The centre and south-west of Greater Manchester are lowlands, similar to theWest Lancashire Coastal Plain to the north-west and theCheshire Plain to the south-west. The north and east are part of thePennines: theWest Pennine Moors in the northwest, theSouth Pennines in the northeast and thePeak District in the east. Most of the county's rivers rise in the Pennines and are tributaries of theMersey andIrwell, the latter of which is itself a tributary of the Mersey. The county is connected to the Mersey Estuary by theManchester Ship Canal, which for its entire length within Greater Manchester consists ofcanalised sections of the Mersey and Irwell.
What is now Greater Manchester was largely rural until theIndustrial Revolution, when the region underwent rapid industrialisation. The area's towns and cities became major centres for themanufacture of cotton textiles, aided by the exploitation of theLancashire coalfield. The region was also an engineering and scientific centre, leading to achievements such as thefirst inter-city railway. Followingdeindustrialisation in the mid-20th century the county has emerged as a major centre for the service sector, media and digital industries. It is also recognised for its contributions to guitar anddance music, and for itsfootball teams.[5]
From the River Mersey toRiver Ribble was recorded as an area surveyed withCheshire in theDomesday Book of 1086; it is thought that the area was partially surveyed.[11]
BetweenLancashire's creation to the 18th century an ancient division of the shire, with a similar but smaller area to the current county, was known asSalfordshire. The division (awapentake which later became a hundred) had several parishes,townships and market towns. Other areas of what would become the county centuries later, to south of the Mersey andTame, were governed under Cheshire while the Saddleworth area and a small part ofMossley are historically part ofYorkshire.Ludworth andMellor were historically inDerbyshire, but were transferred to Cheshire in 1936.[12]
In the late 18th to early 19th century, theIndustrial Revolution transformed the local domestic system; mechanisation enabled theindustrialisation of the region's textile trade, triggering rapid growth in thecotton industry and expansion in ancillary trades.[13] The area became central to England's woollen trade withdomesticflannel andfustian cloth production, which encouraged a system of cross-regional trade.[14][15][16] In the 18th century, German traders had coined the nameManchesterthum to cover the region in and around Manchester.[17]
Infrastructure such as rows of terraced housing, factories and roads were constructed to house labour, transport goods, andproduce cotton goods on an industrial scale for a global market.[13][16] The townships in and around Manchester began expanding "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century as part of a process of unplanned urbanisation brought on by a boom in industrial textile production and processing.[18] This population increase resulted in the "vigorous concentric growth" of a conurbation between Manchester and an arc of surroundingmill towns, formed from a steady accretion of houses, factories and transport infrastructure.[19] Places such asBury,Oldham andBolton played a central economic role nationally, and by the end of the 19th century had become some of the most important and productive cotton-producing towns in the world.[20] However, it was Manchester that was the most populous settlement, a major city, the world's largest marketplace for cotton goods,[21][22] and the natural centre of its region.[23] By 1835 "Manchester was without challenge the first and greatest industrial city in the world";[22] and by 1848urban sprawl had fused the city to its surrounding towns and hinterland to form a single continuous conurbation.[19] The area is recorded in planning documents for theManchester Ship Canal dated 1883, as "Manchester, Salford and the Out-Townships".[24]
The conurbation was "a Victorian metropolis, achieving its commercial peak during 1890–1915".[25] In the 1910s, local government reforms to administer this conurbation as a single entity were proposed.[26] Use in a municipal context appeared in a 1914 report submitted in response to what was considered to have been the successful creation of theCounty of London in 1889.[26] The report suggested that a county should be set up to recognise the "Manchester known in commerce", and referred to the areas that formed "a substantial part of South Lancashire and part of Cheshire, comprising all municipal boroughs and minor authorities within a radius of eight or nine miles of Manchester".[26][27]
In his 1915 bookCities in Evolution, urban plannerSir Patrick Geddes wrote "far more than Lancashire realises, is growing up another Greater London".[28]TheManchester Evening Chronicle brought to the fore the issue of "regional unity" for the area in April 1935 under the headline "Greater Manchester – The Ratepayers' Salvation". It reported on the "increasing demands for the exploration of the possibilities of a greater merger ofpublic services throughout Manchester and the surrounding municipalities".[29] The issue was frequently discussed by civic leaders in the area at that time, particularly those from Manchester andSalford. The Mayor of Salford pledged his support to the idea, stating that he looked forward to the day when "there would be a merging of the essential services of Manchester, Salford, and the surrounding districts constituting Greater Manchester."[29] Proposals were halted by theSecond World War, though in the decade after it, the pace of proposals for local government reform for the area quickened.[30] In 1947,Lancashire County Council proposed a three "ridings" system to meet the changing needs of the county of Lancashire, including those for Manchester and surrounding districts.[30] Other proposals included the creation of a Manchester County Council, a directly elected regional body. In 1951, thecensus in the UK began reporting on South East Lancashire as a homogeneous conurbation.[30]
TheLocal Government Act 1958 designated the south east Lancashire area (which, despite its name, included part of north east Cheshire), a Special Review Area. TheLocal Government Commission for England presented draft recommendations, in December 1965, proposing a new county based on the conurbation surrounding and including Manchester, with nine most-purpose boroughs corresponding to the modern Greater Manchester boroughs (excluding Wigan). The review was abolished in favour of the Royal Commission on Local Government before issuing a final report.[31]
The Royal Commission's 1969 report, known as the Redcliffe-Maud Report, proposed the removal of much of the then existing system of local government. The commission described the system of administeringurban andrural districts separately as outdated, noting that urban areas provided employment and services for rural dwellers, and open countryside was used by town dwellers for recreation. The commission considered interdependence of areas at many levels, including travel-to-work, provision of services, and which local newspapers were read, before proposing a new administrativemetropolitan area.[32] The area had roughly the same northern boundary as today's Greater Manchester (though includedRossendale), but covered much more territory from Cheshire (includingMacclesfield,Warrington,Alderley Edge,Northwich,Middlewich,Wilmslow andLymm), and Derbyshire (the towns ofNew Mills,Whaley Bridge,Glossop andChapel-en-le-Frith – a minority report suggested thatBuxton be included).[33] The metropolitan area was to be divided into nine metropolitan districts, based on Wigan, Bolton, Bury/Rochdale, Warrington, Manchester (including Salford and Old Trafford), Oldham, Altrincham, Stockport and Tameside.[33] The report noted "The choice even of a label of convenience for this metropolitan area is difficult".[34] Seven years earlier, a survey prepared for theBritish Association intended to define the "South-East Lancashire conurbation" noted that "Greater Manchester it is not ... One of its main characteristics is the marked individuality of its towns, ... all of which have an industrial and commercial history of more than local significance".[35] The termSelnec (orSELNEC) was already in use as an abbreviation for south east Lancashire and north east Cheshire; Redcliffe-Maud took this as "the most convenient term available", having modified it to south east Lancashire, north east and central Cheshire.[33]
