Historically inStaffordshire, Wolverhampton grew as amarket town specialising in thewool trade. During theIndustrial Revolution, it became a major centre for coal mining, steel production, lock making, and automotive manufacturing; the economy of the city is still based on engineering, including a largeaerospace industry, as well as theservice sector. The city is also home to theUniversity of Wolverhampton. A town for most of its history, it gainedcity status in 2000. TheM6 motorway runs just outside Wolverhampton's east and northeast borders, while theM54 motorway starts to the north and links the city withTelford. For railway travel, the city is served byWolverhampton station, while the western terminus of theWest Midlands Metro network is also located in the city.
Wolverhampton has produced many notable musicians and artists and is known in the sports world as the home ofPremier League football teamWolverhampton Wanderers FC, which plays atMolineux Stadium. Due to the heavy influx of Indian immigrants who settled in the city from the 1930s to 1970s, its identity has often been influenced by itsSikh community, and it is currently home to the largest percentage of Sikhs inEngland and Wales; it also hosts a higher percentage ofHindus andMuslims than the national average.
The city is named afterWulfrun, who founded the town in 985, from theAnglo-SaxonWulfrūnehēantūn ("Wulfrūn's high or principal enclosure or farm").[4][5][6] Before theNorman Conquest of 1066, the area's name appears only as variants ofHeantune orHamtun; the prefixWulfrun or similar appearing in 1070 and thereafter.[5] Alternatively, the city may have earned its original name fromWulfereēantūn ("Wulfhere's high or principal enclosure or farm") after the Mercian King,[7] who according to tradition established an abbey in 659, though no evidence of an abbey has been found.[8] The variationWolveren Hampton is seen in medieval records, e.g. in 1381.[9] TheOxford English Dictionary includes thedemonymWulfrunian, defined as "An inhabitant of Wolverhampton", its earliest example of use being from 1959.[2]
A local tradition states that KingWulfhere of Mercia founded anabbey of St Mary at Wolverhampton in 659.[10]
Wolverhampton is recorded as being the site of adecisive battle between the unified Mercian Angles and West Saxons against the raiding Danes in 910, although sources are unclear as to whether the battle itself took place inWednesfield orTettenhall.[11] Both places have since been incorporated into Wolverhampton. The Mercians and West Saxons claimed a decisive victory, and the field of Woden is recognised by numerous place names in Wednesfield.[12][13]
In 985, KingEthelred the Unready granted lands at a place referred to asHeantun to Lady Wulfrun by royal charter,[14] and hence founding the settlement.
Wolverhampton is recorded in theDomesday Book in 1086 as being in theHundred ofSeisdon and the county ofStaffordshire. The lords of the manor are listed as the canons of St Mary (the church's dedication was changed to St Peter after this date), with the tenant-in-chief beingSamson,William the Conqueror's personal chaplain.[16] Wolverhampton at this date is a large settlement of fifty households.[17]
In 1179, there is mention of a market held in the town, and in 1204 it had come to the attention ofKing John that the town did not possess a Royal Charter for holding a market. This charter for a weekly market held on a Wednesday was eventually granted on 4 February 1258 byHenry III.[15]
It is held that in the 14th and 15th centuries that Wolverhampton was one of the "staple towns" of the woollen trade,[15] which today can be seen by the inclusion of a woolpack on the city's coat of arms,[18] and by the many small streets, especially in the city centre, called "Fold" (examples being Blossom's Fold, Farmers Fold, Townwell Fold and Victoria Fold), as well as Woolpack Street and Woolpack Alley.[15]
From the 16th century onwards, Wolverhampton became home to a number of metal industries including lock andkey making and iron andbrass working.
Wolverhampton suffered two Great Fires: the first in April 1590, and the second in September 1696. Both fires started in today's Salop Street. The first fire lasted for five days and left nearly 700 people homeless, whilst the second destroyed 60 homes in the first five hours. This second fire led to the purchase of the firstfire engine within the city in September 1703.[15]
On 27 January 1606,[20] two farmers, Thomas Smart and John Holyhead ofRowley Regis, were executed on High Green, now Queen Square, for sheltering two of theGunpowder Plotters,Robert Wintour andStephen Littleton,[21] who had fled to the Midlands. The pair played no part in the original plot nevertheless suffered a traitor's death of beinghanged, drawn and quartered on butcher's blocks set up in the square a few days before the execution ofGuy Fawkes and several other plotters in London.[15]
There is also evidence that Wolverhampton may have been the location of the first workingNewcomen Steam Engine in 1712.[22]
A few years before she began her reign,Queen Victoria visited Wolverhampton in the 1830s and described it as "a large and dirty town" but one which received her "with great friendliness and pleasure". InVictorian times, Wolverhampton grew to be a wealthy town mainly due to the huge amount of industry that occurred as a result of the abundance of coal and iron deposits in the area. The remains of this wealth can be seen in local houses such asWightwick Manor and The Mount (both built for the prominent varnish and paint manufacturers, theMander family) as well as Tettenhall Towers. All three are located in the western fringe of Wolverhampton, in the areas known as Wightwick and Tettenhall. Many other houses of similar stature were demolished in the 1960s and 1970s.
In the 19th century, the city saw much immigration fromWales andIreland, the latter following theGreat Famine. In 1866, a statue was erected in memory ofPrince Albert the Prince Consort, the unveiling of which brought Queen Victoria back to Wolverhampton.[27] The unveiling of the statue was the first public appearance Queen Victoria made after the funeral of her husband. A 40-foot-tall (12 m) archway made of coal was constructed for the visit. The Queen was so pleased with the statue that she knighted Wolverhampton's mayor at the time, an industrialist namedJohn Morris. Market Square, originally named High Green, was renamed Queen Square in honour of the visit. The statue replaced a Russian cannon captured during theSiege of Sevastopol in 1855,[23] and remains standing in Queen Square. The statue is known locally as "The Man on the Horse".
Wolverhampton had a prolific bicycle industry from 1868 to 1975, during which time a total of more than 200 bicycle manufacturing companies existed, none remaining today. These manufacturers included Viking, Marston, Sunbeam, Star, Wulfruna and Rudge.[29] The last volume manufacturers of bicycles left Wolverhampton during the 1960s and 1970s – the largest and best-known of which was Viking Cycles Ltd,[30] whose team dominated the UK racing scene in the 1950s (Viking's production of hand-built lightweight racing and juvenile bicycles exceeded 20,000 units in 1965). Closures of other smaller cycle makers followed during the 1980s including such well-known hand-builders asPercy Stallard (the former professional cyclist) and Jack Hateley.[31]
Wolverhampton High Level station (the current main railway station) opened in 1852, but the original station was demolished in 1965 and then rebuilt.[32]Wolverhampton Low Level station opened on the Great Western Railway in 1855. The site of the Low Level station, which closed to passengers in 1972 and completely in 1981, has since been redeveloped with much of the original station incorporated into a hotel. An Aldi store opened nearby in 2019.
