The nameStoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent, the originalancient parish, with other settlements beingchapelries.[8]Stoke derives from theOld Englishstoc, a word that at first meant little more thanplace, but which subsequently gained more specific – but divergent – connotations. These variant meanings includeddairy farm,secondary or dependent place or farm,summer pasture,crossing place,meeting place andplace of worship. It is unknown which of these was intended here and all are plausible.
The most frequently suggested interpretations derive from a crossing point on theRoman road that ran from present-dayDerby toChesterton or the early presence of achurch, said to have been founded in 670 AD. BecauseStoke was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishingaffix was usually added later, in this case, the name of theriver.
The motto of Stoke-on-Trent isVis Unita Fortior, which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful, or A United Force is Stronger.[9]
An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888 when an amendment was raised to theLocal Government Bill which would have made the six towns into districts within a county ofStaffordshire Potteries. On 1 April 1910 the "Six Towns" were brought together. Thecounty borough of Hanley, themunicipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with theurban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.[10]
In 1919, the borough proposed to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and theWolstanton United Urban District, both to the west of Stoke. This never took place, due to strong objections from Newcastle Corporation.[11] A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill.[12] Ultimately, Wolstanton was instead added to Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1932. Although attempts to merge Newcastle, Wolstanton andKidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough expanded in 1922, taking inSmallthorne Urban District and parts of other parishes fromStoke upon Trent Rural District.[13]
The borough was grantedcity status in 1925, with alord mayor from 1928. When the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent initially applied for city status in 1925, citing its importance as the centre of the pottery industry, it was refused by theHome Office as it had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. The decision was overturned, when a direct approach was made toKing George V, who agreed that the borough ought to be a city. The public announcement of the elevation to city status was made by the king during a visit to Stoke in June 1925.[13]
The county borough was abolished in 1974. Stoke became anon-metropolitan district of Staffordshire; its status as a unitary authority was restored in April 1997. It remains part of theceremonial county of Staffordshire. ForEurostat purposes it is aITL 3 region (code TLG31).
Restored bottle kilns, Stoke-on-TrentColorado Bouillons Regina and teapots, vitrified tableware by Dudson Brothers Ltd.Porcelain teapot by Henry and Richard Daniel, 1830
Since the 17th century, the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing.[14] Companies such asRoyal Doulton,Dudson,Spode (founded byJosiah Spode),Wedgwood (founded byJosiah Wedgwood),Minton (founded byThomas Minton) and Baker & Co. (founded by William Baker) were established and based there. The local abundance of coal and clay suitable for earthenware production led to the early (initially limited) development of the local pottery industry. The construction of theTrent and Mersey Canal (completed in 1777) enabled the import ofchina clay fromCornwall together with other materials and facilitated the production ofcreamware andbone china.
Other production centres in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high-quality wares. Methodical and highly detailed research and experimentation, carried out over many years, nurtured the development of artistic talent throughout the local community and raised the profile ofStaffordshire Potteries. This was spearheaded by one man,Josiah Wedgwood, who cut the first sod for the canal in 1766 and erected hisEtruria Works that year.
North Staffordshire was a centre for coal mining. The first reports of coal mining in the area come from the 13th century.[15] The Potteries Coalfield (part of the North Staffordshire Coalfield) covers 100 square miles (300 km2).[15]
When coal mining wasnationalised in 1947, about 20,000 men worked in the industry in Stoke-on-Trent. Notable collieries included Hanley Deep Pit, Trentham Superpit (formerly Hem Heath, Stafford and Florence Collieries), Fenton Glebe,Silverdale, Victoria, Mossfield, Parkhall, Norton,Chatterley Whitfield andWolstanton.[15] The industry developed greatly and new investments in mining projects were planned within the City boundaries as recently as the 1990s.[17] However, 1994 saw the last pit to close as the Trentham Superpit was shut.[18]
The Stoke mining industry set several national and international records.Wolstanton Colliery, when modernised, had the deepest mining shafts in Europe at 3,197 ft.[19] In 1933, Chatterley Whitfield Colliery became the first Colliery in the country to mine one million tons of coal. In the 1980s, Florence Colliery in Longton repeatedly set regional and national production records; in 1992, the combined Trentham Superpit (Hem Heath and Florence) was the first mine in Europe to produce 2.5 million saleable tonnes of coal.
Today the mines are all closed, though the scars of mining remain on the landscape. Slag heaps are still visible on the skyline, now covered with flora and fauna. TheChatterley Whitfield site reopened as a museum two years after its closure in 1976. The museum closed in 1991 and the site became aLocal Nature Reserve. It was declared ascheduled monument byEnglish Heritage in 1993.[20][21] The abandoned subterranean mines are inaccessible, though they still add complications to many building projects and occasionally cause minor tremors, detectable only by specialised equipment.[22]
The iron and steel industries occupied important roles in the development of the city, both before and after the federation. Especially notable were those mills located in the valley at Goldendale andShelton below the hill towns of Tunstall, Burslem and Hanley.Shelton Steelworks' production of steel ended in 1978—instead of producing crude steel, they concentrated on rolling steel billet which was transported fromScunthorpe by rail. The rolling plant finally closed in 2002.[23] From 1864 to 1927, Stoke housed therepair shops of theNorth Staffordshire Railway[24] and was the home of independent railway locomotive manufacturersKerr, Stuart and Company from 1881 to 1930.[25]
Shelton Steel Works and the mining operations were heavily involved in theWorld War II industrial effort. Central to theRAF's success was theSupermarine Spitfire designed byReginald Mitchell who, whilst born at 115 Congleton Road in the nearby village ofButt Lane, had hisapprenticeship at Kerr, Stuart and Company's railway works.[26]
TheMichelin tyre company has a presence in Stoke-on-Trent; in the 1920s, it built its first UK plant in the city. In the 1980s, nearly 9,000 workers were employed at the plant but, by 2006, about 1,200 worked there.[27]RAF Meir was located on the outskirts of the city.
