Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and
unitary authority area in
Staffordshire, England, with an area of . In 2019, the city had an estimated population of 256,375.
It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and is surrounded by the towns of
Newcastle-under-Lyme,
Alsager
Alsager ( ) is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It is located to the north-west of Stoke-on-Trent and east of Crewe. The town's population was 13,389 at the 2021 census.
''The Mere'' is a ...
,
Kidsgrove,
Biddulph and
Stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
, which form a conurbation around the city.
Stoke is
polycentric, having been formed by
the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from
Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Longton and Tunstall form the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England.
The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 18 ...
where the main centre of government and the principal
railway station
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...
in the district were located.
Hanley is the primary commercial centre; the other four towns which form the city are
Burslem
Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent.
...
,
Tunstall,
Longton and
Fenton.
Stoke-on-Trent is the home of the
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other ceramic materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. Major types include earthenware, stoneware and ...
industry in England and known as
The Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial
conurbation, it is now a centre for
service industries
Service industries are those not directly concerned with the production of physical goods (such as agriculture and manufacturing).
Some service industries, including transportation, wholesale trade and retail trade are part of the supply chain de ...
and
distribution centres.
History
Toponymy and etymology
The name ''Stoke'' is taken from the town of
Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Longton and Tunstall form the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England.
The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 18 ...
, the original
ancient parish, with other settlements being
chapelries. ''Stoke'' derives from the
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th c ...
''stoc'', a word that at first meant little more than ''place'', but which subsequently gained more specific – but divergent – connotations. These variant meanings included ''dairy farm'', ''secondary or dependent place or farm'', ''summer pasture'', ''crossing place'', ''meeting place'' and ''place of worship''. It is not known which of these was intended here, and all are plausible. The most frequently suggested interpretations derive from a crossing point on the
Roman road that ran from present-day
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...
to
Chesterton or the early presence of a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* C ...
, said to have been founded in 670 AD. Because ''Stoke'' was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing
affix was usually added later, in this case the name of the
river
A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of w ...
.
The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is ''Vis Unita Fortior'' which can be translated as: United Strength is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful, or A United Force is Stronger.
Administration
An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888, when an amendment was raised to the
Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns into districts within a county of "Staffordshire Potteries". It was not until 1 April 1910 that the "Six Towns" were brought together. The
county borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control, similar to the unitary authorities created since the 1990s. An equivalent te ...
of Hanley, the
municipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...
s of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with the
urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.
In 1919, the borough proposed to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the
Wolstanton United Urban District, both to the west of Stoke. This never took place, due to strong objections from Newcastle Corporation. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill. Ultimately, Wolstanton was instead added to Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1932. Although attempts to take Newcastle, Wolstanton and
Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough did expand in 1922, taking in
Smallthorne Urban District and parts of other parishes from
Stoke upon Trent Rural District. The borough was officially granted
city status City status is a symbolic and legal designation given by a national or subnational government. A municipality may receive city status because it already has the qualities of a city, or because it has some special purpose.
Historically, city status ...
in 1925, with a
lord mayor from 1928. When the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent initially applied for city status in 1925, citing its importance as the centre of the pottery industry, it was refused by the
Home Office as it had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. The decision was overturned, however, when a direct approach was made to
King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
, who agreed that the borough ought to be a city. The public announcement of the elevation to city status was made by the king during a visit to Stoke on 4 June 1925.
The county borough was abolished in 1974, and Stoke became a
non-metropolitan district
Non-metropolitan districts, or colloquially "shire districts", are a type of Districts of England, local government district in England. As created, they are sub-divisions of non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties (colloquially ''shi ...
of Staffordshire. Its status as a unitary authority was restored on 1 April 1997, although it remains part of the
ceremonial county of Staffordshire. For
Eurostat purposes it is a
NUTS 3 region (code UKG23).
Industry
Pottery
![Porcelain teapot, Walker Art Gallery (1)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/82/Porcelain_teapot%2C_Walker_Art_Gallery_%281%29.jpg)
Since the 17th century, the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing. Companies such as
Royal Doulton
Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...
