Manchester[a] is a city inGreater Manchester, England. It had a population of over 589,000 in 2024. It borders theCheshire Plain to the south, thePennines to the north and east, and the city ofSalford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populousconurbations, theGreater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87million.[7]
The nameManchester originates fromMamucium, theLatin name for the city, or its variantMancunio; its citizens are still referred to as Mancunians.[b] These names are generally thought to represent aLatinised version of an olderBrittonic name. It is generally accepted that the etymology of the Brittonic name is from *mamm-, which means 'breast', in reference to abreast-shaped hill on which the city was built.[11][12] However, more recent work suggests that the name could have instead come from the Brittonic *mamma, which means 'mother', in reference to alocal river goddess.[13][c] Thesuffix-chester is fromOld Englishceaster ('Roman fortification', itself a loanword from Latincastra, 'fort; fortified town'),[11][12] and was first used after theend of Roman rule in Britain to describe places with former links to the Roman military.[14]
Nicknames for the city that originated from its role in the Industrial Revolution include "warehouse city" and "cottonopolis". The city is widely known as 'thecapital of theNorth'[15][16][17][18] and is part of an ongoing dispute with the larger city ofBirmingham to be the unofficialsecond city of the United Kingdom.[19][20][21][22] The city is also infrequently referred to as 'Manny',[23][24][25] especially by non-Mancunians, which is considered offensive by some residents.[23] The phrase was particularly popularised by rapperBugzy Malone's use of the phrase "putting Manny on the map".[24][25]
Fragments of the Mamucium fort remain visible inCastlefield. The Roman habitation of Manchester probably ended around the 3rd century; itscivilian settlement appears to have been abandoned by the mid-3rd century, although the fort may have supported a small garrison until the late 3rd or early 4th century.[32] The fort was first investigated by archaeologists in 1906,[33] and opened to the public in 1984.[34]
Manchester is recorded as amarket in 1282.[42] Around the 14th century, Manchester received an influx ofFlemish weavers, which has sometimes been credited as the foundation of the region's textile industry.[43] The town became an important centre for the manufacture and trade ofwoollens andlinen, and by 1540 had expanded to become, in the words ofJohn Leland, "the fairest, best builded, quickest, and most populous town of all Lancashire".[35] The cathedral and Chetham's buildings are the only prominent survivors from that period.[36]
Large quantities of cotton were used after about 1600, firstly in linen and cottonfustians; by around 1750, pure cotton fabrics were produced and cotton had overtaken wool in importance.[35] The Irwell and Mersey were made navigable by 1736, opening a route from Manchester to the sea docks on the Mersey. TheBridgewater Canal, Britain's first wholly artificial waterway, opened in 1761, bringing coal from mines atWorsley to central Manchester. The canal was extended to the Mersey by 1776. The combination of competition and improved efficiency halved the cost of coal and the transport cost of raw cotton.[35][40] Manchester became the dominant marketplace for textiles produced in the surrounding towns.[35] Acommodities exchange, opened in 1729,[36] and numerous large warehouses aided commerce. In 1780,Richard Arkwright began construction of Manchester's first cotton mill.[36][40] Manchester exported its cotton goods to Africa as a way of paying for slaves to be purchased for thetransatlantic slave trade;[45] this supply line to Africa and its reliance on theBritish Empire supported Manchester's population and economic growth.[45][46]
1800–1880: Industrialisation
View from Kersal Moor towards Manchester bySebastian Pether,c. 1820, then still a rural landscape. Note theRiver Irwell in both paintings.
Manchester was one of the centres oftextile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution. The majority ofcotton spinning took place in the towns of south Lancashire and north Cheshire, and Manchester was for a time the most productive centre of cotton processing.[47] This caused the rapid expansion of the town that would lead to it becoming the world's first industrialised city.[9] Manchester also became known as the world's largest marketplace for cotton goods;[35][48] it was dubbed "Cottonopolis" and "Warehouse City" during theVictorian era.[47] Brought on by theIndustrial Revolution, there was rapid, unplanned urban expansion of Manchester at the turn of the 19th century.[49][50][8] Engineering firms made machines for the cotton trade, then diversified into general manufacture. The chemical industry started by producing bleaches and dyes, but expanded into other areas. Commerce was supported by financial service industries such as banking and insurance.[51] In 1803,John Dalton formulated his atomic theory while teaching in the city.[52]
ThePeterloo Massacre of 1819 resulted in 18 deaths and several hundred injured.