The multiple urban areas of Greater Manchester's boroughs
Following theTransport Act 1968, in 1969 theSELNEC Passenger Transport Executive (an authority to co-ordinate and operate public transport in the region) was set up, covering an area smaller than the proposed Selnec, and different again to the eventual Greater Manchester. Compared with the Redcliffe-Maud area, it excluded Macclesfield, Warrington, and Knutsford but included Glossop inDerbyshire andSaddleworth in theWest Riding of Yorkshire. It excluded Wigan, which was both in the Redcliffe-Maud area and in the eventual Greater Manchester (but had not been part of the 1958 act's review area).[36]
Redcliffe-Maud's recommendations were accepted by the Labour-controlled government in February 1970.[37] Although the Redcliffe-Maud Report was rejected by the Conservative government after the1970 general election, there was a commitment to local government reform, and the need for a metropolitan county centred on the conurbation surrounding Manchester was accepted. The new government's original proposal was much smaller than the Redcliffe-Maud Report's Selnec, with areas such as Winsford, Northwich, Knutsford, Macclesfield and Glossop retained by their original counties to ensure theircounty councils had enough revenue to remain competitive (Cheshire County Council would have ceased to exist).[37] Other late changes included the separation of the proposed Bury/Rochdale authority (retained from the Redcliffe-Maud report) into theMetropolitan Borough of Bury and theMetropolitan Borough of Rochdale. Bury and Rochdale were originally planned to form a single district (dubbed "Botchdale" by local MPMichael Fidler)[38][39] but were divided into separate boroughs. To re-balance the districts, the borough of Rochdale tookMiddleton from Oldham.[40] During the passage of the bill, the towns ofWhitworth, Wilmslow andPoynton successfully objected to their incorporation in the new county.[37]
The areas that were incorporated into Greater Manchester in 1974 previously formed parts of theadministrative counties of Cheshire, Lancashire, theWest Riding of Yorkshire, and eight independentcounty boroughs.[42] By the early 1970s, this system of demarcation was described as "archaic" and "grossly inadequate to keep pace both with the impact of motor travel, and with the huge increases in local government responsibilities".[45]
TheLocal Government Act 1972 reformedlocal government in England, with the act enacted on 1 April 1974,[46] althoughGreater Manchester County Council (GMCC) had been running sinceelections in 1973.[47] The area was given the name Greater Manchester and ametropolitan county designation. This was a two-tiercounties anddistricts system.[41] The leading article inThe Times on the day the Local Government Act came into effect noted that the "new arrangement is a compromise which seeks to reconcile familiar geography which commands a certain amount of affection and loyalty, with the scale of operations on which modern planning methods can work effectively".[48] Frangopulo noted that the creation of Greater Manchester "was the official unifying of a region which, through history and tradition, had forged for itself over many centuries bonds ... between the communities of town and village, each of which was the embodiment of the character of this region".[49] The name Greater Manchester was adopted, having been favoured over Selnec following public consultation,[50] despite opposition claiming that "Greater Manchester ... is a myth. An abomination. A travesty."[51]
By January 1974, a joint working party representing Greater Manchester had drawn up its countyStructure Plan, ready for implementation by the Greater Manchester County Council. The plan set out objectives for the forthcoming metropolitan county.[52] The highest priority was to increase the quality of life for its inhabitants by improving the county's physical environment and cultural facilities which had suffered following deindustrialisation – much of Greater Manchester's basic infrastructure dated from its 19th-century growth, and was unsuited to modern lifestyles.[53] Other objectives were to reverse the trend of depopulation in central-Greater Manchester, to invest in country parks to improve the region's poor reputation on leisure facilities, and to improve the county's transport infrastructure and patterns.[54]
The Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre (better known as the G-Mex centre and now rebranded asManchester Central) was the converted formerManchester Central railway station, in Manchester city centre, used for hosting the county's cultural events.
Because of political objection, particularly from Cheshire, Greater Manchester covered only the inner, urban 62 of the 90 former districts that the Royal Commission had outlined as an effective administrative metropolitan area.[55] In this capacity, GMCC found itself "planning for an arbitrary metropolitan area ... abruptly truncated to the south", and so had to negotiate several land-use, transport and housing projects with its neighbouring county councils.[55] However a "major programme of environmental action" by GMCC broadly succeeded in reversing social deprevation in its inner city slums.[55] Leisure and recreational successes included the Greater Manchester Exhibition Centre (better known as the G-Mex centre and now brandedManchester Central), a converted former railway station in Manchester city centre used for cultural events,[56] and GMCC's creation of five newcountry parks within its boundaries.[57] GMCC was, however, criticised for being too Manchester-centric by representatives from the outer suburbs.[58]
A decade after they were established, the mostlyLabour-controlled metropolitan county councils and theGreater London Council (GLC) had several high-profile clashes with theConservative government ofMargaret Thatcher, with regards overspending and highrates charging. Government policy on the issue was considered throughout 1982, and the Conservative Party put a "promise to scrap the metropolitan county councils" and the GLC, in their manifesto for the1983 general election.[59][60] Greater Manchester County Council was abolished on 31 March 1986 under theLocal Government Act 1985. That the metropolitan county councils were controlled by the Labour Party led to accusations that their abolition was motivated by party politics:[59] the general secretary of theNational Association of Local Government Officers described it as a "completely cynical manoeuvre".[61] Most of the functions of GMCC were devolved to the ten Greater Manchestermetropolitan district councils, though functions such as emergency services and public transport were taken over byjoint boards and continued to be run on a county-wide basis.[62] TheAssociation of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) was established to continue much of the county-wide services of thecounty council.[63] The metropolitan county continues to exist in law, and as a geographic frame of reference,[64] for example as aNUTS 2 administrative division for statistical purposes within theEuropean Union.[65] Although having been aLieutenancy area since 1974, Greater Manchester was included as aceremonial county by theLieutenancies Act 1997 on 1 July 1997.[66]