In 1918 at "The Mount" inTettenhall Wood, the British Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George announced a general election.[33] He also made his "Homes fit for heroes" speech at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre in the same year.[34] It was on the idea of "Homes fit for heroes" that Lloyd George was to fight the1918 "Coupon" General Election.
Masscouncil housing development in Wolverhampton, to rehouse families from slum housing, began after the end of theWorld War I. New estates at Parkfields (near the border withCoseley) and Birches Barn (near Bantock Park in the west of Wolverhampton) gave the city some 550 new council houses by 1923, although this was a fraction of the number required. The first large council housing development in Wolverhampton was theLow Hill estate to the north-east of the city, which consisted of more than 2,000 new council houses by 1927 and was one of the largest housing estates in Britain at the time.[35] Mass council housing development in Wolverhampton continued into the 1930s, mostly in the north of the city in theOxley andWobaston areas and on the newScotlands Estate in the north-east. However, council house building halted in 1940 following the outbreak ofWorld War II in September the previous year.[36]
Wolverhampton St George's (in the city centre) was the northern terminus for theWest Midlands Metro light rail system, now terminating atWolverhampton station. An extension to the railway station opened in 2023, the opening being delayed until the new railway station was completed. Wolverhampton was one of the few towns to operate surface contact trams and the only town to use the Lorain Surface Contact System.[37]Trolleybuses appeared in 1923, and in 1930 for a brief period theWolverhampton trolleybus system was the world's largest trolleybus system.[38] The last Wolverhampton trolleybus ran in 1967, just as the railway line through the High Level station was converted to electric operation.
The location of the UK's first set of traffic lights at Princes Square; the poles are painted with black and white bands, as they were originally
England's first automatictraffic lights could be seen in Princes Square in 1927.[39] The modern traffic lights at this location have the traditional striped poles to commemorate this fact. Princes Square was also the location of the United Kingdom's first pedestrian safety barriers, which were erected in 1934.[40] On 2 November 1927, theA4123 New Road was opened by the then-Prince of Wales (laterEdward VIII)[41] linking the city withBirmingham. The New Road was designed as an unemployment relief project[42] and was the United Kingdom's first purpose-built intercity highway of the twentieth century.[citation needed]
Sir Geoffrey Le Mesurier Mander, a member of theMander family, was Liberal MP forWolverhampton East from 1929 to 1945, distinguished for his stance againstappeasement and as a supporter of theLeague of Nations. He was known as "the last of the Midland radicals". More recent members have included theConservative mavericksEnoch Powell andNicholas Budgen. Powell was a member ofEdward Heath's Tory shadow cabinet from 1964, until he was dismissed in April 1968 following his controversialRivers of Blood speech in which he warned of massive civil unrest if mass immigration of black and Asiancommonwealth inhabitants continued. At the same period, Sikh bus drivers and conductors were demonstrating in Wolverhampton against the Transportation Committee's regulations requiring uniform caps and thus prohibiting turbans.[43] In 2005, formerBilston councillor and MP forWolverhampton South East,Dennis Turner entered the House of Lords as Lord Bilston.
After the end of World War II in 1945, the council erected 400 prefabricated bungalows across Wolverhampton, and built its first permanent postwar houses at the Underhill Estate nearBushbury in the late 1940s.[44] The 1950s saw many new houses and flats built across Wolverhampton as the rehousing programme from the slums continued, as well as the local council agreeing deals with neighbouring authoritiesWednesfield Urban District andSeisdon Rural District which saw families relocated to new estates in those areas.[45] The 1960s saw the rehousing programme continue, with multi-storey blocks being built on a large scale across Wolverhampton at locations includingBlakenhall,Whitmore Reans andChetton Green. The later part of the decade saw theHeath Town district almost completely redeveloped with multi-story flats and maisonette blocks.[46] By 1975, by which time Wolverhampton had also taken in the majority of the Borough ofBilston, the Urban Districts ofWednesfield andTettenhall and parts ofWillenhall,Sedgley andCoseley, almost a third of Wolverhampton's population lived in council housing, but since that date social housing has been built on a minimal scale in the area, and some of the 1919–1975 developments have since been demolished.[47]
As well as the many new council estates which sprang up around Wolverhampton during the 20th century, several older parts of the town were redeveloped for new council housing during the 1960s and early 1970s. The most notable example is the Heath Town area, where almost all of the 19th-century buildings were demolished during the 1960s and replaced by four tower blocks and several blocks of maisonettes. However, the state housing at Heath Town quickly became unpopular and by the 1980s the area was plagued with crime and unemployment. The first regeneration projects on the estate began during the 1990s, and in 2017 some of the maisonette blocks were demolished. A similar redevelopment took place around the same time in Blakenhall, where new shops and five tower blocks were built in a 1960s redevelopment area. However, all of these buildings were demolished between 2002 and 2011 and have since been replaced with new private and social housing.
Large numbers of black and Asian immigrants settled in Wolverhampton from the 1950s and 1960s, mostly in theBlakenhall,All Saints,Whitmore Reans andHeath Town areas. Wolverhampton is home to a largeSikh community, who settled there during the period (1935–1975) from the Indian state ofPunjab. Today, the Sikh community in Wolverhampton is roughly 12% of the city's population.
In 1974, as a result of local government reorganisation, Wolverhampton became ametropolitan borough, transferring from Staffordshire into the newly formed West Midlands county. Wolverhampton was grantedcity status on 31 January 2001[48] – an honour that had been unsuccessfully applied for in 1953, 1966, 1977,[49] 1985[50] and 1992[49] – making it one of three "Millennium Cities".[51] Wolverhampton also made an unsuccessful application for a Lord Mayor in 2002.[49]
Many of the city centre's buildings date from the early 20th century and before, the oldest buildings beingSt Peter's Church (which was built in the 13th century but has been largely extended and refurbished since the 15th century, situated on Lichfield Street)[52] and a framed timber 17th-century building on Victoria Street which is now one of just two remaining in the area which was heavily populated by them until the turn of the 20th century. This building was originally a residential property, but later became the Hand Inn public house. Later becoming Lindy Lou's children's shop and still called Lindy Lou's by locals. It carries a "false" date of 1300AD fitted during a past refurbishment.It was completely restored in 1981 after a two-year refurbishment project and has been used by various businesses since then including as a second-hand book shop.[53]
On 23 November 1981,an F1/T2 tornado touched down inFordhouses to the north of Wolverhampton, and later moved over Wolverhampton city centre and surrounding suburbs, causing some damage.[54]
TheWolverhampton Ring Road circumnavigates the city centre linking the majority of the city's radial routes. It was constructed in sections between 1960 and 1986, and carries the number A4150, although this is only marked on one road sign.