Stoke-on-Trent has an area of 36 square miles (93 km2).[28] It is located betweenManchester,Wolverhampton andBirmingham[29] on theM6 corridor in theWest Midlands region. It lies on the upper valley of theRiver Trent at the south-west foothills of thePennines,[30] near the uplands of thePeak District to the north-east and the lowlands of theMidlands andCheshire Plain to the south and west. The city ranges from 96 to 250 metres (315 to 820 ft) above sea level.
Stoke-on-Trent is often known as "the city of five towns", the name given to it by local novelistArnold Bennett, and is the onlypolycentric city in the UK. In his novels, Bennett used mostly recognisable aliases for five of the six towns, although he called Stoke "Knype". Bennett said that he believed "Five Towns" was more euphonious than "Six Towns", so he omitted Fenton, now sometimes referred to as "the forgotten town." As it is a city made up of multiple towns, the city forms aconurbation. In this case, the conurbation is bigger than Stoke itself, because the urban area of Stoke is contiguous with that of administratively separate Newcastle.
The six towns run in a rough line from north to south along theA50 road – Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton. Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, the city centre is usually regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major commercial centre.
ForEurostat purposes, it is aNUTS 3 region (code UKG23); it is also one of four counties or unitary districts that compose the Shropshire and Staffordshire NUTS 2 region.
Stoke-on-Trent, as with all of the United Kingdom, experiences a temperatemaritime climate, lacking in weather extremes. The local area is a little more elevated than much of Staffordshire and Cheshire, resulting in cooler temperatures year-round compared to the nearby Cheshire Plain. On calm, clear nights this is often reversed as cold air drainage causes atemperature inversion to occur. As such, the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle areas are generally not susceptible to severe frosts. The nearestMet Office weather station isKeele University, about four miles west of the city centre.
The absolute high temperature is 36.1 °C (97.0 °F),[31] recorded in July 2022. More typically the average warmest day of the year should be 27.0 °C (80.6 °F).[32] Just under fourteen days per year have a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above.[33]
The absolute minimum temperature stands at −13.3 °C (8.1 °F),[34] recorded in January 1963. In an average year, 41 air frosts are registered.
Stoke is at the centre of the Stoke-on-Trent Green Belt, which is anenvironment andplanning policy that regulates the rural space in Staffordshire surrounding the city and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and extending into Cheshire. It is in place to preventurban sprawl and minimise further convergence with outlying settlements such as Kidsgrove andBiddulph.[38] First defined in 1967,[38] the vast majority of area covered is outside the city.
There are some landscape features and places of interest that are covered by the designation, mainly along its fringes. These include the Trentham and Goldenhill golf courses, Hem Heath Wood Nature Reserve, Meir Heath, Barlaston Common, Caverswall Cricket Club, Park Hall Nature Reserve,Chatterley Whitfield Country Park and Enterprise Centre, the villages ofBaddeley Edge and Ravenscliffe, Bucknall Reservoir, Caldon Canal, the River Blythe, and the Head of Trent,Wedgwood Museum and estate, Strongford Treatment Works and Trent Vale Pumping Station.
In the2011 census, the population of the city was 249,008.[40] This was a modest increase from the 240,636 recorded in the2001 census. 50.2% of the population is female.[40] 91.68% of the population of Stoke-on-Trent were born in the UK.[40]
86.43% of the population identified themselves asWhite British, 4.19% identified asBritish Pakistani and 1.88% identified asOther White. 1.35% identified as Other Asian and 1.36% asBlack.[40] Regarding religion, 60.89% described themselves asChristian, 6.02% asMuslim and 25.19% had no religion. 14.28% of the population was retired and 5.61% were students.[40]
Most of the major pottery companies based in Stoke-on-Trent have factory shops and visitor centres. The £10 millionWedgwood Museum visitor centre opened in the firm's factory inBarlaston in October 2008. The Dudson Centre in Hanley is a museum of the family ceramics business, which is partly housed in a Grade II listed bottle kiln. It is a volunteer centre.
Alton Towers is sited 10 miles (16 km) east of Stoke-on-Trent and is one of the United Kingdom's best-known attractions. TheWaterworld indoor swimming complex onFestival Park near Hanley is also a significant children's attraction.