,
Dudson,
Spode
Spode is an English brand of pottery and homewares produced by the company of the same name, which is based in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
Spode was founded by Josiah Spode (1733–1797) in 1770, and was responsible for perfecting two extremely ...
(founded by
Josiah Spode
Josiah Spode (23 March 1733 – 18 August 1797) was an English potter and the founder of the English Spode pottery works which became famous for the high quality of its wares. He is often credited with the establishment of blue underglaze tran ...
),
Wedgwood
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...
(founded by
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indus ...
),
Minton (founded by
Thomas Minton
Thomas Minton (1765–1836) was an English potter. He founded Thomas Minton & Sons in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, which grew into a major ceramic manufacturing company with an international reputation.
During the early 1780s Thomas Minton ...
) and Baker & Co. (founded by William Baker) were established and based there. The local abundance of coal and clay suitable for earthenware production led to the early (initially limited) development of the local pottery industry. The construction of the
Trent and Mersey Canal (completed in 1777) enabled the import of
china clay
Kaolinite ( ) is a clay mineral, with the chemical composition Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4. It is an important industrial mineral. It is a layered silicate mineral, with one tetrahedral sheet of silica () linked through oxygen atoms to one octahedra ...
from
Cornwall
Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...
together with other materials and facilitated the production of
creamware
Creamware is a cream-coloured refined earthenware with a lead glaze over a pale body, known in France as '' faïence fine'', in the Netherlands as ''Engels porselein'', and in Italy as ''terraglia inglese''.Osborne, 140 It was created about 17 ...
and
bone china
Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phospha ...
.
Other production centres in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high-quality wares. Methodical and highly detailed research and experimentation, carried out over many years, nurtured the development of artistic talent throughout the local community and raised the profile of
Staffordshire Potteries
The Staffordshire Potteries is the industrial area encompassing the six towns Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall, which is now the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. North Staffordshire became a centre of ...
. This was spearheaded by one man,
Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indus ...
, who cut the first sod for the canal in 1766 and erected his
Etruria Works
The Etruria Works was a ceramics factory opened by Josiah Wedgwood in 1769 in a district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which he named Etruria. The factory ran for 180 years, as part of the wider Wedgwood business.
Wedgwood kept ...
that year. Wedgwood built upon the successes of earlier local potters such as his mentor
Thomas Whieldon
Thomas Whieldon (September 1719 in Penkhull, Stoke-on-Trent – March 1795) was a significant English potter who played a leading role in the development of Staffordshire pottery.
The attribution of actual pieces to his factory has long been ...
and along with scientists and engineers, raised the pottery business to a new level.
Josiah Spode
Josiah Spode (23 March 1733 – 18 August 1797) was an English potter and the founder of the English Spode pottery works which became famous for the high quality of its wares. He is often credited with the establishment of blue underglaze tran ...
introduced
bone china
Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phospha ...
at Trent in 1796, and
Thomas Minton
Thomas Minton (1765–1836) was an English potter. He founded Thomas Minton & Sons in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, which grew into a major ceramic manufacturing company with an international reputation.
During the early 1780s Thomas Minton ...
opened his manufactory. With the industry came a large number of notable 20th-century ceramic artists including
Clarice Cliff
Clarice Cliff (20 January 1899 – 23 October 1972) was an English ceramic artist and designer. Active from 1922 to 1963, Cliff became the head of the factory creative department.
Early life
Cliff's ancestors moved from the Eccleshall area ...
,
Susie Cooper,
Charlotte Rhead,
Frederick Hurten Rhead
Frederick Hurten Rhead (1880–1942) was a ceramicist and a major figure in the Arts and Crafts movement. A native of England, worked as a potter in the United States for most of his career. In addition to teaching pottery techniques, Rhead wa ...
and
Jabez Vodrey.
Coal mining
![Film Photo Whitfield Colliery](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/Film_Photo_Whitfield_Colliery.jpg)
North Staffordshire was a centre for coal mining. The first reports of coal mining in the area come from the 13th century.
[ The Potteries Coalfield (part of the North Staffordshire Coalfield) covers .]