The centre of Wolverhampton has been altered radically since the mid-1960s, with the Mander Centre (plans for which were unveiled on 15 April 1965)[55] being opened in two phases, the first in 1968 and the second in 1971. Several refurbishments have taken place since. The Wulfrun Centre, an open shopping area, was opened alongside the Mander Centre's first phase in 1968, but has been undercover since a roof was added in the late 1990s.[56]
Central Wolverhampton police station was built just south of the city centre on Birmingham Road during the 1960s, but operations there were cut back in the early 1990s when a new larger police station was built on Bilston Street on land which became vacant a decade earlier on the demolition of a factory along with a number of shops and the Clifton Cinema. This was officially opened byDiana, Princess of Wales, on 31 July 1992.[57]
The city centre had several cinemas during the 20th century, including theOdeon Cinema. The last of these was the ABC Cinema (formerly the Savoy), which closed in 1991 after 54 years. It was then converted into a nightclub, with part of the site being converted into the offices of arecruitment agency in 2005.[58] The building was demolished in 2019 to make way for an extension to theCity of Wolverhampton College's Metro One campus.[59]
A modern landmark in the city centre is theWolverhampton Combined Court Centre on Pipers Row, which opened in 1990 as the town's first purpose-built crown court.[60]
A few department store chains includingMarks & Spencer andNext have stores in the centre of Wolverhampton.Beatties, aHouse of Fraser store, was announced to close in 2019.[61]Debenhams opened a 3-floor department store in theMander Centre in 2017, but has now closed.[62]Rackhams had a store on Snow Hill for some 25 years until 1992. This building was then divided between aNetto supermarket and the local archives service, but by 2006 its future was under threat as part of the proposed Summer Row retail development. This led to the closure of the Netto supermarket in June 2007 and the relocation of the archives service to the Molineux Hotel building in 2008. The building has since been demolished toward a development push from the Local Authority at various sites around the city. The site is now home to a relocated outdoor market.
Following the closure of the Mander Centre branch ofTesco and relocation ofSainsbury's, the only remaining supermarket in the central shopping area wasIceland. In September 2023 a Tesco Express convenience store opened in Dudley Street replacing a branch of Clinton Cards. Outside the Ring Road were major branches of Sainsbury's,Asda andWaitrose. The Waitrose store, originally a branch of Safeway which Morrisons were forced to sell off as part of the acquisition of the supermarket chain, closed at the end of trading on 31 December 2020. The store was sold to Tesco which opened in June 2021.Aldi have two stores close to the city centre: one just off theA4123 Birmingham Road and a newer branch close to the former Wolverhampton Low Level railway station in Sun Street.
On 20 February 2021, it was announced as part of the government's levelling up strategy, that theDepartment for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (now theMinistry of Housing, Communities and Local Government) would be the first government department to have a headquarters based outside of London. Five hundred posts, including those of senior civil servants, are scheduled to be moving to Wolverhampton by 2025.[66] The then Secretary of State,Robert Jenrick officially opened the Ministry's new offices in the i9 building at the city's public transport interchange development on 10 September 2021.[67]
From the 18th century, Wolverhampton was well known for production ofjapanned ware and steel jewellery. The renowned 18th- and 19th-century artistsJoseph Barney (1753–1832),Edward Bird (1772–1819), andGeorge Wallis (1811–1891) were all born in Wolverhampton and initially trained as japanned ware painters.
The School of Practical Art was opened in the 1850s and eventually became a close associate of the Art Gallery. Among its students and teachers were Robert Jackson Emerson (1878–1944), Sir Charles Wheeler (Emerson's most famous pupil and the sculptor of the fountains inTrafalgar Square),Sara Page who established her studio in Paris, and many other artists and sculptors recognised locally and nationally.
There is a Creative Industries Quarter in Wolverhampton, just off Broad Street, with facilities ranging from the newly openedSlade Rooms, to the art house cinema theLight House Media Centre (closed in 2022) and the Arena Theatre, which is part of theUniversity of Wolverhampton.
Wolverhampton has a strong history in the ornate cast iron safe painting industry from the Victorian era. Numerous companies, such asChubb Lock and Safe Company, expanded their artistic status to international reputation, whereby a safe became a work of art with fine script and hand-painted designs. The Chubb Building was converted into a National Historic Registered Landmark Treasure in 1992, which now houses a cinema, art galleries, nightclub, business offices and a large stained glassrotunda in its foyer. It is among the few canal street factories in the "Black Country" that has been preserved.
Wolverhampton's biggest public art display took place between July and September 2017;Wolves in Wolves saw the installation of 30 wolf sculptures in the city centre and West Park, with the sculptures auctioned off to raise money for charity.
Following successful exhibitions at Mechanics' Institutes inManchester and many northern towns, Wolverhampton held an exhibition that was the brain child ofGeorge Wallis, an artist employed by the firm of Ryton and Walton. The exhibition was held in the Mechanics' Institute in Queen Street and showed fine art, furniture, and decorated trays, as well as a variety of ironwork, locks and steel toys.[69]
On 11 May 1869The Earl Granville opened the Exhibition of Staffordshire Arts and Industry in a temporary building in the grounds of Molineux House.[69]
The largest and most ambitious exhibition was the Arts and Industrial Exhibition which took place in 1902. Although housing only one international pavilion, from Canada, the scope and scale of the exhibition mirrored all the advances in other exhibitions of its time. The exhibition site featured several halls housing machinery, industrial products, a concert hall, two bandstands, a restaurant, and a fun fair with thrill rides and a water chute. Its opening, by theDuke of Connaught, was received with hopeful enthusiasm, unfortunately not matched by the weather, which contributed to a £30,000 loss, equivalent to nearly £2M at today's value.[69][70]
Wolverhampton city centre falls outside of the area traditionally known as theBlack Country, although some areas such as the town and former borough ofBilston andHeath Town and theWillenhall side of Wolverhampton fall within the Black Countrycoalfields, leading to confusion as to whether the entire city falls within the region. Modern usage has tended towards using the term to refer to the western part of theWest Midlands county, excluding Birmingham,Solihull andCoventry. Examples would be UK Government regional bodies such as theBlack Country Development Corporation, under whose remit the city fell.