Each of the six towns in Stoke-on-Trent has at least one park. At nine hectares,Burslem Park is one of the largest registered Victorian parks in the UK.[50] Park Hall Country Park in Weston Coyney is anational nature reserve and its sandstone canyons are aSite of Special Scientific Interest.[51] Hartshill Park in Stoke is a nature reserve. Bucknall Park is home to the City Farm.Westport Lake in Longport is the largest body of water in Stoke-on-Trent[52] and has a nature reserve. Queens Park or Longton Park in Dresden is one of the city's heritage parks and is famous for its horticulture and lakes. It houses several buildings including a clock tower and three bowling pavilions.
Stoke-on-Trent was a world centre for fine ceramics; a skilled design trade has existed in the area since at least the 12th century. In the late 1980s and 1990s, Stoke-on-Trent was hit hard by the general decline in the British manufacturing sector. Numerous factories,steelworks,collieries andpotteries were closed, including the renownedShelton Bar steelworks. This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'high-skilled but low-paid' workforce.
Moorcroft and Royal Stafford are based in Burslem.Aynsley China is in Longton and is one of the last remaining manufacturers ofbone china in the city. Fine china manufacturerDudson have premises in Hanley and Burslem.Churchill China have their main factory in Tunstall. Hotelware manufacturerSteelite is based in Middleport at the former Dunn Bennett site.
About 9,000 firms are based in the city. Amongst the more notable areBet365,[53] founded by local businessman andStoke City chairmanPeter Coates,[54] and formerlyPhones4U, a large retailer of mobile phones started byJohn Caudwell,[citation needed] until it ceased trading in September 2014.
Stoke City Football Club has been a major symbol of the city since the early 20th century, having spent most of its history in the highest two divisions of the English league, constantly attracting large crowds and signing or launching the careers of many high-profile players – most notablyStanley Matthews andGordon Banks. The club was based at theVictoria Ground in Stoke-upon-Trent from 1878 until 1997, when it moved to the Britannia Stadium (now theBet365 Stadium) at Trentham Lakes. This was one of the early stages of regeneration in the Trentham area of the city, which included the regeneration of Trentham Gardens several years later when retail and food outlets were added to the visitor attraction. Trentham Monkey Forest opened nearby in 2005.
KPMG'sCompetitive Alternatives 2004 report declared Stoke-on-Trent to be the most cost-effective place to set up a new UK business.[57] The city currently has the advantage of offering affordable business property, while being surrounded by a belt of affluent areas such as thePeak District,Stone and southCheshire, and has excellent road links via the A500 and nearbyM6 and rail links.
Tourism to the city was kick-started by theNational Garden Festival in 1986 and is now sustained by the many pottery factory shops and tours and by the improved canal network.
Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent city centre
The main shopping centre is thePotteries Shopping Centre in Hanley, which has 561,000 sq ft (52,100 m2) of retail space with 87 units including major stores forNew Look,Monsoon,HMV,River Island,H. Samuel andSuperdrug.Marks & Spencer andT.K. Maxx also have stores in Hanley. A new shopping centre on the site of Hanley's former bus station was due to open in 2016, but development has been delayed and the project is now in doubt.[58]
The other five towns of the city all have their own smaller town centres. Festival Park is a large retail and business park located in Etruria, built on the former Garden Festival site. There are retail parks in Tunstall, Fenton and Longton. A new retail park in Longton, called Phoenix Park, has opened and has a Currys, Smyths, Pets at Home, Shoezone, Sports Direct, T.K. Maxx and Matalan. A pub, McDonald's, Greggs and Costa are also on the site.[59]
The Night-time industry has boomed in recent years,[when?] with Hanley becoming increasingly popular for its theatres and restaurants.[citation needed]
In 2016, Stoke-on-Trent was ranked the second-best city to start a business by Quality Formations, based on several factors including commercial property, energy, virtual offices, public transport and financial access.[61]
The city is covered by threeHouse of Commons constituencies:Stoke-on-Trent North,Stoke-on-Trent Central andStoke-on-Trent South.[62] Until 2019, the northern and central seats had returned Labour MPs since their creation in 1950. However, in the 2019 general election, all three Stoke-on-Trent constituencies returned a Conservative MP. The former Labour heartland is highly eurosceptic leading to a 69.4% vote to leave theEuropean Union in 2016. The city was within theWest MidlandsEuropean Parliament constituency.
The position of Lord Mayor is largely ceremonial. The title of Lord Mayor was first conferred on the City of Stoke-on-Trent by KingGeorge V who visitedStoke-upon-Trent Town Hall to award the town city status on 5 June 1925.[63] The role of Lord Mayor is decided upon by a vote amongst the elected councillors; the candidates are also selected from the councillors.
Between 1910 and 1928, the Borough and, later, the City of Stoke-on-Trent had a Mayor rather than a Lord Mayor. The first Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent wasCecil Wedgwood of the Wedgwood pottery dynasty.[64]
The city was one of a limited number of English districts with an elected mayor and the only council to use the 'mayor and council-manager'executive arrangements.[65][66]
A local referendum approved a directly elected mayor system in May 2002, by 28,601 votes to 20,578 (a turnout of 27.8%).[67] It was removed following a local referendum in October 2008.