Manchester was the scene of bread and labour riots, as well as calls for greater political recognition by the city's working class.[53] On 16 August 1819, large crowds protested inSt Peter's Square, Manchester;[54] estimates of the crowd range between 30,000–150,000 contemporaneously and 50,000–80,000 by modern critics.[55] When ordered to disperse the peaceful crowd, the soldiers charged them on horseback, killing at least 18 and injuring more than 700 in thePeterloo Massacre.[54]
Trade, and feeding the growing population, required a large transport and distribution infrastructure: the canal system was extended, and Manchester became one end of the world's first intercity passenger railway – theLiverpool and Manchester Railway – in 1830.[35] The number ofcotton mills in Manchester peaked at 108 in 1853; afterwards, the number declined and Manchester was surpassed as the largest centre of cotton spinning byBolton by the 1850s andOldham by the 1860s. This period of decline coincided with the rise of the city as the financial centre of the region.[47] In 1878 theGeneral Post Office (the forerunner ofBritish Telecom) provided its first telephones to a firm in Manchester.[59]
New industrial processes were developed in the city, and the city had become known for its experimental ways of thinking: theManchester School promotedfree trade andlaissez-faire, there was the advent of new classes or groups in society and new religious sects, and the city was experimenting with new forms of labour organisation. The period saw the construction of some of its finest public buildings, includingManchester Town Hall. It also enjoyed a vibrant culture, which included theHallé Orchestra. In 1889, when county councils were created in England, the municipal borough became acounty borough, giving it greater autonomy.[60] Manchester was also a site of widespread poverty and squalor, with economic extremes on display throughout the city.[61]
TheManchester Ship Canal was built between 1888 and 1894, in some sections by canalisation of the Rivers Irwell and Mersey, running 36 miles (58 km)[62] fromSalford to Eastham Locks on the tidal Mersey. This enabled oceangoing ships to sail into the Port of Manchester. On the canal's banks, just outside the borough, the world's first industrial estate was created atTrafford Park.[35]
Manchester continued to process cotton, consituting 65% of the world's production in 1913.[35] The First World War interrupted access to the export markets; combined with increased cotton processing in other parts of the world, this led to the rapid decline of the city's textile industry.[63] Industry and employment suffered during theGreat Depression,[64][65] particularly due to its effect on the value of British exports.[64] Manchester also saw a cultural revolution in the 1930s as locals tried greater creativity and local pride to counteract the effect of the status of the economy; this included the first formation of the BritishHigh Street, and embarking on infrastructure projects such as theManchester Central Library.[65]
The biggest air raids on the city during the war took place during theManchester Blitz on the nights of 22–23 and 24–25 December 1940, when an estimated 474 tonnes (467 long tons) of high explosives and over 37,000 incendiary bombs were dropped. Much of the historic city centre was destroyed, including 165 warehouses, 200 business premises, and 150 offices. 376 were killed and 30,000 houses were damaged.[66]Manchester Cathedral,Royal Exchange andFree Trade Hall were among the buildings seriously damaged, with the restoration of the cathedral taking 20 years.[67] 589 civilians were recorded to have died as a result of enemy action within the Manchester County Borough.[68]
Cotton processing and trading continued to decline in peacetime, and the exchange closed in 1968.[35] In 1963 the port of Manchester was the UK's third largest,[69] and employed over 3,000 men, but the canal was unable to handle the increasingly largecontainer ships. Traffic declined, and the port closed in 1982.[70] Heavy industry suffered a downturn from the 1960s and was greatly reduced under the economic policies ofMargaret Thatcher's government after 1979. Manchester lost 150,000 jobs in manufacturing between 1961 and 1983.[35] Regeneration began in the late 1980s, with initiatives such as theMetrolink, theBridgewater Concert Hall and theManchester Arena. Two bids to host the Olympic Games were part of a process to raise the international profile of the city.[71]