Wolverhampton's climate isoceanic (KöppenCfb) and therefore quite temperate, with average maximum temperatures in July being around 21 °C (70 °F), and with the maximum daytime temperature in January being around 6.9 °C (44.4 °F).
As with much of the locality, the majority of areas in Wolverhampton have names that are ofOld English (Anglo-Saxon) origin, with a few exceptions such as Penn (pre-EnglishBrittonic place name) and Parkfields, Park Village, Lanesfield etc. (modern place names of the last couple of hundred years).[76]
†–Partial Municipal Boroughs or Urban Districts added to Wolverhampton County Borough in 1966 and communities within these. These Urban Districts were split between Wolverhampton and other local authorities. Those parts within the present City of Wolverhampton local council area are considered by the ONS to be part of the Wolverhampton Urban sub-division.
††–Areas within the Wolverhampton Urban Sub-division but administered bySouth Staffordshire District Council.
Wolverhampton hasgreen belt within its boundary, as a part of the wider West Midlands Green Belt. This is scattered around the western half of the city, in the form ofgreen wedges, due to it being highly urbanised.[77] The green belt is in place to prevent furtherurban sprawl, and preserve greenfield areas. Areas covered include:[78]
The vast majority of Wolverhampton is governed locally by City of Wolverhampton Council, although some smaller parts of the urban area are governed bySouth Staffordshire District Council.
The City of Wolverhampton is ametropolitan borough, with its City Council acting as a single-tierunitary authority. South Staffordshire District Council is a two-tier authority, with some services provided byStaffordshire County Council.
The council offices are in theWolverhampton Civic Centre, which is located in St Peter's Square in the city centre.[79] The city council's motto is 'Out of darkness cometh light'.[80]
TheLabour Party currently control the council and have been in majority on the council since 1974, with the exceptions of 1978–1979, 1987, 1992–1994 and 2008–2010.[81] The Labour party won 47 out of 60 council seats in2023, the last year all the seats were up for election.[82]
Wolverhampton gained the beginnings of modern local government in 1777, when the Wolverhampton Improvement Act was passed by Parliament. This allowed for the establishment of 125 Town Commissioners who undertook a variety of local improvement work such as punishing bear baiting, improving drainage, widening streets and by the end of the century street lighting had been provided at every street corner and over the doorway of every inn, and water supply had been improved by the sinking of ten new wells and the provision of a great water tank in the market place. Policing had been improved with the appointment of ten watchmen and attempts were also made to regulate the markets and inspect hazardous food.[4][83]
In 1933, the boundaries of the borough expanded, taking in areas fromCannock Rural District andSeisdon Rural District, with very little of the surrounding urban area being affected,[88] with onlyHeath Town Urban District being abolished.
The bulk of theurban districts of Bilston (a borough itself after 1933),Tettenhall andWednesfield were added to the borough in 1966, along with the northern section of the urban district ofCoseley and parts from the north ofSedgley and the west ofWillenhall. The vast majority of these areas were traditionally part of the Parish of Wolverhampton, and were part of the original Parliamentary Borough.[88]
Wolverhampton was one of only two County Boroughs (the other beingLiverpool) to have no changes made to the boundary during the1974 reorganisation of local government, the borough already having a population larger than the 250,000 required for education authorities. This contrasted with both theRedcliffe-Maud Report, and the initial White Paper for the 1974 reforms[89] where large areas of the presentSouth Staffordshire district were to be added to the borough. During the 1974 reforms it was placed within theWest Midlands Metropolitan County.
Population pyramid of Wolverhampton (borough) in 2021
The2021 Census gives the Wolverhampton Urban Subdivision as the second largest in theWest Midlands conurbation. The figure given for Wolverhampton is 263,727. The proportion of females within the city (50.9%) is slightly higher than that of males (49.1%).[93]
Wolverhampton has an ethnically diverse population; 60.6% of the city's population were white in the 2021 census, 21.2% wereAsian, 9.3% wereBlack, 5.3% weremixed, and 3.6 were from another ethnic group.[93]
Based upon the 2021 census, Wolverhampton has a Christian population of 43.8%. The proportion of Wolverhampton residents professingno religion was 27.8%. Of religious groupings,Sikhism has the second largest following in Wolverhampton, accounting for 12% of the population in 2021, increasing from 9.1% in the 2011 census, meaning the city has thelargest percentage of Sikhs in England and Wales, and the third largest community numerically. The proportion of people followingIslam was 5.5%, whilstHinduism was followed by 3.7%, the figure forBuddhism was 0.3%.[93]
Wolverhampton is within the top 11% of local council areas in England and Wales (excluding London Boroughs) for public transport use for travelling to work at 16% of the total. 63% used private transport, either as a driver or passenger, 13% cycled or travelled on foot, whilst 8% worked from home.[94]
Car ownership is lower than the average for England and Wales with 35.2% of households not owning a car, compared with 26.8% nationally. Single car ownership is in line with national averages (Wolverhampton 42.9%, England and Wales 43.8%), while the proportion of households owning more than one car is lower than the national average.[95]
The tables below detail the population change since 1750, separating that of the city itself and the geographical area now administered by Wolverhampton City Council.
Traditionally, Wolverhampton's economy has been dominated by iron, steel,automobiles, engineering and manufacturing industries. Many of the traditional industries in the city have closed or dramatically downsized over the years. However, by 2008 the economy was dominated by theservice sector,[113] with 74.9% of the city's employment being in this area. The major subcomponents of this sector are in public administration, education and health (32.8% of the total employment), while distribution, hotels and restaurants take up 21.1%, and finance and IT takes up 12.7%. The largest non-service industry was that of manufacturing (12.9%), whilst 5.2% of the total employment is related to the tourism industry.[114]
The largest single employer within the city is Wolverhampton City Council.[115] which has over 12,000 staff[116] Other large employers within the city include:
In 2014Jaguar Land Rover opened a £500 millionEngine Assembly Plant at thei54 business park, Wolverhampton. Unveiled byHer Majesty, the plant produces 2.0-litre 4-cylinder Ingenium diesel and petrol engines. Having already been expanded once before, in 2015 it was announced that the factory would be doubling in size to 200,000 sq m (2,152,782 sq ft), costing $450 million.[117] This expansion would see the workforce double from 700 to 1,400.[118]
Goodyear opened a large factory on Stafford Road,Fordhouses, in 1927. However, it was decided in December 2003 that tyre production at the plant would be discontinued with the loss of more than 400 jobs. This came after some 2,000 job losses at the plant since 1997. The end of production came in 2004 but the factory remained open for tyre moulding and tractor tyre production.[119]
The varied success ofWolverhampton Wanderers since the club's formation in 1877 has also contributed to the economy of Wolverhampton. The club's greatest successes came between 1949 and 1960, when it won the league title three times and theFA Cup twice, as well as hosting a series of high-profile friendly matches against Europe's leading club sides, also competing in two early editions of theEuropean Cup. During this era, Wolves frequently attracted crowds of between 40,000 and 50,000. Wolves went on to win theFootball League Cup in 1974 and again in 1980, spending all but three seasons outside the top division of English football during the first 35 years of postwar league football, and continued to attract strong crowds but the 1980s saw a sharp decline in the club's fortunes, with three consecutive relegations, a sharp fall in attendances, and debts of more than £2million which almost put the club out of business. This decline also came at a time when the economy of Wolverhampton was struggling due to theearly 1980s recession. Wolves enjoyed a surge in the late 1980s with two consecutive promotions, thanks largely to the prolific scoring of strikerSteve Bull, and an upturn in attendances which also provided a boost to the local economy – as did the club's increased support during the 1990s, during which time the stadium was extensively rebuilt and its facilities improved, with its new features including a restaurant and office space. In 2018, Wolves won promotion to theFA Premier League for the third time in 15 years, and a year later reached its firstFA Cup semi-final since 1998, and further redevelopment of the stadium is planned.