Mike Wolfe, an independent candidate, became the first directly elected mayor after an election on 17 October 2002, narrowly beating Labour Party candidateGeorge Stevenson by just 300 votes.[68] The elected Mayor from 5 May 2005 to 5 June 2009 wasMark Meredith (Labour Party).[69] The 2005 election was notable because about 10% of the ballot papers were either spoiled or ineligible.[70] Meredith's election platform included a pledge to have another referendum on the post of an elected mayor.[71] This was scheduled for May 2007 and resulted in the abolition of the mayoral system.
In October 2008, voters returned to the polls to choose between modifying the system, to Mayor and Cabinet, or abolishing the position of elected Mayor. Votes were 21,231 for abolition and 14,592 for modification on a turnout of 19.23%.[72]
Following a citywide referendum abolishing the position of elected mayor, aLeader and Cabinet system was adopted in June 2009. The Leader of the council is elected by councillors. Each cabinet member makes the decisions on their portfolio area and explains the decisions at the monthly cabinet meetings.[73] The current leader of the council is Cllr Jane Ashworth.[74]
Since the2023 local elections, the council has been controlled by theLabour Party.[75] Between 2015 and 2023, no party had overall control of the city council.[76]
Severn Trent manages Stoke-on-Trent's drinking and waste water.
Since the 1970s, the city's main library had been the former Hanley Library, later known as the City Central Library & Archives in Bethesda Street, which was home to the city's archives. During this period, the City Council operated eight smaller libraries throughout the city. In July 2022, it was announced that the Hanley Library building, along with others in the city, would be closed to be sold. The city archives would be moved to thePotteries Museum and Art Gallery, an adjacent building with frontages to Bethesda Street and Broad Street.[79]
Primitive Methodism was founded byHugh Bourne, a native of Stoke-on-Trent, at a public gathering in the nearby village ofMow Cop. He originally followed theWesleyan form ofMethodism, but in 1801 he reformed the Methodist service by conducting it outside. He founded the first chapel in Tunstall with his brother in 1811.[82] He promotedSunday schools as a method of improving children's education, advocated the equal treatment of women and men, and was involved in thetemperance movement. It was from the Primitive Methodists that many early trade unions found their early leaders.[83] Also of note isJohn Lightfoot, a 17th-century churchman andrabbinical scholar.
The city's first purpose-built mosque was completed in 2012.[84] The city's only synagogue closed in 2006 and was replaced with a smaller one in nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme.[85]
Stoke-on-Trent is linked to the nearbyM6 motorway at junctions 15 and 16 by the A500. Locally theA500 is known as theD road,[86] as its loop between the two motorway junctions, along with the straight section of the M6 between the junctions, resembles the shape of a capital letterD; coincidentally, the number 500 expressed inRoman numerals is alsoD.
TheA50 provides an east–west link between the M6 and theM1 motorway; it joins up with the A500 close to the bet365 Stadium. Improvements to the road network have led to the construction of product distribution centres in the area.[87]
Northern Trains operates a stopping service to Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly.[92]
The other stations in the city areLongport andLongton, which are both on the Crewe–Derby line. Avanti West CoastPendolino no. 390129 is named after the city.[93]
Services are operated primarily byFirst Potteries, along withD&G Bus. There are central bus stations inHanley andLongton. Routes connect the city's six constituent towns, along with Biddulph and Newcastle-under-Lyme.[94]
Between 2013/14 and 2023, bus service provision in the city shrank by 50%.[95]
The city is served by theTrent and Mersey Canal, which sees traffic of some 10,000 boats a year. TheCaldon Canal branches off from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Etruria, within the city boundaries, going toFroghall with one branch going toLeek.
As of November 2009, there were 77 miles (124 km) of newNational Cycle Network off-road bicycle paths through the city, connecting to the national long-distance paths which were completed in 2005. Together with those inNewcastle-under-Lyme, there are now over 100 miles (160 km) of cycle paths in the urban conurbation.[97] A further £10 million of funding has now been secured for the city's cycling network, to be spent in 2009–2011 throughCycling England's support for Stoke as a Cycling City.[98]
The Stoke campus of the University of Staffordshire
There are four further and higher education institutions in the local area, the two further education colleges beingCity of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College andStoke-on-Trent College. Formerly of Fenton, now located in a newly built structure on Leek Road, the Sixth Form College providesA Level teaching for around 1,800 students. Stoke-on-Trent College is much larger and less specialised, offering apprenticeships and adult education; it has a main campus (Cauldon Campus) in Shelton and a secondary campus in Burslem.
A major restructure of Stoke-on-Trent's high school system was proposed in 2007.[99] As part of these plans several established secondary schools closed or merged includingLongton High School (closed 2010),[100]Mitchell High and Edensor High (merged to form The Discovery Academy),[101] St Peter's CE High School and Berry Hill High (merged to formSt Peter's Academy).[102]
One of the legacies of the pottery industry was Stoke's version of thewakes week. Although better known in industrial Lancashire, the Stoke week is known locally as the Potters' Holidays[103] or Potters' Fortnight and occurred the last week in June, the first week in July and another week in August. This gave what appeared to be strange school holidays, with the summer term having a two-week break at the end of June, then children returning to school for three weeks before taking a five-week summer holiday. This observance has disappeared from the local schools, due to decreased emphasis on traditional industries.