On 15 June 1996, theProvisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) set off alorry bomb inCorporation Street in the city centre. The largest to be detonated on British soil, the bomb injured over 200 people, heavily damaged buildings, and broke windows1⁄2 mile (800 m) away.[72] It was one of the most expensive man-made disasters in history:[73] the cost of the immediate damage was initially estimated at £50million (equivalent to £119,000,000 in 2023[74]), but this was quickly revised upwards.[72] The final insurance pay-out was over £400million (equivalent to £948,000,000 in 2023[74]); many affected businesses never recovered from the loss of trade.[75] However, it is also credited as helping to drive the regeneration of the city.[10]
Large parts of the city have been demolished, re-developed or modernised with the use of glass and steel. Former mills have been converted into apartments. The 47-storey, 554-foot (169 m)Beetham Tower was the tallest UK building outside ofLondon and the highest residential accommodation in Europe when completed in 2006. It was surpassed in 2018 by the 659-foot (201 m) South Tower of theDeansgate Square project, also in Manchester.[83]
The town of Manchester was granted a charter by Thomas Grelley in 1301 but lost itsborough status in a court case of 1359. Until the 19th century, local government was largely controlled bymanorial courts, the last of which was dissolved in 1846. In 1792, Police Commissioners were established for the social improvement of Manchester. Manchester regained its borough status in 1838 and comprised the townships ofBeswick,Cheetham Hill,Chorlton upon Medlock andHulme. By 1846, with increasing population and greater industrialisation, the Borough Council had assumed the powers of the Police Commissioners. In 1853, Manchester was grantedcity status. Its boundaries have since been extended subsumingHarpurhey,Rusholme and parts ofMoss Side andWithington in 1885;Burnage,Chorlton-cum-Hardy,Didsbury,Fallowfield,Levenshulme,Longsight,Withington,Baguley andNorthenden between the 1880s and the 1930s;[60] andRingway in 1974.[90]
In 2014, it was announced that Greater Manchester would have a directly elected mayor with fiscal control over health, transport, housing and police in ten local authorities which form theGreater Manchester Combined Authority.[91]Andy Burnham was elected as the firstMayor of Greater Manchester in the2017 election,[92] and was re-elected in2021[93] and2024.[94] The mayor of Greater Manchester oversees a budget of £2.6bn in 2024, including £1.51bn is spent on policing and transport,[95] making this the most powerful mayoral role in the country.[94] Burnham is thepolice and crime commissioner for Greater Manchesterex officio and is responsible for some housing, education, and welfare policies.[95]
The City of Manchester. Theland use is overwhelmingly urban.
At53°28′0″N2°14′0″W / 53.46667°N 2.23333°W /53.46667; -2.23333, 160 miles (260 km) northwest of London, Manchester lies in a bowl-shaped land area bordered to the north and east by thePennines, an upland chain that runs the length ofnorthern England, and to the south by theCheshire Plain. Manchester is 35.0 miles (56.3 km) north-east ofLiverpool and 35.0 miles (56.3 km) north-west ofSheffield, making the city the halfway point between the two. Thecity centre is on the east bank of theRiver Irwell, near its confluences with the RiversMedlock andIrk, and is relatively low-lying, being between 35 and 42 metres (115 and 138 feet) above sea level.[96]
TheRiver Mersey flows through the south of Manchester. Much of the inner city, especially in the south, is flat, offering views from many highrise buildings in the city of the foothills and moors of the Pennines, which can often be capped with snow in the winter. Manchester's climate, its proximity to aseaport atLiverpool, the availability of waterpower from its rivers, and its nearby coal reserves were highly influential in its early development as an industrial city.[97]
For purposes of theOffice for National Statistics, Manchester forms the most populous settlement within theGreater Manchester Urban Area, the United Kingdom's second-largest conurbation. There is a mix of high-density urban and suburban locations. The largest open space in the city, at around 260 hectares (642 acres),[98] isHeaton Park. Manchester is contiguous on all sides with several large settlements, except for a small section along its southern boundary withCheshire. TheM60 andM56 motorways pass throughNorthenden andWythenshawe respectively in the south of Manchester. Heavy rail lines enter the city from all directions, the principal destination beingManchester Piccadilly station, the city's largest railway terminus, and thesecond-busiest in Great Britain outside of London.[99]