In recent years, Wolverhampton City Council have embarked on many city improvements and regeneration schemes.[121] One such project was "Summer Row", a new £300 million retail quarter for Wolverhampton city centre. The project would have involved clearing existing buildings, and in 2006 acompulsory purchase order was issued to over 200 owner / occupiers in the surrounding area.[122] Construction of Summer Row was originally earmarked for 2008, with a completion date listed as 2010,[123] but the 2008 recession put the project on hold.In January 2011, the Summer Row project was formally cancelled[124] as the CPO expired before the council found the necessary financial backing for the project.
Debenhams, who were listed as the anchor store of Summer Row, announced they were still keen in opening a department store in Wolverhampton. It was revealed they would open an anchor store in a £35 million redevelopment of theMander Centre. To be completed in 2017, the 90,000-square-foot (8,400 m2) store would create 120 jobs.[125] The redevelopment would also see the Mander Centre be fully refurbished and reconfigured. A number of larger stores would be created, replacing smaller ones. The reconfiguration saw the relocation of the toilets, escalators and elevators. The lower Central arcade was removed and Tesco and TJ Hughes were demolished to make way for 3-storey Debenhams store.[126] Debenhams closed in January 2020.[127] In 2019 Wilkinson relocated into the Mander Centre, closing a smaller store in Snow Hill. B & M Stores opened in part of the former BHS store at the same time.
Wolverhampton's Interchange Project is a major redevelopment of the city's east side area worth around £120 million.
The i10 building contains 12,400 sq ft (1,150 m2) of leisure and retail space on the ground floor and 36,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) of office space above
Phase 1, which was completed in 2012, consisted of demolishing the old bus station and replacing it with a new £22.5 million station. This phase also included a new footbridge across the ring road towards the railway station, highway and pedestrian works, new offices forCentro and aSainsbury's convenience store.[128]
Phase 2 which was completed in late 2015, involved the construction of the £10.6 million i10 building adjacent to the new bus station. The building contains 12,400 square feet (1,150 m2) of leisure and retail space on the ground floor and 36,000 sq ft (3,300 m2) of office space above.[129]
Phase 3 began in early 2016 on expanding the train station'smulti-storey car park. Completed in December 2016, the car park increased in capacity from 450 to over 800 spaces.[130] The expansion of the multi-storey car park included a new cycle and motorcycle parking, short stay parking, passenger drop off point and a taxi rank adjacent to the car park. A new entrance was created.[131]
Phase 4 involved construction of a new development on the opposite side of Railway Drive to the i10 and is known as i9. The offices are used by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, part of central government.
Wolverhampton city centre forms the main focal point for the road network within the northwestern part of theWest Midlands conurbation, and out into the rural hinterland ofStaffordshire andShropshire. The road network within the boundaries of the city council area is entirely maintained byWolverhampton City Council, whilst those parts of the urban area outside the city council area have their networks maintained byStaffordshire County Council, with the exception ofM54 andA449 on the northern fringes of the urban area which are maintained byNational Highways.[132]
Wolverhampton's Ring Road
Major historical improvements to the city's road network includeThomas Telford's Holyhead Road (now part ofA41), which was constructed between 1819 and 1826 to improve communications between London andHolyhead, and hence to Ireland. The majority of work within the city saw improvement to the contemporary network, though both the Wellington Road inBilston[133] and the cutting at the Rock nearTettenhall were newly constructed for the road, although the improvements at The Rock were constructed by the local Turnpike Trust rather than Telford himself.[134] In 1927, theA4123Birmingham-Wolverhampton New Road was constructed as both an unemployment relief project, and to relieve pressure on Telford's road through theBlack Country.[135] It was the first purpose built inter-city road in the United Kingdom within the 20th century,[136] and was said to be the longest stretch of new road in Britain since theRomans. It took just three years to complete and cost £600,000.[137] Also in 1927, the first automatictraffic lights in the United Kingdom were installed in Princes Square in the city centre.[39] Princes Square was also the location of the United Kingdom's first pedestrian safety barriers, which were erected in 1934.[40]
In 1960, plans were announced to build aRing Road around the centre of Wolverhampton. By the end of the 1960s, more than half of the Ring Road had been completed, stretching from Snow Hill to Stafford Street (via Penn Road, Chapel Ash and Waterloo Road), followed a few years later by a section between Snow Hill and Bilston Street. However, the final section between Bilston Street and Stafford Street (via Wednesfield Road) was not completed until 1986. An outer ring road was also planned but only a small section was ever built, this being Wobaston Road in Pendeford.
The M54 motorway to the northwest of the city
Wolverhampton is near to several motorways, with four being located within 7 miles (11 km) of the city centre. The first to be constructed in the area was theM6, which opened in sections between 1966 and 1970,[138] and connects the city with the north-west of England (includingManchester andLiverpool), Scotland as well asBirmingham andCoventry to the east, and London via theM1. Together with theM5, which opened in the area in 1970[138] and links the city with the south-west of England, and London via theM40, the two motorways form a north–south bypass for the city.