Stoke City's bet365 Stadium, opened in 1997, has a 30,089 capacity.[104]
Stoke-on-Trent is the smallest city to boast two professional clubs in theEnglish Football League (EFL). The club bearing the area's name isStoke City, formed in 1863 and is the second-oldest professional football club in England.[105] They currently play at thebet365 Stadium at Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-on-Trent, which has been their home since 1997 when they relocated from theVictoria Ground in Stoke after 119 years.[106] They were among the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888. They won their first and, to date, only major trophyin 1972, when they lifted theLeague Cup.[107]
In 1985, Stoke City were relegated from theFirst Division and began a 23-year exile from the top flight of English football which did not end until they won promotion in2008, by which time the First Division had become thePremier League.[108] Stoke City reached the final of theFA Cup for the first time in 2011, butwere defeated byManchester City.[109] Stoke City were relegated from the Premier League in 2018.[110]
The club and the city's most famous player is the late SirStanley Matthews, who began and ended his playing career with Stoke City, sandwiching 14 years atBlackpool where he played in what became known as theMatthews Final.[111] He also managed Port Vale from 1965 to 1968.[111] He was the first active footballer to receive aknighthood.[111] Matthews made 54 appearances for theEngland national football team, scoring 11 times.[111] There are two statues of Matthews in the city: one in Hanley and one at the Bet365 Stadium.[111]
Vale Park, home of Port Vale. Completed in 1950, at the time of its construction it was nicknamed 'The Wembley of the North'.[112]
The city's other professional football club isPort Vale, which was formed in 1876; it plays atVale Park in the Burslem area.[113] Previous stadiums include theAthletic Ground in Cobridge (1886–1913) and TheOld Recreation Ground in Hanley (1913–1950).[114][115] They joined the Football League in 1892 but were forced to resign in1907 due to financial problems, only to return in1919.[116] Their highest league position came in1931 when they finished fifth in theSecond Division.[116]
In 1954, while in theThird Division North, Port Vale progressed to the FA Cup semi-final when they were knocked out by First DivisionWest Bromwich Albion atVilla Park.[116] This remains the furthest they have progressed in the competition.[116] Unlike Stoke City, their local rivals in thePotteries derby, they have never played top division football and hold the record for most years spent in the second tier without ever playing in the first.[117][118] Individuals of note includeJohn Rudge (who managed the club for 16 years from 1983 to 1999) andRoy Sproson (who made aclub record 842 appearances for the club from 1950 until 1972 and was later their manager).[119][120]
Previous clubs from the city includeDresden United, a club which was disestablished before the city was federated;[121] as well as amateur clubsMeir KA (1972–2010) andNorton United (1989–2015).[122] Currently, the city is represented at amateur level byEastwood Hanley (1946–1997; re-established in 2014) andHanley Town (established 1966).[123][124]
Speedway; the city's team is theStoke Potters. It was staged at the Greyhound Stadium in Sun Street in Hanley intermittently between 1929 and 1939. In 1947, the Potters were part of the post-war boom rising from Division Three of the National League to Division Two before closing in the early 1950s. The Potters were revived in 1960 and they raced in the Provincial League until the end of 1963, when the stadium was closed and the site redeveloped. Speedway was revived atLoomer Road Stadium in Newcastle-under-Lyme, initially as Chesterton, before it reverted to the Stoke name. The stadium is also used forBriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars andBriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars during the summer.[citation needed]
Cycle Speedway was popular in the city from the 1940s. Boys would travel all over the city to race against rival teams. The most famous team in the 1960s was the Shelton Tigers; they travelled across England and Wales to race against other teams. The Tigers won the Midland League and the BritishChampion of Champions Trophy, against Southampton.[citation needed]
The city has a sporting Hall of Fame, opened in 2011 to honour sporting legends from the city. Former Stoke City and England footballerStanley Matthews and former darts world championPhil Taylor were the first names to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.[132] They were followed by former Port Vale footballerRoy Sproson and England's World Cup winning goalkeeperGordon Banks (who spent five years with Stoke City).[133]
World championsquash player, Great Britain and England internationalAngela Smith, was born in the city and was largely responsible for the ladies' game going open. She is regarded as one of the most famous players of British squash.[134]Wicket-keeperBob Taylor, who played forDerbyshire andEngland was born and still lives in the area. He represented England 58 times and still holds the world record for the most dismissals in the first-class game (1649). In golf, Trenthams'David Lynn, the golfer, (born 1973) was the KLM Open Champion of 2004.[135]
Colclough China Longton, a factory typical of the mid-20th century
The architecture of North Staffordshire has a history expressive of locally acquired or manufactured building materials, including: quarried stone, coal and clay for brick and tile-making, ash, sand gravel and cement for concrete; and also cast iron steel and timber.[citation needed] Examples include:
19th-century country house estates, such asTrentham Hall
Railway buildings, including Stoke-on-Trent station
The expansion and renewal of industrial, civic and amenity buildings, including the Potteries Museum and Art Gallery.