Manchester lies at the centre of theNorth West Green Belt. This reducesurban sprawl, prevents towns in the conurbation from further convergence, protects the identity of outlying communities, and preserves nearby countryside. It is achieved by restricting inappropriate development within the designated areas and imposing stricter conditions on permitted building.[100] Being highly urban, the borough contains limited protectedgreenfield land with minimal development opportunities.[101]
Manchester has a temperateoceanic climate (Köppen:Cfb), like much of the British Isles, with warm summers and cold winters compared to other parts of the UK. Summer daytime temperatures regularly top 20 °C (68 °F). In recent years, temperatures have occasionally surpassed 30 °C (86 °F). There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. The city's average annual rainfall is 806.6 mm (31.76 inches)[102] compared to a UK average of 1,125.0 mm (44.29 inches).[103] Its mean rain days are 140.4 per annum,[102] compared to the UK average of 154.4.[103]
Manchester has a relatively high humidity level; this, along with abundant soft water, was one factor that led to the advancement of the textile industry in the area.[104] Snowfalls are not common in the city because of theurban warming effect. TheWest Pennine Moors to the north-west,South Pennines to the north-east andPeak District to the east receive more snow, which can close roads leading out of the city.[105] They include theA62 viaOldham andStandedge,[106] theA57,Snake Pass, towardsSheffield,[107] and thePennine section of the M62.[108] The lowest temperature ever recorded in Manchester was −17.6 °C (0.3 °F) on 7 January 2010.[109] The highest was 38.0 °C (100.4 °F) on 19 July 2022, during the2022 European Heatwave.[110]
Source 1: Starlings Roost Weather[111] NOAA (relative humidity and snow days 1961–1990)[112]
Source 2: Starlings Roost Weather[113] Current Results - Weather and Science[114] Meteo Climat[115] Time and Date: Average dew point (1985–2015)[116] WeatherAtlas[117]
The UK- and foreign-born population pyramid of Manchester in 2021
In the2021 United Kingdom census, the population of the City of Manchester was 552,000, an increase of 9.7% from the2011 census.[118] It was slower than the increase between 2001 and 2021 of 20.8%, which was the largest in the UK outside of London.[119] The growth was higher than the forecasted rate of growth of 5.8%.[120] 43.5% of people had nevermarried, 37% were married, 12.24% wereseparated ordivorced, and 7.26% werewidowed.[121]
Since 1991, the City of Manchester has grown by 36.3%, faster than other major cities in England. In 2012, 6,547,000 people lived within 30 miles (50 km) of Manchester and 11,694,000 within 50 miles (80 km).[120] In 2011/2012, births exceeded deaths by 4,800.[120] Manchester has a younger population than the average for England: nationally, 82.6% of people are below the age of 65 compared to 91.2% for the City of Manchester. Greater Manchester Combined Authority's analysis of the 2021 census noticed the rising number of 0–15 year olds was a large drive for the increasing population.[122] The ManchesterLarger Urban Zone, aEurostat measure of the functional city-region approximated to local government districts, had a population of 2,539,100 in 2004.[123][e]
Since the 2001 census, the proportion of Christians in Manchester has fallen from 62.4% to 48.7% in 2011. The proportion of those with no religious affiliation rose from 16% to 25.3%. The proportion of Muslims increased from 9.1% to 15.8%. The size of the Jewish population in Greater Manchester is the largest in Britain outside London.[126]
Ethnicity
Manchester Chinatown's Paifang archThe ethnic demography of Manchester from 1971 to 2021
The City of Manchester has the highest non-white proportion of any district in Greater Manchester. The2021 census showed that 56.8% of the population wasWhite. 48.7% wereWhite British, 1.7%White Irish, 0.1%Gypsy orIrish Traveller, and 6.2%Other White. The size of mixed European and British ethnic groups is unclear.[127] 5.2% weremixed race (1.8% White and Black Caribbean, 1.1% White and Black African, 1.1% White and Asian, 1.2% other mixed), 20.9%Asian (2.7%Indian, 11.9%Pakistani, 1.8%Bangladeshi, 2.3%Chinese, 2.2% other Asian), 12%Black (8.7% African, 1.9%Caribbean, 1.4%other Black), 2.7%Arab and 2.4% of other ethnic heritage.[128]