In January 2008, AGMA suggested that a formal government structure be created to cover Greater Manchester.[71] The issue resurfaced in June 2008 with regards to proposedcongestion charging in Greater Manchester;Sir Richard Leese (leader ofManchester City Council) said "I've come to the conclusion that [a referendum on congestion charging should be held] because we don't have an indirectly or directly elected body for Greater Manchester that has the power to make this decision".[72] On 14 July 2008 the ten local authorities in Greater Manchester agreed to a strategic and integrated cross-countyMulti-Area Agreement; a voluntary initiative aimed at making district councils "work together to challenge the artificial limits of boundaries" in return for greater autonomy from thecentral government of the UK.[73] A referendum on theGreater Manchester Transport Innovation Fund was held in December 2008,[74] in which voters "overwhelmingly rejected" plans for public transport improvements linked to a peak-time weekday-only congestion charge.[75]
Following a bid from AGMA highlighting the potential benefits of mitigating the effects of the2008 financial crisis, it was announced in the2009 United Kingdom Budget that Greater Manchester and theLeeds City Region would be awarded Statutory City Region Pilot status, allowing (if they wanted) for their constituent district councils to pool resources and become statutory Combined Authorities with powers comparable to the Greater London Authority.[76] The stated aim of the pilot was to evaluate the contributions to economic growth and sustainable development by Combined Authorities.[77] TheLocal Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 enabled the creation of a Combined Authority for Greater Manchester withdevolved powers on public transport, skills, housing, regeneration, waste management,carbon neutrality andplanning permission, pending approval from the ten councils.[76][78] Such strategic matters would be decided on via an enhancedmajority rule voting system involving ten members appointed from among the councillors of the metropolitan boroughs (one representing each borough with each council nominating one substitute) without the input of central government. The ten district councils of Greater Manchester approved the creation of theGreater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) on 29 March 2010, and submitted final recommendations for a constitution to theDepartment for Communities and Local Government and theDepartment for Transport and two days later the Communities SecretaryJohn Denham approved the constitution and launched a 15-week public consultation on the draft bill together with the approved constitution.[79]
Following requests by the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities, which was superseded by the GMCA,[80][81][82] the new authority was created on 1 April 2011.[83] On the same day, theTransport for Greater Manchester Committee was also formed from a pool of 33 councillors allocated by council population (roughly one councillor per 75,000 residents) to scrutinise the running of Greater Manchester's transport bodies and their finances, approve the decisions and policies of said bodies and form strategic policy recommendations or projects for the approval of the Combined Authority.[76] On 3 November 2014,George Osborne, theChancellor of the Exchequer, announced that there would be an eleventh member of the GMCA – a directly electedMayor of Greater Manchester, with "powers over transport, housing, planning and policing" from 2017.[84]
Greater Manchester is a landlocked county spanning 493 sq mi (1,277 km2).[85] ThePennines rise to the north and east of the county with theWest Pennine Moors in the northwest, theSouth Pennines in the northeast and thePeak District in the east. Severalcoalfields (mainly sandstones and shales) lie in the west of the county while theCheshire Plain fringes the south.[13] The riversMersey,Irwell andTame run through Greater Manchester, all of which rise in the Pennines.[13] Other rivers traverse the region as tributaries to the major rivers, including theDouglas, theIrk, and theRoch.[13]Black Chew Head is thehighest point in Greater Manchester which forms part of thePeak District National Park, rising 1,778 ft (542 m) above sea-level, within the parish ofSaddleworth.[86]Greater Manchester is characterised by its dense urban and industrial developments, which include centres of commerce, finance, retail and administration, as well as commuter suburbs and housing, interspersed with transport infrastructure such as light rail, roads and motorway, and canals.[13] There is a mix of high density urban areas, suburbs, semi-rural and rural locations in Greater Manchester, but land use is mostly urban.[87] The built environment of Greater Manchester utilises red brick and sandstone prominently as a building material, alongside structures composed of modern materials, high-rise towers, and landmark 19th, 20th and 21st century buildings in the city and town centres.[13]
Rochdale, one of the large towns of Greater Manchester
Manchester city centre is the commercial and geographic heart of Greater Manchester,[88][89][90] and with the adjoining parts of Salford and Trafford, is defined as Greater Manchester's "Regional Centre" for purposes of urban planning and public transport.[88][90][91][92][93] Political and economic ties between the city centre and neighbouring Salford andTrafford have strengthened with the shift from town and district centres to metropolitan-level centres in England,[94][91] and this area's high-rise landmark buildings provide a visual orientation point of reference as a central business district.[13] However, Greater Manchester is also a polycentric county with ten metropolitan districts,[87] each of which has a major town centre – and in some cases more than one – and many smaller settlements.[87] The major towns encircle Manchester city centre, and between them are other outlying towns (such asDenton,Middleton andFailsworth) which aresuburban to both the Regional Centre and the major town centres.[95] Combined, these factors make Greater Manchester the most complex "polycentric functional urban region" in the UK outside London.[87][58]
TheGreater Manchester Built-up Area is theconurbation or continuous urban area based around Greater Manchester, as defined by theOffice for National Statistics. In 2011, it had an estimated population of 2,553,379, making it thesecond most populous built-up area in the UK, and occupied an area of 630.3 km2 (243.4 sq mi) at the time of the 2011 census.[96] The European Union designate the conurbation as a single homogeneous urbancity region.[97] The Built-up Area includes most of Greater Manchester, omitting areas of countryside and small villages, as well as noncontiguous urban towns such asWigan andMarple.[96] Outside the boundary of Greater Manchester it includes several adjacent areas of settlement and a few outliers connected to the conurbation by ribbon development, such asWilmslow andAlderley Edge in Cheshire,Glossop andHadfield in Derbyshire, andWhitworth in Lancashire.[96] This conurbation forms part of amegalopolis of 9.4 million acrossnorthern England.[98][99][100]
A view over Greater Manchester from thePeel Monument. The county is heavily urbanised and consists of vastbuilt up areas and many settlements, fringed by sparsely populated countryside such as theWest Pennine Moors.