Stoke-on-Trent's architecture is tied closely to theindustrial heritage of the city.Bottle ovens (used for early pottery manufacture), canal-side and railway-related mill, factory or warehouse buildings evolved – within the tightly knit street pattern of each of the six townships – from transport links and adjacency to local generationally skilled labour. Post-WWII pottery factories developed a style typified byopen-plan manufacturing areas, surrounded by wide expanses of window-walling from floor to ceiling, allowing good daylighting for intricate tasks such aslithography, fettling and decoration.
In 1966,Stone-bornCedric Price had proposed a Potteries Thinkbelt design which sought to make use of decommissioned railway routes, following theBeeching Cuts and the scarred landscape of coal mining to provide linked learning centres for a technical industry-based curriculum. TheStaffordshire University Architecture course has introduced an annual Cedric Price Day celebrating this and other projects of his.[136]
The major art gallery is ThePotteries Museum & Art Gallery, located in Hanley. It contains a collection of fine ceramics, a rotating programme of exhibitions and a permanent collection. In 2010, it became one of the permanent homes of theStaffordshire Hoard, the most important collection ofAnglo-Saxon gold yet found.
The city's Cultural Quarter in Hanley contains the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, theRegent Theatre and theVictoria Hall. There are also smaller elements, including the independent Dazed Gallery[137] and AirSpace, the city's only contemporary art gallery, artist-led and artist run.[138] The Artbay Gallery in Fenton[139] has a contemporary range of original works as well as limited editions.
EdwardianSchool of Art in Burslem has been refurbished with £1.2 million, and is now run without a public subsidy. The Hothouse Centre for Ceramic Design and the Roslyn Works complex of craft studios operate in Longton. Also based in Burslem is the Barewall Gallery,[140] which has a large collection of work by local artists including original art byArthur Berry (The Lowry of The Potteries), Jack Simcock, and by new emerging Potteries artists.
Perseus with the Head of Medusa sculpture by Benvenuto Cellini at Trentham Gardens
The Grade II* listed statue ofPerseus with the Head of Medusa, which stands adjacent to the lake at Trentham Gardens, a part of Trentham Estate, is a copy of an original work byBenvenuto Cellini, which was sculpted forCosimo I Duke of Tuscany from 1545 to 1554. In the early 19th century, the then Duke of Tuscany, allowed a cast of Cellini's statue to be taken for his friend, the 2nd Duke of Sutherland; it is the only bronze cast of the statue[141] The bronze sculpture was installed at Trentham in 1840, during Charles Barry's remodelling of the estate, and the statue forms a focal point for his Italianate gardens located by the lake at the south end of the central axis of the parterre. Barry designed the circular platform on which the statue is set.
Statue of Josiah Wedgwood by Edward Davis unveiled at its present location in 1863
Welcoming visitors to the city as they alight from their train at Stoke-on-Trent station is a statue ofJosiah Wedgwood,[142] the centrepiece to the Grade II listed Winton Square area. The statue byEdward Davis was cast in bronze in 1860 and first displayed at the 1862 London Exhibition (also known as theInternational Exhibition of 1862)[143] which was the successor to the 1851Great Exhibition. Funded by public subscription, the Stoke-on-Trent unveiling took place on 24 February 1863. A replica of the statue was cast in the 1950s for the Wedgwood Barlaston factory site, where it now stands – outside theWedgwood Museum. In Josiah's hand is an example of his pre-eminent work, thePortland Vase.
Man of Fire, a 1964 sculpture installed on the Lewis's store (later Debenhams), in Hanley
The Spirit of Fire[144] also known asThe Man of Fire or sometimes locally asJack Frost or evenThe Spiky Man, a 1964 sculpture byDavid Wynne, is mounted upon the façade of what was theLewis's Department Sore (designed bythe Percy Thomas Partnership). The inscription below the sculpture reads: "Fire is at the root of all things visible and invisible" – a reference to the industrial heart of The Potteries: ceramics, railways, steelmaking and mining.
CAPO, a modern interpretation depicting the head of Josiah Wedgwood byVincent Woropay was originally commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council for the 1986National Garden Festival. It was moved in 2009 to an appropriate site in Festival Way close to Wedgwood'sEtruria Hall home. In February 2023, the statue was demolished by council contractors during works to widen the road.[145] A subsequent investigation led to the resignation of the deputy council leader as the work had not been correctly planned or authorised by the council. The leader of the council has pledged to have the statue restored[146]
A Man Can't Fly sculpture
A Man Can't Fly, commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 1989, is a statue of "a figure of a man balancing horizontally upon one leg" (arabesque, aballet pose), by Cheshire sculptor Ondre Nowakowski (b.1954). The pose appears as a reference toSuperman in flight. It stands atop a column with the words 'A MAN CAN'T FLY' repeated vertically around its circumference".[147] The location is at the Leek Road/ Glebe Street junction, close to Stoke station.