Moss Side,Longsight,Cheetham Hill, andRusholme are population centres for ethnic minorities.[35] Manchester's Irish Festival, including aSt Patrick's Day parade, is one of Europe's largest.[129] There is a well-establishedChinatown in the city, which attracts large numbers of Chinese university students[130] who contribute to Manchester having the third-largest Chinese population in Europe.[131][132]
The Great Jackson Street skyscraper district under construction in Central Manchester
Macroeconomic wealth
TheOffice for National Statistics does not produce economic data for the City of Manchester alone; instead it groups the city withSalford,Stockport,Tameside, andTrafford in an area named Greater Manchester South.[141] In 2023, the area had aGVA of £34.8billion. The economy grew relatively strongly between 2002 and 2012, when growth was 2.3% above the national average.[141]
It is ranked as a Beta– (beta minus) city by theGlobalization and World Cities Research Network in their 2024 rankings, placing it second for UK cities behind London, which is A++ (the highest ranking).[142] As the UK economy continues to recover from its 2008–2010 downturn, Manchester compares favourably according to recent figures. In 2012 it showed the strongest annual growth in business stock (5%) of allcore cities.[143]
The decade between 2015 and 2025 saw the economy significantly affected by the country's withdrawal from the European Union (Brexit) and by theCOVID-19 pandemic.[144][145] Estimates showed a decline in economic output from COVID in the region of 9–10%, and with only 1% of firms in the city reporting a positive impact from Brexit, with 60% reporting a neutral or negative impact.[146] The years since 2021 have seen some recovery, with forecasts for 2025–28 suggesting that growth in the region will reach 2.4% annually, exceeding the expected national growth rate of 1.6%.[147]
Individual wealth
Some of the country's most deprived and most affluent neighbourhoods are found in Manchester.[148][149] As of the 2019Indices of Multiple Deprivation, Manchester is the second most deprived local authority by rank, the sixth by score, and fifth by the proportion ofLower Layer Super Output Areas (LLSOAs) that are deprived, with 43% of its LLOAs falling among the top 10% of areas nationally by the extent of deprivation. By final ranking it is only beaten byBlackpool.[150] As of the 2021 census, 53.5% of the over-16 population is employed, 5.7% are unemployed while actively seeking work, and 40.8% are economically inactive.[151]
Greater Manchester is home to more multi-millionaires than anywhere outside London, with the City of Manchester taking up most of the tally.[152] In 2013 Manchester was ranked 6th in the UK for quality of life, according to a rating of the UK's 12 largest cities.[153] Women fare better in Manchester than the rest of the country in comparative pay with men. The per hours-workedgender pay gap is 3.3% compared with 11.1% for Britain.[154] 37% of the working-age population in Manchester have degree-level qualifications, as opposed to an average of 33% across other core cities,[154] although its schools under-perform slightly compared with the national average.[155]
Manchester owns two of the country's four busiest airports and uses its earnings to fund local projects.[156]KPMG's competitive alternative report found that in 2012 Manchester had the 9th lowest tax cost of any industrialised city in the world,[157] and fiscal devolution has come earlier to Manchester than to any other British city: it can keep half the extra taxes it gets from transport investment.[158] KPMG's competitive alternative report also found that Manchester was Europe's most affordable city featured, ranking slightly better than the Dutch cities ofRotterdam andAmsterdam, which all have a cost-of-living index of less than 95.[157]
Manchester has the largest UK office market outside London, according to GVA Grimley, with a quarterly office uptake (averaged over 2010–2014) of some 250,000 square feet (23,000 m2) – 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) more than the nearest rival, Birmingham.[159] The strong office market in Manchester has been partly attributed to "northshoring" (fromoffshoring), which entails the relocation or alternative creation of jobs away from the South to areas where office space is possibly cheaper and the workforce market less saturated.[160]
Neo-baroqueLancaster House. Manchester is known for opulent warehouses from the city's textile trade.