The section of M6 motorway nearest to the city is one of the busiest within the UK,[139] and to relieve congestion on this stretch, theM6 Toll which bypasses both the Wolverhampton andBirmingham sections of the M6 motorway was opened in 2003.[138]
TheM54 motorway forms a northern bypass to the city, passing just within the fringes of the urban area, and links the city withTelford,Shrewsbury andWales. It opened in 1983.[138]
In addition to the motorways presently constructed, there have also been several proposed near to the city that have not been constructed, or have been constructed to a lower standard. Included within these are theBilston Link Motorway, which was first proposed in the 1960s and was eventually constructed to a lower standard in the 1980s as theA454/A463Black Country Route;[citation needed] and theWestern Orbital orWolverhampton Western Bypass, which was first proposed in the 1970s as a bypass for the western side of the city and the widerWest Midlands conurbation.[citation needed] Currently proposed by theHighways Agency is theM54 to M6 / M6 (Toll) Link Road. The route was initially proposed in the 2000s to relieve the overloaded sections ofA460 andA449 near the city, and to replace a section of the cancelled Western Orbital. Whilst it appears in the current roads programme, a date for the start of construction has not been set.[140]
Wolverhampton is well connected by rail to other parts of England and Wales. However, while Priestfield and Bilston are connected by a tram line, the suburbs in the south, west and north of Wolverhampton are no longer served by rail - in particular the Tettenhall, Penn and Compton areas and Dunstall Park for the race course. Wednesfield no longer has any rail connections, withWolverhampton andBloxwich being its closest railway stations.
Wolverhampton's first railway opened in 1837, with the opening of theGrand Junction Railway, the first long-distance line in Great Britain. The main station for the city was, however, not located in the city centre but atWednesfield Heath, nowHeath Town on the east side of the city.[24] This station was considered to be a First Class station, though its location was obviously not ideal and it became a goods station after passenger services ceased in 1873. The station buildings were demolished in 1965, but the main station area is now a nature reserve just off Powell Street, called Station Fields and part of the edge of the northbound platform is still in situ. The track running through the station site is, however, still in use.[25]
Thefirst station in the city centre was opened by theShrewsbury and Birmingham Railway in 1849. This station was only intended to be temporary and was located on the north side of Wednesfield Road, beside Broad Street Basin. The station was constructed as the opening ofWolverhampton High Level was delayed. The station closed in 1852 and was demolished in the mid-1970s.[141] In addition to the temporary station,Wolverhampton Works were also established in 1849 by the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway and became the Northern Division workshop of theGreat Western Railway in 1854.[26]
The permanent station on the line finally opened on 24 June 1852 and was initially known asWolverhampton General; it was renamed asWolverhampton Queen Street in 1853 and finallyWolverhampton High Level in 1855. The station was initially a joint station between theShrewsbury and Birmingham Railway and theLondon and North Western Railway, though there were problems in the relationships between the two companies; the station became solely LNWR in 1854, before theWolverhampton and Walsall Railway (later part of theMidland Railway) gained access to the station in 1867. The original High Level station was demolished in 1965, as part of the electification of theWest Coast Main Line and was replaced by buildings on the present site which have now been demolished.[142]
Two years after the opening of the High Level station, theOxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton Railway (OWW) opened their city centre station immediately to the east of High Level. Initially calledWolverhampton Joint, it was renamedWolverhampton Low Level in 1856. As well as the OWW, the station also served theBirmingham, Wolverhampton and Dudley Railway and the Shrewsbury and Birmingham Railway. As the first two companies were supported by theGreat Western Railway,broad gauge track was laid to the station, meaning that Wolverhampton Low Level became the most northerly station on the broad gauge network before being converted to standard gauge in 1869. Despite being featured in the secondBeeching Report,The Development of the Major Railway Trunk Routes in February 1965 as being on a line earmarked for further investment, services were withdrawn progressively from Low Level starting in 1967, soon after it had been transferred administratively from theWestern Region of British Railways to theLondon Midland region. London services were transferred to the newly electrified High Level station. Low Level was converted into a Parcels Concentration Depot in 1970 and the final passenger services were withdrawn in 1972.[143] These services (to and fromBirmingham Snow Hill) were only suspended and never legally withdrawn byBritish Rail and so technically the station is still open.[144]
The 1960s buildings of the station have now been demolished, following a lengthy delay, and are being replaced with a more modern station building. Phase 1 opened in spring 2020, which saw the creation of a new entrance. Phase 2 saw the demolition of the remainder but construction of the replacement was delayed due to the COVID-19 restrictions and opened on 28 June 2021.[147] This new station includes a stop on the Metro tram line which opened in September 2023.[148]
Transport for West Midlands operatesWolverhampton bus station on Pipers Row, which was completely rebuilt in 2011.[149] It is situated near to the railway station, providing an interchange between bus, train and tram. National Express West Midlands has a traffic office inside the bus station where officers can monitor disruptions and make alterations if required. Colour schemes and branding have been updated following the transition fromNetwork West Midlands to TfWM branding.
The previous Pipers Row bus station opened on 26 October 1986, just six years after its predecessor of 1981.[150] The grade II listedQueen's Building was incorporated into the bus station as part of a further upgrade in 1990. A limited refurbishment took place in 2005–6, with new toilets and the addition of a coach stand. In 2009, plans were unveiled for a complete rebuild of the bus station, as part of Wolverhampton's Interchange Project and in April 2010 it was closed.[151]
All of the seven westernmost stations on the network are in Wolverhampton, with this number increasing to nine now Pipers Row and Wolverhampton station are connected to the network.
In 2014/15, Centro announced in a £40 million deal, they would be replacing the entire fleet of the 16AnsaldoBreda T-69 trams with 21CAF Urbos 3 trams. The new Urbos 3 trams are 9 metres longer; at 33 metres (108 ft), with the ability of carrying 210 passengers, compared to the 156 from the T69.[153] Additionally with the upgraded trams, Wolverhampton's Metro Line will be expanded. As part of the Wolverhampton Interchange Project; the Metro line will be extended fromWolverhampton St George's toWolverhampton railway station, creating one stop atWolverhampton bus station and subsequently ending at the railway station. It was scheduled to open in September 2020.[154] However delays caused by COVID-19 mean the extension is not expected to open until September 2021. The line finally opened in the summer of 2023.
In 2021, construction started on a 2 new metro Lines fromBrierley Hill to Wolverhampton andBirmingham, one of these lines will terminate in Wolverhampton City Centre and will boost connectivity to the Black Country, this means that the corridor between Wolverhampton and Wednesbury will be served every 3 minutes by trams in peak times.
In late September 2021, funding was given for over 4 new metro projects, including a new line from Wolverhampton toNew Cross Hospital. This new line will extend the existing line from Wolverhampton Interchange to the hospital, via an old railway line. Another planned but not confirmed extension is from St Georges to the i54.