Greater Manchester experiences a temperatemaritime climate, like most of theBritish Isles, with relatively cool summers and mild winters. The county's average annual rainfall is 806.6 mm (31.76 in)[101] compared to the UK average of 1,125.0 mm (44.29 in),[102] and its mean rain days are 140.4 mm (5.53 in) per annum,[101] compared to the UK average of 154.4 mm (6.08 in).[102] The mean temperature is slightly above average for the United Kingdom.[102] Greater Manchester has a relatively high humidity level, which lent itself to the optimised and breakage-free textile manufacturing process that took place around the county. Snowfall is not common in the built up areas because of theurban warming effect but theWest Pennine Moors in the northwest,South Pennines in the northeast andPeak District in the east receive more snow, and roads leading out of the county can be closed due to heavy snowfall.[103] They include theA62 road viaStandedge,[104] thePennine section of the M62[105] and theA57,Snake Pass, towardsSheffield.[106] At the most southern point of Greater Manchester, Woodford'sMet Office weather station recorded a temperature of −17.6 °C (0.3 °F) on8 January 2010.[107]
Source 1: Starlings Roost Weather[108] NOAA (relative humidity and snow days 1961–1990)[109]
Source 2: Starlings Roost Weather[110] Current Results - Weather and Science[111] Meteo Climat[112] Time and Date: Average dew point (1985–2015)[113] WeatherAtlas[114]
Contrary to its reputation for urban sprawl,[115][116] Greater Manchester hasgreen belt constrainingurban drift, and a "wide and varied range" of wildlife and natural habitats.[115] For instance, the wooded valleys of Bolton, Bury and Stockport, themoorlands north and east of Rochdale, Oldham and Stalybridge, and thereed beds between Wigan and Leigh, harbour flora and fauna of national importance.[115] Mature woodland, scrubland, grassland, high moorland, mossland, agricultural land, lakes, wetlands, river valleys, embankments, urban parks and suburban gardens are habitats found in Greater Manchester which further contribute to biodiversity.[116] The Greater Manchester Ecology Unit classifiesSites of Biological Importance.[117]
The 21 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Greater Manchester, and the 12.1 sq mi (31 km2) ofcommon land in Greater Manchester[118] are of particular interest to organisations such as the Greater Manchester Local Record Centre, the Greater Manchester Biodiversity Project and the Manchester Field Club, which are dedicated towildlife conservation and the preservation of the region'snatural history.[119][120][121] Among the SSSIs areAstley and Bedford Mosses which form a network of ancientpeat bog on the fringe ofChat Moss,[115] which in turn, at 10.6 sq mi (27 km2) comprises the largest area of prime farmland in Greater Manchester and contains the largest block of semi-natural woodland in the county.[122] TheWigan Flashes, such as those atPennington Flash Country Park, are the by-product of coal mining, where subsidence has led to waterbodies collecting in the resulting hollows which form an important reed bed resource in Greater Manchester.[115] Opened in 1979,Sale Water Park is a 152-acre (62 ha) area of countryside and parkland in Sale which includes a 52-acre (21 ha) artificial lake by theRiver Mersey.[123]
Stockport, one of the large towns of Greater Manchester and historically part of CheshireBury, one of the large towns of Greater Manchester and historically part of Lancashire
Greater Manchester was formed from parts of Cheshire, Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. The historic boundary between Cheshire and Lancashire is along the River Mersey. The southern part of the county (Trafford, Stockport and Tameside) includes Altrincham, Sale, Stockport, Marple, Cheadle Hulme, Hyde and Stalybridge, which were all historically in Cheshire. Denton and Audenshaw in Tameside were historically part of Lancashire, as was the county north of the River Mersey including the cities of Manchester and Salford, Eccles, Bolton, Bury, Prestwich, Swinton, Pendlebury, Wigan, Leigh, Rochdale, Oldham, Ashton-under-Lyne, Stretford, Urmston, Old Trafford, Chadderton, Middleton, Heywood, Radcliffe, Milnrow, Horwich, Blackrod, Westhoughton, Littleborough, Atherton, Ashton-in-Makerfield and Golborne. The northeastern part of the county around Saddleworth was in the West Riding of Yorkshire.[134][135]
Since the formation of Greater Manchester, residents have debated their identities in the metropolitan and historic counties through heritage, culture and governance. Residents inSaddleworth in the Borough of Oldham have called for independence from Greater Manchester and Oldham Council and a new authority covering thePennines around Greater Manchester and West Yorkshire, and the Saddleworth White Rose Society erected signs with the wording "The Historic West Riding of Yorkshire".[136] A 2015 petition called for Wigan to apply for independence from Greater Manchester and rejoin Lancashire because of its heritage and location.[137] There was a proposal forHorwich,Atherton,Blackrod andWesthoughton to form either a new part of Greater Manchester or become a separate area back within Lancashire possibly under theBorough of Chorley although this was not pursued.[138]
Andy Burnham has served as the inaugural Mayor of Greater Manchester since May 2017.
The Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) is the top-tier administrative body for the local governance of Greater Manchester. It was established on 1 April 2011 as a pilotcombined authority, unique tolocal government in the United Kingdom.[139] Upon formation, it consisted of tenindirectly elected members, each a directly elected councillor from one of the ten metropolitan boroughs that comprise Greater Manchester. The authority derives most of its powers from theLocal Government Act 2000 andLocal Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009,[139] and replaced a range of single-purpose joint boards andquangos in 2011, to provide a formal administrative authority for Greater Manchester with powers over public transport, skills, housing, regeneration, waste management, carbon neutrality and planning permission.[139] Functional executive bodies, such asTransport for Greater Manchester, are responsible for delivery of services in these areas.[139] On 3 November 2014, theDevolution to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority agreement was signed to pass further powers and responsibilities, as well as the establishment of an elected Mayor of Greater Manchester.[140] From April 2016, Greater Manchester became the first area of England to "get full control of its health spending" with a devolution deal which unites the region's health and social care systems under one budget under the control of local leaders, including Greater Manchester's new directly elected mayor.[141] On 4 May 2017,Labour politicianAndy Burnham waselected as the inaugural mayor,[142] joining the GMCA as its eleventh member and serving as its leader.[143]
Beneath the GMCA are the ten councils of Greater Manchester's tendistricts, which areBolton,Bury, theCity of Manchester,Oldham,Rochdale, theCity of Salford,Stockport,Tameside,Trafford andWigan. These district councils have the greatest powers over public services, and control matters such ascouncil tax, education provision, social housing, libraries and healthcare. Eight of the ten metropolitan boroughs were named after the eight former county boroughs that now compose the largest centres of population and greater historical and political prominence.[144] As an example, the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport is centred on the town ofStockport, a former county borough, but includes other smaller settlements, such asCheadle,Gatley, andBramhall.[144] The names of two of the metropolitan boroughs were given a neutral name because, at the time they were created, there was no agreement on the town to be put forward as the administrative centre and neither had acounty borough. These boroughs areTameside andTrafford, centred onAshton-under-Lyne andStretford, respectively, and are named with reference to geographical and historical origins.[144] The lowest formal tier of local government in Greater Manchester are theparish councils, which cover the variouscivil parishes in Greater Manchester, and have limited powers over upkeep, maintenance and small grants.
For the first 12 years after the county was created in 1974, Greater Manchester had a two-tier system of local government, and the metropolitan borough councils shared power with theGreater Manchester County Council.[145] The Greater Manchester County Council, a strategic authority based in what is now Westminster House offPiccadilly Gardens, comprised 106 members drawn from the ten metropolitan boroughs of Greater Manchester.[146] It was a sub-regional body running regional services such as transport, strategic planning, emergency services and waste disposal. In 1986, along with the five othermetropolitan county councils and theGreater London Council, the Greater Manchester County Council was abolished, and most of its powers were devolved to the boroughs.[145] Between 1986 and 2011, the boroughs were effectivelyunitary authority areas, but opted to co-operate voluntarily under theAssociation of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA), which served to create a co-ordinated county-wide approach to issues of common interest to Greater Manchester, such as public transport and the shared labour market, as well as making representations to central government and the European Union.