Manchester's buildings display a variety of architectural styles, ranging fromVictorian tocontemporary architecture. The widespread use ofred brick characterises the city; much of the architecture of which harks back to its days as a global centre for the cotton trade.[40] Just outside the immediate city centre are a large number of formercotton mills, some of which have been left virtually untouched since their closure, while many have been redeveloped as apartment buildings and office space.Manchester Town Hall, inAlbert Square, was built in theGothic revival style.[161]
Manchester has severalskyscrapers built in the 1960s and 1970s; the tallest was theCIS Tower nearManchester Victoria station until theBeetham Tower was completed in 2006. The latter exemplifies a new surge in high-rise building. It includes aHilton hotel, a restaurant and apartments. The largest skyscraper is now Deansgate Square South Tower, at 201 m (659 ft).The Green Building, oppositeOxford Road station, is an eco-friendly housing project, while the recently completedOne Angel Square is one of the most sustainable large buildings in the world.[162]
TheNorthern Hub improvement programme in the 2010s built electrification schemes into and through Manchester, organised redevelopment of Victoria station and led construction of theOrdsall Chord directly linking Victoria and Piccadilly.[178] The city is served by its local rail network that is now working to capacity.[179] It is also the centre of a county-wide railway network, including theWest Coast Main Line, with two mainline stations:Manchester Piccadilly andManchester Victoria. TheManchester station group – comprising Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Victoria,Manchester Oxford Road andDeansgate – is the third busiest in the UK, with 44.9million passengers recorded in 2017/2018.[173] The city centre, specifically theCastlefield Corridor, suffers from constrained rail capacity causing delays and cancellations – a 2018 report found that all three major Manchester stations are among the ten worst stations in the United Kingdom for punctuality, with Oxford Road deemed the worst in the country.[180]
Manchester became the first city in the UK to acquire a modernlight rail tram system when theManchester Metrolink opened in 1992. In 2023–2024, 42million passenger journeys were made on the system.[182] The system mostly runs on former commuter rail lines converted for light rail use, and crosses the city centre via on-street tram lines.[183] The network consists of eight lines with99 stops.[184] Manchester city centre is also serviced by over a dozen heavy and light rail-based park and ride sites.[185]
The city has one of the most extensive bus networks outside London. Before the rollout ofBee Networkbus franchising across three tranches between 24 September 2023 and 5 January 2025, there were over 50 bus companies operating in theGreater Manchester region radiating from the city. In 2011, 80% of public transport journeys in Greater Manchester were made by bus, amounting to 220million passenger journeys each year.[186]
Manchester Airport is thethird busiest in the United Kingdom, withover double the number of annual passengers of the next busiest non-London airport.[191] Services cover many international destinations, more than any other airport in Britain.[192] It is the only airport in the UK outside London to have two fully-operational runways.[193] It is an "Category 10" airport, able to handle "Code F" aircraft, including theAirbus A380,[194] one of only 17 airports in the world and one of only three UK airports to operate the Airbus.[195]
An extensive canal network passes through Manchester including theAshton Canal,Rochdale Canal andBridgewater Canal – all of which end in Manchester city centre. The canals are still maintained, though now largely repurposed for leisure use. TheManchester Ship Canal, which was built to carry freight from the Industrial Revolution onward, ends in neighbouring Salford before linking with the River Irwell which runs through the north of the city.[200]
Cycling for transportation and leisure is popular in Manchester and the city plays a major role in British cycle racing.[201][202] As of 2023, 2% of journeys in Manchester are made by bicycle,[203] with cycle routes being integrated into Manchester's multimodalBee Network alongside walking, train, tram, and bus routes.[204]
Brass band music, a tradition in the north of England, is important to Manchester's musical heritage;[210] some of the UK's leading bands, such as theCWS Manchester Band and theFairey Band, are from Manchester and surrounding areas, and theWhit Friday brass-band contest takes place annually in the neighbouring areas ofSaddleworth andTameside.[211]
The Manchester Arena, the city's premier indoor multi-use venue and one of thelargest purpose-built arenas in Europe
The municipally ownedManchester Art Gallery houses a permanent collection of European painting and one of Britain's main collections ofPre-Raphaelite paintings.[232][233] TheWhitworth Art Gallery displays modern art, sculpture and textiles and was voted Museum of the Year in 2015.[234] The work ofStretford-born painterL. S. Lowry, known for "matchstick" paintings of industrial Manchester and Salford, can be seen in the City and Whitworth Manchester galleries.[235]
Literature
Gaskell House, where Mrs Gaskell wrote most of her novels. The house is now a museum.