Striking coal miners in the Hanley and Longton area ignited the nationwide 1842 General Strike The 1842 general strike, also known as the Plug Plot Riots,So named because the mills "were stopped from working by the removal or 'drawing' of a few bolts or 'plugs' in the boilers so as to prevent steam from being raised": OED s.v. ''plug''. start ...
and its associated Pottery Riots.
When coal mining was nationalised in 1947, about 20,000 men worked in the industry in Stoke-on-Trent. Notable Collieries included Hanley Deep Pit, Trentham Superpit (formerly Hem Heath, Stafford and Florence Collieries), Fenton Glebe, Silverdale, Victoria, Mossfield, Parkhall, Norton, Chatterley Whitfield and Wolstanton.[ The industry developed greatly, and new investments in mining projects were planned within the City boundaries as recently as the 1990s. However, 1994 saw the last pit to close as the Trentham Superpit was shut.
The Stoke mining industry set several national and international records. Wolstanton Colliery, when modernised, had the deepest mining shafts in Europe at 3,197 ft. In 1933, Chatterley Whitfield Colliery became the first Colliery in the country to mine one million tons of coal. In the 1980s Florence Colliery in Longton repeatedly set regional and national production records; in 1992 the combined Trentham Superpit (Hem Heath and Florence) was the first mine in Europe to produce 2.5 million saleable tonnes of coal.
Today the mines are all closed, though the scars of mining still remain on the landscape. Slag heaps are still visible on the skyline, now covered with flora and fauna. The Chatterley Whitfield site reopened as a museum two years after its closure in 1976. The museum closed in 1991 and the site became a local nature reserve. It was declared a ]scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
by English Heritage in 1993. The abandoned subterranean mines are inaccessible, though they still add complications to many building projects and occasionally cause minor tremors, detectable only by specialised equipment.
The Phoenix Trust, an independent not-for-profit foundation, is campaigning to turn Stoke-on-Trent and the wider North Staffordshire Coalfield into a World Heritage Site
A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...
due to its historic economic significance, its leading role in the industrial revolution, and as the birthplace of Primitive Methodism
The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834).
In the United States, the Primit ...
.
Steel
The iron and steel industries occupied important roles in the development of the city, both before and after federation. Especially notable were those mills located in the valley at Goldendale and Shelton Shelton may refer to:
Places
United Kingdom
* Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire
* Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
* Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bed ...
below the hill towns of Tunstall, Burslem and Hanley. Shelton Steelworks' production of steel ended in 1978—instead of producing crude steel, they concentrated on rolling steel billet which was transported from Scunthorpe
Scunthorpe () is an industrial town and unparished area in the unitary authority of North Lincolnshire in Lincolnshire, England of which it is the main administrative centre. Scunthorpe had an estimated total population of 82,334 in 2016. A ...
by rail. The rolling plant finally closed in 2002. From 1864 to 1927 Stoke housed the repair shops of the North Staffordshire Railway and was the home of independent railway locomotive manufacturers Kerr, Stuart and Company
Kerr, Stuart and Company Ltd was a locomotive manufacturer in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
History
It was founded in 1881 by James Kerr as "James Kerr & Company", and became "Kerr, Stuart & Company" from 1883 when John Stuart was taken on as a ...
from 1881 to 1930.
Shelton Steel Works and the mining operations were heavily involved in the World War II industrial effort. Central to the RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
's success was the Supermarine Spitfire designed by Reginald Mitchell who, whilst born at 115 Congleton Road in the nearby village of Butt Lane
Butt Lane is a village in North Staffordshire near the town of Kidsgrove in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, North Staffordshire. Butt Lane borders on Church Lawton in Cheshire. A ward of the borough is named after the place.
Notable people
...
, had his apprenticeship
Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...
at Kerr, Stuart and Company's railway works.
Other
The Michelin tyre company also has a presence in Stoke-on-Trent, and in the 1920s built their first UK plant in the city. In the 1980s nearly 9,000 workers were employed at the plant; in 2006 about 1,200 worked there. RAF Meir was located on the outskirts of the city.
