an average of £700 a week. From April to June 2005, an average Stoke-on-Trent terraced house rose in price at over £500 a week (source: H.M. Land Registry).

Around five million tourists visit Stoke each year, directly supporting around 4,400 jobs. Stoke-on-Trent shows its popularity through the number of repeat visits; around 80 percent of visitors have previously visited. Tourism to the city was kick-started by the National Garden Festival in 1986, and is now sustained by the many pottery factory-shops/tours and by the improved canal network.

A 2003/4 mapping study found 1,000 active creative businesses & artists based within a ten mile radius of the city. The survey did not include the thousands of ceramics companies.

Stoke-on-Trent offers good rail access to nearby cities & London (90 minutes by train). It is on the major West Coast Main Line rail route and there is an inter-city rail station with a first-class lounge and wi-fi service. Nearest international airports are Manchester Airport, Birmingham International and Nottingham East Midlands Airport.

Public Transport in the area is mainly controlled by Potteries Motor Traction, now owned by First Group under the name First PMT. There are also a variety of smaller companies providing independent bus travel, with a central terminal for all services in Hanley City Centre.

The University Hospital of North Staffordshire is a major local employer, as are the area's three universities.

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Sites and attractions

The main shopping centre is Hanley; with the Potteries Shopping Centre, plenty of major high street shops, and a scattering of unique specialist retailers. With the Peak District National Park just ten miles away, Hanley naturally boasts five outdoors clothing & equipment shops.

Stoke-on-Trent is home to two Football League teams, Stoke City F.C. (the Potters), whose ground is the Britannia Stadium, and Port Vale F.C. (the Valiants) who play at Vale Park, Burslem. Football fans may also like to visit the shrine to Sir Stanley Matthews in Stoke-upon-Trent churchyard.

Nightlife has boomed in recent years, with Hanley becoming increasingly popular for its nightclubs, theatres, pubs, bars and restaurants. Nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme also has plenty of bars and pubs to offer to young people. There are also several theatres outside the city centre, and a long-established 'art-house' cinema in Shelton.

The city's rich past can best be explored through visiting one of its many museums & galleries; such as the Etruria Industrial Museum, the Elizabethan Ford Green Hall, the world-class ceramics collection at the main Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Gladstone Pottery Museum and the newly opened Ceramica in Burslem. Burleigh in Middleport is not a formal museum, but is well worth visiting since it is the world's oldest working Victorian pottery. There are ambitious plans to open the huge Chatterley Whitfield colliery as a Mining Museum, since it has been given Ancient Monument status, ranking it in importance with Stonehenge.

In 2005 the city saw the results of a £100-million refurbishment of Trentham Gardens, the completion of 50-miles of new National Cycle Network off-road bicycle paths throughout the city, the installation of £1,000,000 worth of new public art, and numerous improvements to the extensive & popular canal system.

A few miles to the east of Stoke-on-Trent is the theme park Alton Towers and to the north-east the National Trust house and gardens at Biddulph Grange. Further east but within easy access of Stoke-on-Trent is the Peak District National Park. To the north of the city is the National Trust moated manor house Little Moreton Hall.

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Education

There are three higher education institutions in the local area. In Stoke-on-Trent is Staffordshire University, which has its main site in Shelton (the other, for computing, is in the town of Stafford). This is the former North Staffordshire Polytechnic, gaining its university status in 1992 as one of the Post-1992 universities. Five miles from the city-centre is the older Keele University, a campus university well known for its innovative joint-honours degrees. Keele University have recently established the new medical school, training the doctors of tomorrow. Seven miles from the city-centre is the Alsager-based Art & Design campus of Manchester Metropolitan University (formerly Alsager Teacher Training College).

Stoke-on-Trent has a reputation of being good those taking media & creative courses. Stoke-on-Trent College is the largest college in England and has two sites; one in Burslem (media & performing arts) and the main centre in nearby Shelton. The Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College is based in Fenton. Nearby Leek, Crewe, and Newcastle-under-Lyme all have excellent F.E. colleges. There is also a Workers' Educational Association residential college at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent.

An exciting development for the city of Stoke-on-Trent is the formation of Keele University Medical School. This course involves teaching at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent. This facility is supplying a progressively increasing number of medical graduates to North Staffordshire.

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Media

The city's main daily newspaper is The Sentinel, based in Etruria. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Stoke, the commercial Signal 1 and Signal 2 and Cross Rhythms City Radio (Community Radio). Television news is covered by Birmingham-based BBC Midlands Today, Manchester-based BBC Northwest, ITV Central and Granada television.

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Famous people of Stoke-on-Trent

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External links


Districts of the West Midlands Image:Flag of England.svg

Birmingham | Bridgnorth | Bromsgrove | Cannock Chase | Coventry | Dudley | East Staffordshire | Herefordshire | Lichfield | Malvern Hills | Newcastle-under-Lyme | North Shropshire | North Warwickshire | Nuneaton and Bedworth | Oswestry | Redditch | Rugby | Sandwell | Shrewsbury and Atcham | Solihull | South Shropshire | South Staffordshire | Stafford | Staffordshire Moorlands | Stoke-on-Trent | Stratford-on-Avon | Tamworth | Telford and Wrekin | Walsall | Warwick | Wolverhampton | Worcester | Wychavon | Wyre Forest

Counties with multiple districts: Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire

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