TheGolden sculpture, March 2017
The outskirts of Tunstall became home to a new public art statue called Golden in 2015. The 69 ft (21m) steel work of art byWolfgang Buttress was privately funded with £180,000Section 106 monies and is made fromCOR-TEN Steel, the same material as theAngel of the North.[148] The tapered lozenge design features powerful LED lights that will illuminate 1,500 glass prisms containing the written wishes or memories of local residents.[149] Each prism will be suspended from the main body of the sculpture by a short arm, giving the artwork a bristly appearance. It is located on the former site of the Potteries Pyramid,[150] which was to have been moved to a nearby roundabout.[151]
In October 2013, a sculpture,Unearthed (Lidice) designed by Sarah Nadin (b.1983) and Nicola Winstanley (b.1984) also known as Dashyline studios,[152] commemorating the efforts of miners to rebuild the Czech village ofLidice devastated during theSecond World War was unveiled. The 6.8-metre-high (22 ft 4 in) steel sculpture cost £100,000 to build and features 3,000 tags bearing the initials of people who promise to share the story of the 1942Lidice Shall Live movement. North Staffordshire-based Dashyline was commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to create the artwork, which has been installed near Hanley bus station. The sculpture was manufactured and installed by local Company, Patera Engineering Ltd based in Fenton.[153] In 2018 a pear tree, grafted from the protected pear tree which survived the destruction of Lidice, was planted in Stoke-on-Trent to commemorate theLidice Shall Live campaign.[154]
Arnold Bennett StatueThis statue celebrates the city's most famous literary son,Arnold Bennett. It was unveiled on 27 May 2017, on what would have been his 150th birthday. Located on Bethesda Street on the approach to thePotteries Museum and Art Gallery in Hanley, the work was commissioned by the Arnold Bennett Society, and funded by theDenise Coates Foundation – then, gifted to the city. The seated figure was created by local sculptors Michael Talbot and Carl Payne.[citation needed]
Arnold Bennett Statue Hanley, located on the approach to Potteries Museum and Art Gallery
The city's main theatre is the 1,603-person capacityRegent Theatre, which is in Hanley. Nearby is the main concert hall, theVictoria Hall. The purpose-builttheatre in the roundNew Vic Theatre is just outside the city's boundary in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The Victorian Kings Hall in Stoke-on-Trent Town Hall is used for smaller events. In Burslem, theQueen's Theatre has been refurbished and restored at private expense.[citation needed]
TheStoke-on-Trent Repertory Theatre is based in Stoke and puts on amateur productions. The previously city council-run Mitchell Memorial Youth Theatre, based in Hanley, completed its £4.3m refurbishment in 2011 and is now known as theMitchell Arts Centre. It is named in honour of one of the city's most famous sons,Reginald Mitchell, designer of the World War II fighter plane, theSpitfire.
The city also has been the home to some long-running cultural organisations, includingB arts, founded in the 80s as an all-female-led, participatory arts organisation. The founders were street theatre directorsHilary Hughes, Gill Gill and Yvonne Male.[citation needed]
In December 2015, a new nine-screenCineworld cinema opened in Hanley. It is situated at The Hive which is an extension to the Intu Potteries shopping centre.There is anOdeon multiplex cinema located in Festival Park. The independent volunteer-run art-house cinema, The Stoke-on-Trent Film Theatre, is located very near the railway station; it shows art-house and subtitled films, as well as films that have finished their run in larger cinemas.[155]
Through the works ofArnold Bennett, described by some as the greatestrealist writer of the 20th century,[156] the "Six Towns" were sometimes known as the "Five Towns".[157] In his novels, Bennett wrote about local events in the 19th century[158] and consistently changed all proper names and associations, thus Hanley became Hanbridge and Burslem became Bursley.[159][160][161] The Six Towns were not federated until 1910 when Fenton was still relatively new. It was the smallest in terms of population and area. Bennett also changed the name of the local newspaper fromThe Sentinel toThe Signal, an identity that was subsequently adopted by the city's commercial radio station.[162]
Since 2010, the council's library service has run a competition to appoint a Young Poet Laureate for the city. This is a competition for local poets aged between 11 and 19. The first winner was Daniel Tatton, and he was succeeded in 2011 by Bethanie Hardie.[163]
Stoke has a vibrant music scene. TheGolden Torch, a local nightclub, became the centre of theNorthern soul scene in the early 1970s.[164]Shelley's Laserdome nightclub in Longton played a pivotal role in the house and rave scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, helping launch the career ofSasha and featuring regular appearances fromCarl Cox, until it was eventually shut down byStaffordshire Police.[165] The Void, a Hanley nightclub, developed a sister relationship with Sankey's Soap in Manchester, helping the latter to revive its fortunes during the late 1990s via the promotion of a club night calledGolden.[166]
Lemmy, born in Burslem
Robbie Williams is the most famous pop star to hail from the city.[citation needed] Many of his songs refer to Stoke-on-Trent, either directly or indirectly. These include "It's Only Us", "Burslem Normals", "The 80s" and the spoken introduction to his duet withJonathan Wilkes of the song "Me and My Shadow". The song "Angels" was partly inspired by the golden angel atBurslem Town Hall.[167] In 2015, three streets in a new housing estate in Middleport were named after Williams' hit songs:Supreme Street,Candy Lane andAngels Way.[168]