Although used as a "successful brand",[147] Greater Manchester's politics have been characterised by "entrenchedlocalism and related rivalries", historically resistant toregionalism.[58] The major towns in Greater Manchester retain a "fierce independence",[23] meaning Greater Manchester is administered using "inter-municipal coordination" on a broadly voluntary basis.[58] That eight of the ten borough councils have (for the most part) beenLabour-controlled since 1986, has helped maintain this informal co-operation between the districts at a county-level.[148] After the abolition of the county council, the ten authorities of Greater Manchester co-operated voluntarily on policy issues likeLocal Transport Plans as well as funding theGreater Manchester County Record Office,[149] and local services were administered by statutoryjoint boards. Now under the direction of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, these joint boards areTransport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) which is responsible for planning and co-ordinating public transport across the county; theGreater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, who are administered by a joint Fire and Rescue Authority; and theGreater Manchester Waste Disposal Authority. These joint boards are made up of councillors appointed from each of the ten boroughs (except the Waste Disposal Authority, which does not include theMetropolitan Borough of Wigan).Greater Manchester Police was formerly overseen by a jointpolice authority, but was briefly overseen by theGreater Manchester Police and Crime Commissioner from 2012[150] until the functions of that office were subsumed into the new regional mayoralty upon its creation in 2017. The ten borough councils are joint-owners of theManchester Airport Group which controlsManchester Airport and three other UK airports.[151] Other services are directly funded and managed by the local councils.[152]
Greater Manchester is aceremonial county with its ownLord-Lieutenant who is the personal representative of the monarch. The Local Government Act 1972 provided that the whole of the area to be covered by the new metropolitan county of Greater Manchester would also be included in theDuchy of Lancaster – extending the duchy to include areas which are historically in the counties of Cheshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire. Until 31 March 2005, Greater Manchester'sKeeper of the Rolls was appointed by theChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster; they are now appointed by theLord High Chancellor of Great Britain.[153] The first Lord Lieutenant of Greater Manchester was Sir William Downward who held the title from 1974 to 1988.[154] The current Lord Lieutenant is Warren James Smith.[155] As a geographic county, Greater Manchester is used by the government (via theOffice for National Statistics) for the gathering of county-wide statistics, and organising and collating general register and census material.[156]
The population of Greater Manchester increased from around 328 thousand in 1801, to 2.8M in 2021.Much of Greater Manchester's housing stock consists ofterraced houses constructed as low-cost dwellings for the populations of localfactory towns.
Population of Greater Manchester by district (2024)[160]
District
Land area
Population
Density (/km2)
(km2)
(%)
People
(%)
Bolton
140
11%
310,085
10%
2,218
Bury
99
8%
198,921
7%
2,000
Manchester
116
9%
589,670
20%
5,099
Oldham
142
11%
251,560
8%
1,767
Rochdale
158
12%
235,561
8%
1,490
Salford
97
8%
294,348
10%
3,028
Stockport
126
10%
303,929
10%
2,411
Tameside
103
8%
239,643
8%
2,323
Trafford
106
8%
241,025
8%
2,273
Wigan
188
15%
344,922
11%
1,833
Greater Manchester
1,276
100%
3,009,664
100%
2,359
Greater Manchester has a population of 2,867,800 (2021 Census).[161] This makes it thethird most populous county in England afterGreater London and theWest Midlands. Thedemonym of Greater Manchester is "Greater Mancunian".[162] TheManchester accent and dialect, native to Manchester, is common in the city and adjacent areas, but gives way to "slower, deeper accents" towards Greater Manchester's fringes and suburbs.[23]
Greater Manchester is home to a diverse population and is a multicultural agglomeration with an ethnic minority population comprising 8.5% of the total population in 2001.[163][164] In 2008, there were over 66 refugee nationalities in the county.[165] At the 2001 UK census, 74.2% of Greater Manchester's residents were Christian, 5.0% Muslim, 0.9% Jewish, 0.7% Hindu, 0.2% Buddhist, and 0.1% Sikh. 11.4% had no religion, 0.2% had an alternative religion and 7.4% did not state their religion. This is similar to the rest of the country, although the proportions of Muslims and Jews are nearly twice the national average.[166]
Population density map
Following the deindustrialisation of Greater Manchester in the mid-20th century, there was a significant economic and population decline in the region, particularly in Manchester and Salford.[167][168] Vast areas of low-quality squalidterraced housing that were built throughout theVictorian era were found to be in a poor state of repair and unsuited to modern needs; manyinner-city districts suffered from chronic social deprivation and high levels of unemployment.[168][169]Slum clearance and the increased building ofsocial housingoverspill estates by Salford and Manchester City Councils lead to a decrease in population in central Greater Manchester.[170] During the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, the population of Greater Manchester declined by over 8,000 inhabitants a year.[168] While Manchester's population shrank by about 40% during this time (from 766,311 in 1931 to 452,000 in 2006), the total population of Greater Manchester decreased by only 8%.[168]
Greater Manchester's housing stock comprises a variety of types.Manchester city centre is noted for its high-rise apartments,[171] whileSalford has some of the tallest and mostdensely populatedtower block estates in Europe.[172] Saddleworth has stone-built properties, includingfarmhouses and converted weavers' cottages.[23][173] Throughout Greater Manchester, rows ofterraced houses are common, most of them built during theVictorian andEdwardian periods. House prices and labour markets differ in Greater Manchester between north and south,[174][175] such that in the 2000s, theHousing Market Renewal Initiative identifiedManchester, Salford,Rochdale andOldham as areas with terraced housing unsuited to modern needs.[175] In contrast, towns and villages in southern Greater Manchester, fromBramhall throughWoodford toAltrincham constitute an arc of wealthycommuter towns.[23] Altrincham in particular, with its neighboursBowdon andHale, forms a "stockbroker belt, with well-appointed dwellings in an area of sylvan opulence".[176]
GVA and GDP by local authority district in 2021[182]
District
GVA (£ billions)
GVA per capita (£)
GDP (£ billions)
GDP per capita (£)
Bolton
£6.3
£21,406
£7.3
£24,657
Bury
£3.6
£18,403
£4.2
£21,472
Manchester
£26.5
£48,107
£28.2
£51,330
Oldham
£4.0
£16,652
£4.7
£19,578
Rochdale
£3.9
£17,181
£4.5
£20,247
Salford
£8.7
£32,246
£9.6
£35,529
Stockport
£7.2
£24,370
£8.1
£27,425
Tameside
£3.5
£14,991
£4.1
£17,890
Trafford
£9.6
£40,769
£10.4
£44,192
Wigan
£5.5
£16,712
£6.5
£19,649
Greater Manchester
£78.7
£27,452
£87.7
£30,576
Much of Greater Manchester's wealth was generated during the Industrial Revolution, particularly textile manufacture.[183] The world's firstcotton mill was built in the town ofRoyton,[184][185] and the county encompasses several formermill towns. AnAssociation for Industrial Archaeology publication describes Greater Manchester as "one of the classic areas of industrial and urban growth in Britain, the result of a combination of forces that came together in the 18th and 19th centuries: a phenomenal rise in population, the appearance of the specialist industrial town, a transport revolution, and weak local lordship".[16] Much of the county was at the forefront oftextile manufacture during the Industrial Revolution and into the early-20th century;[183]Peter Smith, Baron Smith of Leigh, chair of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said "clearly, all of the Greater Manchester area was once at the heart of a very vibrant [textiles] industry",[183] represented by former textile mills found throughout the county.[16] The territory that makes up Greater Manchester experienced a rapid decline of these traditional sectors, partly during theLancashire Cotton famine brought on by theAmerican Civil War, but mainly as part of thepost-war economic depression anddeindustrialisation of Britain that occurred during the 20th century.[168][186]