Wolverhampton's original airport was atPendeford, opened in 1938 and closed on 31 December 1970.[155] The currentWolverhampton Airport, renamed from Halfpenny Green, is a small general aviation airfield located 8 miles (12.9 km) southwest of the city. Expansion of the airport has been suggested, but the current owners want to keep it as a General Aviation airfield. The airport hosts various "fly in" events and is an original World War Two airfield.
The nearest major airport isBirmingham Airport, approximately 25 miles (40.2 km) away. The airport is easy to reach by train, with a direct express service to it only taking on average 36 minutes. By car, it takes approximately 45 minutes via the M6 or M6 Toll Road. There are direct flights to Amritsar, Delhi, Dubai, Orlando, Dublin, Paris, Bucharest, Frankfurt and Munich
Most places in the borough and some of the neighbouring villages in South Staffordshire are within easy reach of the city centre by pedal cycle and terrain is moderately hilly. Climbs tend to be of two to three minutes duration. Cycling benefits from the 20 miles per hour (32 km/h) city centre within the Ring Road and a number of routes that use quieter roads and paths to avoid the ten 'A' roads that radiate from the Ring Road. Wolverhampton is on the Smethwick to Telford section ofSustransNational Cycle Network Route 81.[157] This follows theBirmingham Main Line Canal towpath fromSmethwick to Broad Street Basin, Wolverhampton where the route splits in two. The choice here is between riding the 21 locks section of theBirmingham Main Line Canal to Aldersley Junction or taking the Cross-City route braid to visit the city centre,West Park orSmestow Valley Leisure Ride before returning to Aldersley Junction. NCN81 continues to Autherley Junction along the towpath of theStaffordshire and Worcestershire Canal and then along the east bank towpath of theShropshire Union Canal as far as Pendeford Mill Lane before turning toBilbrook in Staffordshire. The lanes of nearby South Staffordshire and east Shropshire provide ideal cycle touring conditions.[158]
Hip Hop music producerS-X who has worked withT.I.,J. Cole,Birdman &Lil Wayne was born and raised and still lives in Wolverhampton. In 2010, Wolverhampton-born singerLiam Payne (1993–2024) came third in the British television music showThe X Factor with his boy bandOne Direction, who in March 2012 became the first British group to go straight to the top of theUS music charts with their debut album,Up All Night.
Wolverhampton has a number of live music venues; the largest occasionally used being thefootball ground,Molineux Stadium, which was used for aBon Jovi concert in 2003,[159] but the biggest indoor venue regularly used isWolverhampton Civic Hall, with a standing capacity of 3,000.[160] Second to that is Wulfrun Hall (part of the same complex as the Civic Hall, which is owned and operated by the City Council) which has a standing capacity of just over 1,100.[161] The Civic Halls complex also has a newer venue, The Slade Rooms (named after the 1970s rock band), which has a capacity of approximately 550 standing. There are also a number of smaller venues with capacities of between 100 and 250, although the longest-established of these, the Wolverhampton Varsity, is now closed, as is the Little Civic. Other venues include the Light Bar in Fryer Street, the 'Numa Bar' and the Dog & Doublet (next to the old Little Civic), although the situation in this area of entertainment remains fluid. The 18th-centurySt John's Church is a venue for smaller scale classical concerts. The city is also home to Regent Records, a choral and organ music recording company, and Wolf Town DIY, an independent record label that primarily releases punk and alternative music by underground artists.[162] The Midland Box Office is the primary sales point for most of Wolverhampton's venues and is situated in Queen Square.
The city's main choral groups include the City of Wolverhampton Choir,[163] (a choral society founded as the Wolverhampton Civic Choir in 1947) and the Choir ofSt. Peter's Collegiate Church.
Cinema is catered for by a multiplexCineworld located atBentley Bridge,Wednesfield,[166] and a smaller cinema,Light House Media Centre, housed in the formerChubb Buildings on Fryer Street.[167] Cineworld mainly showsHollywood films, other big-budget films, and someBollywood films, whilst Light House shows a range of older and subtitled films as well as some selected new releases. Light House has also played host to visual art shows, anInternational Animation Festival and incorporates a small café. The Lighthouse closed its doors for the final time on 3 November 2022.
Wolverhampton Art Gallery
The city's Arts & Museums service, run by the council, covers three sites:Wolverhampton Art Gallery, home to England's biggestPop art collection after that held at theTate;[168]Bantock House, a fine historic house with Edwardian interior with a museum of Wolverhampton located within Bantock Park;[169]Bilston Craft Gallery with exhibitions of contemporary crafts.[170]
Eagle Works Studios and Gallery situated inChapel Ash, is a self run artists' group. It provides studio accommodation for eighteen visual artists, mostly painters. Its small gallery holds a regular programme of exhibitions to show and promote contemporary art in the city.[172]
Located on the corner of Garrick Street and St George's Parade, Wolverhampton Central Library is aGrade II listed building, designed by architect Henry T. Hare and opened in 1902. It was originally commissioned to commemorateQueen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee using funds raised by the Mayor, Alderman S Craddock, and by a grant of £1,000 fromAndrew Carnegie. This new library improved public access to information and reading material, replacing its cramped predecessor in the old Garrick Street Police Station.[178]
The terracotta exterior has a tripartite theme of related, but distinct façades. The entrance façade is the architect's centrepiece and is decorated with a frieze under the triple window which carries the Royal Coat of Arms and the Wolverhampton Coat of Arms. The other two façades celebrate English literary giants;Chaucer,Dryden,Pope,Shelley,Byron andSpenser on one side andMilton andShakespeare on the other.[178] An extension for a newsroom and a students' room was added in 1936 followed by a small brick and concrete extension at the rear in the 1970s.[178]
Wolverhampton City Council also operate 14 branch libraries within the city.[179]
Wolverhampton is home to theExpress & Star newspaper, which boasts of having the largest circulation of any provincial daily evening newspaper in the UK.[180] Parent companyMidland News Association is based in Wolverhampton.
BBC local radio station that covers the city isBBC Radio WM on 95.6 FM.
The city was originally home to four radio stations,107.7 The Wolf which was absorbed into regional stationSignal 107, now broadcasting asGreatest Hits Radio Black Country & Shropshire from studios in Liverpool, Manchester, London and Birmingham, Beacon Radio absorbed byOrion Media and now laterlyBauer Media broadcasting asHits Radio Black Country & Shropshire from studios in Birmingham and Manchester. The third was RadioWABC, the AM service from Beacon Radio that has since closed following a number of rebrands asClassic Gold Digital,Gold andFree Radio 80s. The fourth, and now the only radio station based in the city, is community radio stationWCR FM which broadcasts solely to the Wolverhampton on 101.8FM, online, via the Tune In app and via smart speaker.