The novelHard Times (1854) byCharles Dickens is reputed to have been set in Manchester and Preston.[243]Jane Eyre was written byCharlotte Brontë in 1846, while she was staying in her lodgings inHulme.[244] She probably envisioned Manchester Cathedral churchyard as the burial place for Jane's parents and the birthplace of Jane herself.[245]
The night-time economy of Manchester has expanded significantly since 1993, with investment from breweries in bars, public houses and clubs, along with active support from the local authorities.[250] The more than 500 licensed premises[251] in the city centre have a capacity to serve more than 250,000 visitors,[252] with 110,000–130,000 people visiting on a typical weekend night,[251] making Manchester the most popular city for events at 79 per thousand people.[253] The night-time economy has a value of about £100million,[254] and supports 12,000 jobs.[251] In 2024, Manchester was voted the 8th best city in the world for nightlife, with voters highlighting its variety and inclusivity for different tastes and backgrounds.[255]
Public houses in theCanal Street area have had an LGBTQ+ clientele since at least 1940 and now form the centre of Manchester's LGBTQ+ community andgay village.[256][257] Critics of the area have described it as a "gay ghetto" and that its general popularity has led to a decreased focus onLGBTQ rights and inclusion.[256] Since the opening of new bars and clubs, the area attracts 20,000 visitors each weekend[250] and hosted theManchester Pride festival each August since 1985.[258] Despite its high attendance, Manchester Pride received criticism from within the LGBT community dating as far back as 2007 due to its decisions on where to spend its revenue.[259]
In 2019, the ManchesterLocal Education Authority (LEA) was ranked second to last out of Greater Manchester's ten LEAs and 140th out of 151 in the country LEAs based on the percentage of pupils attaining grades 4 or above in English and mathematics GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) with 56.2% compared with the national average of 64.9%.[260] Of the 63 secondary schools in the LEA, four had 80% or more pupils achieving Grade 4 or above in English and maths GCSEs:Manchester High School for Girls,The King David High School, Manchester Islamic High School for Girls, and Kassim Darwish Grammar School for Boys.[261] TheManchester Grammar School, established in 1515 in the city, is the largest private day school for boys in the United Kingdom.[262]
Manchester Metropolitan University was formed as Manchester Polytechnic on the merger of three colleges in 1970. It gained university status in 1992, and in the same year absorbed Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education in South Cheshire.[271] The Cheshire campus permanently closed in 2019.[272]The University of Law, the largest provider of vocation legal training in Europe, has a campus in the city.[273]
The Guardian newspaper was founded in the city in 1821 asThe Manchester Guardian. Until 2008, its head office was still in the city, though many of its management functions were moved to London in 1964.[35][285] For many years most national newspapers had offices in Manchester:The Daily Telegraph,Daily Express,Daily Mail,Daily Mirror,The Sun. At its height, 1,500 journalists were employed, earning the city the nickname "secondFleet Street". In the 1980s the titles closed their northern offices and centred their operations in London.[286]
An attempt to launch a Northern daily newspaper, theNorth West Times, employing journalists made redundant by other titles, closed in 1988.[287] Another attempt was made with theNorth West Enquirer, which hoped to provide a true "regional" newspaper for theNorth West, much in the same vein as theYorkshire Post does forYorkshire orThe Northern Echo does for theNorth East; it folded in October 2006.[287]
The main regional newspaper in the city is theManchester Evening News, which was for over 80 years the sister publication ofThe Manchester Guardian.[285] TheManchester Evening News has the largest circulation of a UK regional evening newspaper and is distributed free of charge in the city centre on Thursdays and Fridays, but paid for in the suburbs. Despite its title, it is available all day.[288] Several local weekly free papers are distributed by the MEN group. TheMetro North West is available free atMetrolink stops, rail stations and other busy locations.[289]
Manchester has been a centre oftelevision broadcasting since the 1950s, with several television studios in operation.[290] TheITV franchiseGranada Television has been based in Manchester since 1954. Now based atMediaCityUK, the company's former headquarters atGranada Studios onQuay Street with its distinctive illuminated sign were a prominent landmark on the Manchester skyline for several decades.[291][292][293] Granada producesCoronation Street,[294] local news and programmes for North West England.[295][296] Manchester is also covered by an internet television channel called Manchester TV.[297]
The expansion of international trade links during the Industrial Revolution led to the introduction of the first consuls in the 1820s and since then over 800, from all parts of the world, have been based in Manchester. Manchester hosts consular services for most of the north of England.[307]
The Manchester City zone only includes a handful of stations in the city centre;[27]
The Manchester Post town covers Manchester, Sale, and Salford;[28]
The proposed boundary of the Manchester congestion charge was the M60, not the city itself.[29]
^SinceBrexit the UK has no longer provided data toEurostat, and thus it no longer defines Manchester as a Large Urban Zone. In 2024 a partial deal for GDP data was reached between theOffice for National Statistics and Eurostat, but the latter's website does not mention any plans for data sharing in regards to urban population.[124]
^Manchester formally had an Australian consulate (closed 2001),[312] an Iranian consulate (closed 1987),[313] and a US consulate (closed 1963).[314]
^abThe Cambridge Dictionary of English Place-Names Based on the Collections of the English Place-Name Society, ed. by Victor Watts (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004), underMANCHESTER.
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