Considerable industrial restructuring has helped the region to recover from deindustrialisation and the demise of the mass production of textiles.[187] Historically, the docks atSalford Quays were an industrial port, though are now (following a period of disuse) a commercial and residential area which includes theImperial War Museum North andThe Lowry theatre and exhibition centre. The BBC is now established in their new home at MediaCityUK, at Salford Quays. This is home to BBC North West, several BBC departments, including BBC Sport, Blue Peter and, since April 2012, BBC Breakfast.Rochdale and Manchester are connected to thehistory of the cooperative movement; theRochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers (an earlyconsumer co-operative) was founded in Rochdale in 1844,[188] andThe Co-operative Group, the UK's largest mutual business and North West England's biggest company,[189] is headquartered atOne Angel Square in central Manchester.[190] Despite this economic diversification, as of November 2012, government plans are under development to revive textile production in Greater Manchester, and restore it as the national home of British textile manufacture.[183]
Today, Greater Manchester is the economic centre of theNorth West region of England and is the largest sub-regional economy in the UK outside London andSouth East England.[191] Greater Manchester represents more than £82.7 billion inGDP, more than Wales, Northern Ireland orNorth East England.[192]Manchester city centre, the central business district of Greater Manchester, is a major centre of trade and commerce and provides Greater Manchester with a global identity, specialist activities and employment opportunities; similarly, the economy of the city centre is dependent upon the rest of the county for its population as an employment pool, skilled workforce and for its collective purchasing power.[193] Manchester today is a centre of the arts, the media, higher education and commerce. In a poll of British business leaders published in 2006, Manchester was regarded as the best place in the UK to locate a business.[194] It is the third most visited city in the United Kingdom by foreign visitors[195] and is now often considered to be thesecond city of the UK.[196]
At the 2001 UK census, there were 1,805,315 residents of Greater Manchester aged 16 to 74. The economic activity of these people was 40.3% in full-time employment, 11.3% in part-time employment, 6.7% self-employed, 3.5% unemployed, 5.1% students without jobs, 2.6% students with jobs, 13.0% retired, 6.1% looking after home or family, 7.8% permanently sick or disabled and 3.5% economically inactive for other reasons. The figures follow the national trend, although the percentage of self-employed people is below the national average of 8.3%.[197] The proportion of unemployment in the county varies, with theMetropolitan Borough of Stockport having the lowest at 2.0% andManchester the highest at 7.9%.[198] In 2001, of the 1,093,385 residents of Greater Manchester in employment, the industry of employment was: 18.4% retail and wholesale; 16.7% manufacturing; 11.8% property and business services; 11.6% health and social work; 8.0% education; 7.3% transport and communications; 6.7% construction; 4.9% public administration and defence; 4.7% hotels and restaurants; 4.1% finance; 0.8% electricity, gas, and water supply; 0.5% agriculture; and 4.5% other. This was roughly in line with national figures, except for the proportion of jobs in agriculture which is only about a third of the national average of 1.5%, due to the overwhelmingly urban, built-up land use of Greater Manchester.[187][199]
Public transport services in Greater Manchester are co-ordinated byTransport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), a public body with powers between those of apassenger transport executive andTransport for London,[200] established as SELNEC PTE in 1969 in accordance with theTransport Act 1968.[201] The original SELNEC Passenger Transport Executive was renamed as theGreater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) when taken over by theGreater Manchester County Council on 1 April 1974 to co-ordinate public transport modes within the new county.[201] The council had overall responsibility for strategic planning and all policy decisions covering public transport (such as bus and rail services) and highways. GMPTE's purpose was to secure the provision of a completely integrated and efficient system of passenger transport for Greater Manchester on behalf of the county council.[201] In 1977, it was noted as the largest authority for public transport in the United Kingdom afterLondon Transport.[201] GMPTE was renamed as Transport for Greater Manchester in April 2011 when it became a functional body of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and obtained powers additional to those of a regular passenger transport executive from central government.[200]
Greater Manchester lies at the heart of theNorth West transport network. Much of the infrastructure converges atManchester city centre with theManchester Inner Ring Road, an amalgamation of several major roads, circulating the city centre. The county is the only place in the UK to have a fullyorbital motorway,[202] theM60, which passes through all of the boroughs except Bolton and Wigan. Greater Manchester has a higher percentage of the motorway network than any other county in the country,[203] and according to theGuinness Book of World Records, it has the most traffic lanes side by side (17), spread across several parallel carriageways (M61 atLinnyshaw inWalkden, close to the M60 interchange).[204][205] Greater Manchester's 85 mi (137 km) of motorway network saw 5.8 billion vehicle kilometres in 2002 – about 6% of the UK's total, or 89,000 vehicles a day.[202] TheA580 "East Lancs" road is aprimaryA road that connectsManchester andSalford withLiverpool. It was the UK's first purpose-built intercity highway and was officially opened byGeorge V on 18 July 1934.[206] Throughout 2008, there were proposals forcongestion charging in Greater Manchester.[207][208] Unlike theLondon scheme, two cordons would have been used, one covering the main urban core of theGreater Manchester Urban Area and another covering Manchester city centre.[209]
Manchester Airport, which is the third busiest in the United Kingdom, serves the county and wider region with flights to more worldwide destinations than any other airport in the UK.[214] Since 2024[update] it serves 199 routes, making the airport thirteenth globally for total destinations served.[215] The airport handled 28.07 million passengers in 2023.[216]
The three modes of public surface transport in the area are heavily used. 19.7 million rail journeys were made in the then GMPTE-supported area in the 2005/2006 financial year – an increase of 9.4% over 2004/2005; there were 19.9 million journeys on Metrolink; and the bus system carried 219.4 million passengers.[214][needs update]
TheBee Network is an integrated transport network for Greater Manchester, composed of bus, tram, cycling and walking routes. Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) is expected to have the complete network operational by 2024, with commuter rail services expected to be joining the network in 2030. Initially revealed in 2018, the project aims to create a London-style transport system, to encourage more people to take public transport instead of cars. The design of the network is inspired around the Greater Manchester symbol, the worker bee, with bus and tram liveries coloured yellow and black to represent this.