Saul Hudson, the lead guitarist forGuns N' Roses better known by his stage name "Slash", was raised in Stoke-on-Trent. His father, Anthony Hudson, was from the area, and he spent a few of his early childhood years living in the city before moving to his mother's native United States in 1970. He did not meet many of the British side of his family until 1992 when Guns N' Roses playedWembley Stadium as part of theFreddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Slash has recalled in interviews and his autobiography that his Stoke relatives drank all of the band's considerable rider:"I witnessed one of my uncles, my cousin, and my grandfather, on his very first trip to London from Stoke, down every drop of liquor in our dressing room. Consumed in full, our booze rider in those days would have killed anyone but us."[169][170]
Lonnie Cook is a rock'n'roll guitarist and local celebrity who played with Screaming Lord Sutch in the 1970s. He is remembered in the area for his Radio Stoke showSunday Best, and for standing as a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate. In 2010 he started getting airplay on a New York radio station for his 1994 song "Knock Me Down, Pick Me Up". This led to the song being released for mp3 download in the US and the UK.[171]
In October 2007, Stoke-on-Trent City Council introduced a new theme tune: "Moving Forwards Together". It was described by the council as "part of our drive to help us move the city forward and create a better Stoke-on-Trent for people to live, learn, work and enjoy."[179]
Murdoc Niccals, a fictional member of the groupGorillaz with the role of bass guitarist, is (in his constructed biography) said to have been born in Stoke-on-Trent.[180]
Havergal Brian (1876–1972), the classical composer and music writer, whocomposed 32symphonies and five operas,[181] was born in Stoke (in Dresden). The large scale and unfashionable style of his compositions led to them being neglected for most of his lifetime and not a note of his music was commercially issued on record during his lifetime. He died without having heard many of his finest works.[citation needed]
TheStaffordshire oatcake is a much-loved local culinary speciality; it is very different from the Scottish version and is traditionally made in corner-shop style oatcake bakeries. They remain popular although are no longer the cheap alternative to bread. Oatcakes can be eaten cold or hot with any sweet or savoury fillings.Lobby, a stew not unlikeLancashire hotpot, is still made by local people.
Stoke Pride is the city's annual pride march that has been running since 2005, although it was not officially called Stoke Pride until 2008. It is a celebration of the city'sLGBT community and attracts visitors from many different areas across the country.[182] Originally held in Hanley, the event was held at Northwood Park until 2016 and has since moved to Hanley Park in 2017 attracting over 7,000 attendants, six times the amount of the previous year. It continued in 2018 with increased attendance[183] and in 2019.[184] It was due to continue in 2020, on 20 June, but was postponed because of theCOVID-19 pandemic.[185]
Oliver Lodge (1851–1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He was born inPenkhull.William Astbury (1898–1962) was an English physicist and molecular biologist who made pioneering X-ray diffraction studies of biological molecules. He was born in Longton.Jessie MacWilliams (1917–1990) was a mathematician who worked oncoding theory and is known for theMacWilliams identities.John L. Jinks (1929–1987) was a geneticist who worked on cytoplasmic inheritance andquantitative genetics.David J. C. MacKay (1967–2016) was a physicist and mathematician known for his work onBayesian inference and popular writings onclimate change.[citation needed] Dan Hughes (1979–2025) was the founder of Radix DLT and the inventor of its crypto technology.[186]
Local news and television programmes are provided byBBC West Midlands andITV Central. Television signals are received from theSutton Coldfield TV transmitter and the Fenton relay transmitter.[187]
The city is to be part of the second wave of UK cities to get its local TV station.[188][189]
The Potteries has a distinctivelocal dialect. It contains many non-standard words, e.g.nesh meaning "soft, tender or to easily get cold",[190] andslat meaning "to throw".[190] The best-known word isduck, which is used as a greeting to either men or women. It is believed to be derived from theSaxon wordducas, used to indicate respect. InMiddle English this becameduc orduk, which denotes a leader. It became the titleDuke and theOld French wordduché, which indicates the territory ruled by a Duke.[190]
Another common variation on the standard English dialect is the use of the wordshug for sugar. This is usually used as a term of endearment when closing a sentence, as in "Ta Shug" (thank you, sugar).[citation needed]
A localcartoon strip calledMay un Mar Lady (Me and my Wife), published in the newspaperThe Sentinel and written inPotteries dialect, first appeared on 8 July 1986 and ran for over 20 years.[191] Since the death of cartoonistDave Follows in 2003, the full twenty-year run (7,000) ofMay un Mar Lady strips are being republished inThe Sentinel asMay un Mar Lady Revisited, keeping the dialect alive for another twenty years.
^abc"Coal Mining in North Staffordshire".Staffordshire Past Track. Staffordshire County Council, Keele University, Staffordshire Learning Net.Archived from the original on 31 May 2007. Retrieved20 May 2007.
^Larkin, Edgar J; Larkin, John G (1988).The Railway Workshops of Great Britain 1823–1986. Macmillan Press.ISBN978-0-333-39431-1.
^Horsman, Geoffrey (December 1964)."The Kerr Stuart Wren Class".The Industrial Railway Record (5 & 6):85–99.Archived from the original on 29 June 2007. Retrieved20 May 2007.
^Stone, David (27 August 2001)."Patricia Leonard".Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company (1875–1982).Archived from the original on 3 April 2018. Retrieved20 May 2007.
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