In December 2005, the BBC commissioned the poetIan McMillan to write a poem about Wolverhampton, along with four other towns which apparently "had a reputation they didn't deserve".[181] Made in Wolverhampton (2013),[182] an essaydocumentary feature film byAdam Kossoff, maps out the hidden history and architecture of Wolverhampton from the point of view of a discontented fictional arts lecturer who teaches at theWolverhampton School of Art.
TheUniversity of Wolverhampton is the main provider of higher education in the city. The university currently has more than 23,000 students. In 1835, the Wolverhampton Mechanics' Institute was founded, and its lineage can be traced via the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire Technical College (1935), to The Polytechnic, Wolverhampton (1969) to today'sUniversity of Wolverhampton, given university status in 1992. The main university campus is in the city centre, with other campuses atCompton, and in the nearby towns ofWalsall andTelford.
St Peter's Collegiate School was founded in 1847 in buildings adjacent toSt Peter's Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton town centre. It moved to the present extensive green site at Compton Park in 1965. St Peter's is the oldest established educational institution currently in the state sector in Wolverhampton, with a tradition of academic, cultural and sporting excellence nourished by Christian spiritual and moral values. Previous students include record-breaking goalscoring footballerArthur Rowley and Ben Godfrey, a TV presenter, and reporter onMidlands Today.
Wolverhampton, unlike a number of nearby areas such asDudley andSouth Staffordshire, has always had traditional age range schools; 5–7 infants, 7–11 juniors and 11-16/18 secondary schools. Some secondary schools have sixth form facilities for children aged 16+.
Wolverhampton is represented in thePremier League, the highest tier of English football, byWolverhampton Wanderers FC. 'Wolves', as they are known, are one of the oldest English football clubs, and were one of the 12 founder members of theFootball League. Their most successful period was the 1950s, where they won three Football League Championships (then the highest division) and twoFA Cups, and were involved in the earliest European friendlies. They were hailed by the press as 'The Unofficial World Champions' after one of their most famous victories, againstBudapest Honvéd FC of Hungary. They were also the first English team to play in the Soviet Union. These victories instigated the birth of the European Cup competition which later evolved into the UEFA Champions' League (seeEuropean Cup and Champions League history).
In total, they have won three Football League titles (prior to the top division becoming thePremier League), four FA Cups, have twoLeague Cup victories and many other minor honours, including reaching theUEFA Cup Final in 1972, and appearances in the last eight of both theUEFA European Cup, and the EuropeanCup Winners' Cup, but spent just one season in the top division between 1984 and 2009. They are also one of only two clubs, along withPortsmouth, to have won five different league titles; they have championed all four tiers of the professional English league, as well as the long-defunct northern section of the Third Division.
Wolves have a long-establishedrivalry withWest Bromwich Albion. Separated by 12 mi (19 km), the two clubs have faced each other over 160 times since 1886.[187]Aston Villa andBirmingham City FC are also close rivals of Wolves, having played them 121[188] and 136[189] times respectively. Geographically,Walsall FC are closest to Wolves, but rarely compete at the same level. Since 1886, the two clubs have only played 16 times against each other.[190]
Wolverhampton's Aldersley Leisure Village is also home toWolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club, which was formed in 1967 with a merger between Wolverhampton Harriers and Bilston Town Athletic Club. They have won the National League Division One for men from 1975 to 1982, and the Men's National Cup finals in 1976, 1977, 1979 and 1980. It also represented Britain in the European Clubs Cup from 1976 to 1983 with the best finishing position of third.[191]
There are a number ofcricket clubs in the city. These are Wolverhampton Cricket Club, Springhill Cricket Club, Springvale Cricket Club, Fordhouses Cricket Club and Wombourne Cricket Club.[193][194][195][196][197]
Wolverhampton Wheelers is the city's oldest cycling club, formed in 1891.[202] It was home toHugh Porter who won four world championship pursuit titles; andPercy Stallard who has been credited with bringing cycle road racing to Britain when he held the Llangollen to Wolverhampton race on 7 June 1942.[203] Wolverhampton Wheelers make extensive use of the velodrome at Aldersley Stadium. Wolverhampton was also the home ofTrevor Gadd, who was a six time British National Cycle champion and two-time silver medallist at the1978 Commonwealth Games, as well as a fifth-place finisher in the1977 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Venezuela.
Wolverhampton has also hosted theTour of Britain, with a stage start in 2006, a stage finish in 2007 and a sprint finish in 2008.It is also home to Wednesfield Aces cycle speedway who are based onAshmore Park.
Wolverhampton Racecourse is located at Dunstall Park, just to the north of the city centre. This was one of the first all-weatherhorse racing courses in the UK and is Britain's only floodlit horse race track. There is alsogreyhound racing at Monmore Green.West Park, a large park near the city centre, was converted from a racecourse.
Sunbeam 1000HP at National Motor Museum in Beaulieu, UK
Sunbeam built many earlyGrand Prix cars and was the only British make to win a Grand Prix in the first half of the 20th century.[204] Sunbeam also built several holders of theLand speed record, including the first vehicle to travel at over 200 miles per hour (322 km/h), theSunbeam 1000 hp.
AJS was heavily involved in motorcycle racing either side of World War II, which included winning the1949 World Championship in the 500cc category.
Wolverhampton Wolves, one of the leadingspeedway clubs in the UK represents the city, participating in theElite League at the Monmore Green stadium. Wolverhampton Speedway is one of the oldest speedway tracks in the world that is still in operation being first used, albeit briefly in 1928. The track re-opened in 1950 for a single meeting and in 1952 the Wasps competed in the Third Division on the National League. The track closed early in 1954 and did not re-open until 1961 when the Wolves were introduced to the Provincial League. The track has almost been an ever-present ever since and currently operates in the British Elite League.[206]Ole Olsen (in 1971 and 1975),Sam Ermolenko (in 1993) andTai Woffinden (in 2013) were riders for the club when they becameWorld Speedway Champions. The Wolves are defending Elite League champions, having defeated the Belle Vue Aces in the 2016 play-off final.[207]
Wolverhampton is home to theCarver Wolverhampton City Marathon. The marathon is part of a series of events whose main goal is to raise money for charity.
The City hosted the Cycling Time Trials for the2022 Commonwealth Games on 4 August 2022. The start and finish was at West Park, with the route passing through the City Centre before heading out into city suburbs.[208]
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