Greater Manchester is set to invest[when?] a further £40.7m in its walking, wheeling and cycling infrastructure as it progresses with its delivery of the largest active travel network in the country. Thirteen schemes have been allocated £23.7m in total, including a new active travel corridor along Chapel Street in Salford and a cycling and walking 'helix ramp' as part ofStockport Interchange.[217]
Manchester hosted the2002 Commonwealth Games which was, at a cost of £200M for the sporting facilities and a further £470M for local infrastructure, by far the biggest and most expensive sporting event held in the UK at the time and the first to be an integral part of urban regeneration.[218] A mix of new and existing facilities were used. New amenities included theManchester Aquatics Centre,Bolton Arena, theNational Squash Centre, and theCity of Manchester Stadium. TheManchester Velodrome was built as part of theManchester bid for the 2000 Summer Olympics.[219] After the Commonwealth Games the City of Manchester Stadium was converted for football use, and the adjacent warm-up track upgraded to become theManchester Regional Arena.[220] Other facilities continue to be used by elite athletes.[218] Cambridge Policy Consultants estimate 4,500 full-time jobs as a direct consequence, and Grattan points to other long-term benefits accruing from publicity and the improvement of the area's image.[218]
Horse racing has taken place at several sites in the county. The two biggest courses were both known asManchester Racecourse – though neither was within the boundaries of Manchester – and ran from the 17th century until 1963. Racing was atKersal Moor until 1847 when the racecourse at Castle Irwell was opened. In 1867 racing was moved to New Barnes,Weaste, until the site was vacated (for a hefty price) in 1901 to allow an expansion toManchester Docks. The land is now home to Dock 9 of the re-brandedSalford Quays. Racing then moved back to Castle Irwell which later staged aClassic – the 1941St. Leger – and was home to theLancashire Oaks (nowadays run atHaydock Park) and theNovember Handicap, which was traditionally the last major race of the flat season. Through the late-1950s and early-1960s the track sawScobie Breasley andLester Piggott annually battle out the closing acts of the jockey's title until racing ceased on 7 November 1963.[237][238]
The Greater Manchester Athletics Association is the governing body of athletics in Greater Manchester, and organises events and competitions within Greater Manchester.[239] TheGreater Manchester Marathon is a long-distance running event along a 26-mile and 385-yard course throughout the borough of Trafford.[240] Professional athletics takes place at the Regional Athletics Arena inSportcity, which has hosted numerous national trials, Robin Park in Wigan, Longford Park in Stretford (home to Trafford Athletic Club), Woodbank Stadium in Stockport (home to Stockport Harriers) and the Cleavleys Track inWinton (home to Salford Harriers). The 12,000seatLeigh Sports Village is a stadium and athletics venue home to the Leigh Harriers, Leigh Leopards Rugby League Club and theManchester United W.F.C.[241]
The Greater Manchester Community Basketball Club is an association which represents Greater Manchester in basketball.[242] It supports a variety of teams, includingManchester Magic.[243] The Greater Manchester County Crown Green Bowling Association appoints Junior, Senior and Veteran teams to represent Greater Manchester in the sport ofbowls.[244][245] Founded by Greater Manchester's ten district councils in 1996, GreaterSport is the County Sports Partnership for Greater Manchester which works closely with the sports and physical activity sectors and coordinates events such as the Greater Manchester Youth Games.[246] The Greater Manchester Sports Fund aims to ensure that people in Greater Manchester aged 12–21 competing in any kind of sport, irrespective of background, are able to obtain grants of up to £750 so that they can better fulfil their potential.[247]
Art, tourism, culture and sport provide 16% of employment in Greater Manchester, with the proportion highest in Manchester.[248] In 2014,Will Straw remarked that "Greater Manchester is a creative powerhouse", recognised for its cultural output in areas such as association football, media and digital content, and guitar and dance music.[5]
Eccles cake is a small round flaky pastry cake filled with currants, sugar and spice. It is native toEccles.
There are several delicacies native to Greater Manchester.[249] Savoury dishes includeblack pudding, a blood sausage typically associated with Bury andBury Market;pasty barm, a combinedpasty-barm cake created in Bolton; andrag pudding, a suet pastry pudding from Oldham filled with steak and onion and steamed in a cloth or wrapper to cook; theManchester egg was introduced in 2010.[249] Sweet dishes includeEccles cake – native toEccles – a small round flaky pastry cake filled with currants, sugar and spice;Manchester tart, a baked tart which consists of a shortcrust pastry shell spread with raspberry jam, covered with a custard filling and topped with flakes of coconut; andUncle Joe's Mint Balls, traditional sweet mild mints manufactured inWigan since their inception in 1898.[249]Vimto andTizer are soft drinks invented in Manchester in 1908 and 1924 respectively.[249]Boddingtons is abitter developed in Manchester and promoted as the "Cream of Manchester" in a popular 1990s advertising campaign credited with raising the city's profile.[250][251][252]
The Greater Manchester Campaign for Real Ale is a branch of the nationalCampaign for Real Ale, an advocacy group that supports, promotes and preserves the beer and drinks industry, and recognising outstanding venues with awards; The Nursery inHeaton Norris was itsNational Pub of the Year in 2001, andThe Baum in Rochdale was its National Pub of the Year in 2012.[253][254][255] The Manchester Food and Drink Festival was launched in 1997 as an urban beverage and gastronomy fair, principally held in Manchester city centre with further events throughout Greater Manchester;[256] smaller separate local events include the Prestwich Food and Drink Festival, the annualWorld Pie Eating Championship in Wigan, and the annualRamsbottom Chocolate Festival.[257][258] As of 2025, Manchester has 2 Michelin Star restaurants: Mana (awarded in 2019),[259] and Skof (awarded in 2025).[260] The region also has three eateries in theBib Gourmand category.[261]
The Greater Manchester Museums Group (GMMG) is a partnership of eight of the ten Museum Services in Greater Manchester.[262] Its exhibition centres include:Gallery Oldham, which has in the past featured work byPablo Picasso;[263]Salford Museum and Art Gallery, a local museum with a recreated Victorian street;[264] andBolton Museum, which houses material from private collectors, including geological specimens from the estate ofCaroline Birley.[265] Separate from the GMMG isThe Lowry at Salford Quays, which has a changing display ofL. S. Lowry's work alongside travelling exhibitions.Manchester Art Gallery is a major provincial art gallery noted for its collection ofPre-Raphaelite art and housed in a Grade I listed building byCharles Barry.[266]
Greater Manchester's museums showcase the county's industrial and social heritage. TheHat Works in Stockport is the UK's only museum dedicated to the hatting industry; the museum moved in 2000 to a Grade II listed Victorian mill, previously a hat factory.[267] TheMuseum of Science and Industry in Manchester, amongst other displays, charts the rise of science and industry and especially the part Manchester played in its development; theMuseums, Libraries and Archives Council described the displays as "pre-eminent collections of national and international importance".[268]Urbis began its life as a museum of the modern city, which attempted to explain the effects and experiences of life in the city. It was then transformed into an exhibition centre, which had its most successful year in 2006. Urbis entered its third phase since opening in 2012 as theNational Football Museum.[269] Stockport Air Raid Shelters uses a mile of tunnels, built to accommodate 6,500 people, to illustrate life in theSecond World War's air raid shelters.[270] TheImperial War Museum North in Trafford Park is one of the Imperial War Museum's five branches. Alongside exhibitions of war machinery are displays describing how people's lives are affected by war.[271] TheMuseum of Transport in Manchester, which opened in 1979, has one of the largest collections of vehicles in the country.[272] ThePeople's History Museum is "the national centre for the collection, conservation, interpretation and study of material relating to the history of working people in Britain". The Pankhurst Museum is based in the early feministEmmeline Pankhurst's former home and includes a parlour laid out in contemporary style.[273] Manchester United, Manchester City, and Lancashire CCC all have dedicated museums illustrating their histories.Wigan Pier, best known fromGeorge Orwell's bookThe Road to Wigan Pier,[274] was the name of a wharf on theLeeds and Liverpool Canal in Wigan. It will re-open as a visitor attraction in 2023, after years of closure.[275] The town is also home to theMuseum of Wigan Life.[276]
The Greater Manchester Film Festival was launched in 2012. It is aninternational film festival designed to capitalise on Greater Manchester's "huge strengths in film and television, along with its growing media presence".[277]MediaCityUK, a host venue of the Greater Manchester Film Festival,[278] is a 200-acre (81 ha) mixed-use property development site at Salford Quays; its principal tenants aremass media organisations such asITV Granada and theBBC. One of Greater Manchester's most lucrative and acclaimed television exports isCoronation Street, which is a televisedsoap opera set inWeatherfield, a fictional borough of Greater Manchester,[279][280] inspired by life in Salford.[281] Created byTony Warren,Coronation Street was first broadcast on 9 December 1960, making it the world's longest-running TV soap opera in production.[282] It has been filmed in Manchester atGranada Studios since its inception, but filming is now done at a new set at MediaCityUK.
A local television station for Greater Manchester,Channel M, was launched in February 2000, carrying a wide range of local programming, including news, sport and entertainment programming.[283] Following severe cutbacks to its local production amid heavy losses, the station ceased broadcasting in April 2012.[284][285] A smaller-scale local TV station,That's Manchester, began broadcasting in May 2015.[286]
TheManchester Evening News is a regional daily newspaper covering Greater Manchester, published every day except Sunday.[289] It is owned byReach plc and produced by MEN Media. It sells around 81,000 copies a day and gives away nearly 100,000, making it the market leader in Greater Manchester.[290] The paper was first published in 1868 byMitchell Henry as part of his parliamentary election campaign for theManchester constituency.[289] MEN Media "dominates Greater Manchester", reaching 7 out of 10 adults each week within the region through its portfolio of products which also includes theOldham Advertiser, theRochdale Observer, and theSalford Advertiser.[291]
The Lowry is a combined theatre and exhibition centre atSalford Quays, and is Greater Manchester's most visited tourist attraction.[292]
Greater Manchester has the highest number of theatre seats per head of population outside London. Most, if not all, of the larger theatres are subsidised by local authorities or the North West Regional Arts Board.[293] TheRoyal Exchange Theatre formed in the 1970s out of a peripatetic group staging plays at venues such as at the University [of Manchester] Theatre and theApollo Theatre. A season in a temporary stage in the formerRoyal Exchange, Manchester was followed by funding for atheatre in the round, which opened in 1976.[294]The Lowry – Greater Manchester's most visited tourist attraction[292] – houses two theatres, used by travelling groups in all the performing arts.[248][295] TheOpera House is a 1,900-seat venue hosting travelling productions, often musicals just out of the West End.[296] Its sister venue,The Palace, hosts generally similar shows. The Oldham Playhouse, one of the older theatres in the region, helped launch the careers ofStan Laurel andCharlie Chaplin. Its productions are described by the 2007 CityLife guide as 'staunchly populist' – and popular.[296] There are many other venues scattered throughout the county, of all types and sizes.[296]
Greater Manchester has four professional orchestras, all based in Manchester.The Hallé is the UK's oldest symphony orchestra (and the fourth oldest in the world),[297] supports a choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label.[298] The Hallé is based at theBridgewater Hall but often tours, typically giving 70 performances "at home" and 40 on tour.[298] TheBBC Philharmonic, one of five BBC orchestras, is based inMediaCityUK in Salford.[299] It can trace its history back to the early days of radio broadcasting in 1926.[300] TheManchester Camerata and theNorthern Chamber Orchestra are smaller, though still professional, organisations.[301] The main classical venue is the 2,341-seat Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, opened in 1996 at a cost of £42m.[302]Manchester is also a centre for musical education, via theRoyal Northern College of Music andChetham's School of Music.[303]
TheManchester Arena holds over 21,000 people,[a] and is the largest indoor arena in the United Kingdom.[305] It has been votedInternational Venue of the Year, and for several years was the most popular venue in the world.[306] The 23,500-seatCo-op Live arena is under construction in Greater Manchester, it will open in 2023.[307] Sports grounds in Greater Manchester, such as the City of Manchester Stadium, also host large live-music events.[308] A £200million flexible, large-scale cultural, arts, and exhibition space namedFactory International was opened in 2023 on the former site ofGranada Studios in central Manchester.[309][310] It is named with reference toFactory Records, a Manchester-based independent record label, founded in 1978 byTony Wilson andAlan Erasmus. Factory Records – which featured acts such asJoy Division,New Order, and theHappy Mondays – andThe Haçienda, served as a catalyst in the late-1980s for a blending ofalternative rock,psychedelic rock andelectronic dance music known asMadchester. Greater Manchester continues to be associated with guitar and dance music.[5]
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