Geography
Stoke-on-Trent is between Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians ...
and Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
and adjoins the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme to the west. It lies on the upper valley of the River Trent
The Trent is the third-longest river in the United Kingdom. Its source is in Staffordshire, on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through and drains the North Midlands. The river is known for dramatic flooding after storms and ...
at the south-west foothills of the Pennines, near the uplands of the Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...
to the north-east and the lowlands of the Midlands and Cheshire Plain
The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded b ...
to the south and west. The city ranges from 96 to 250 metres (315 to 820 ft) above sea level.
For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG23) and is one of four counties or unitary districts that compose the Shropshire and Staffordshire NUTS 2 region.
Stoke-on-Trent is often known as "the city of five towns", the name given to it by local novelist Arnold Bennett
Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...
, and is the only polycentric city in the UK. In his novels, Bennett used mostly recognisable aliases for five of the six towns (although he called Stoke "Knype"). However, Bennett said that he believed "Five Towns" was more euphonious than "Six Towns", so he omitted Fenton (now sometimes referred to as "the forgotten town").
As it is a city made up of multiple towns, the city forms a conurbation (although in this case the conurbation is bigger than Stoke itself, because the urban area of Stoke is contiguous with that of administratively-separate Newcastle).
The six towns run in a rough line from north to south along the A50 road A5 and variants may refer to:
Science and mathematics
* A5 regulatory sequence in biochemistry
* A5, the abbreviation for the androgen Androstenediol
* Annexin A5, a human cellular protein
* ATC code A05 ''Bile and liver therapy'', a subgroup of ...
– Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton. Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, the city centre is usually regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major commercial centre.
As well as Newcastle-under-Lyme other nearby towns include Crewe, Nantwich
Nantwich ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. It has among the highest concentrations of listed buildings in England, with notably good examples of Tudor and Georgian architecture. ...
, Congleton, Biddulph, Kidsgrove, Stafford, Uttoxeter, Eccleshall
Eccleshall is a town and civil parish in the Stafford district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is located seven miles northwest of Stafford, and six miles west-southwest of Stone. Eccleshall is twinned with Sancerre in France.
His ...
, Cheadle, Stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
and Leek.
Suburbs
As well as the Six Towns, there are numerous suburbs including Abbey Hulton, Adderley Green, Ball Green, Baddeley Green, Bentilee, Birches Head, Blurton, Bucknall, Bradeley, Chell, Cliffe Vale, Cobridge, Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...
, Etruria, Fegg Hayes, Florence, Goldenhill, Hartshill, Heron Cross, Meir
Meir ( he, מֵאִיר) is a Jewish male given name and an occasional surname. It means "one who shines". It is often Germanized as Maier, Mayer, Mayr, Meier, Meyer, Meijer, Italianized as Miagro, or Anglicized as Mayer, Meyer, or Myer.Alfre ...
, Meir Park, Meir Hay, Middleport, Milton, Normacot, Norton le Moors
Norton le Moors is in the north-east of the city of Stoke-On-Trent, Staffordshire, England, mostly within the city boundary, with the rest in the Staffordshire Moorlands district.
Geography
The suburb borders Ball Green in the north, Stockto ...
, Oakhill, Packmoor, Penkhull
Penkhull is a district of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, part of Penkhull and Stoke electoral ward, and Stoke Central parliamentary constituency.
Penkhull is a conservation area, and includes Grade II listed buildings suc ...
, Sandyford, Shelton Shelton may refer to:
Places
United Kingdom
* Shelton, North Bedfordshire, in the parish of Dean and Shelton, Bedfordshire
* Lower Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire
* Upper Shelton, in the parish of Marston Moretaine, Bed ...
, Smallthorne, Sneyd Green
Sneyd Green is an area in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, in the north-east of the city, from Hanley. Sneyd Green borders Smallthorne in the north, Milton in the east, Birches Head in the south, and Cobridge in the west.
...
, Trentham, Trent Vale and Weston Coyney. Blythe Bridge
Blythe Bridge is a village in Staffordshire, England, south-east of Stoke-on-Trent.
Etymology
Blythe Bridge is so called as it is built around the site of a bridge over the River Blithe (spelt differently from the name of the village itself), a ...
, Werrington and Endon
Endon is a village within the Staffordshire Moorlands district of Staffordshire, England. It is southwest of Leek and north-northeast of Stoke-on-Trent. Endon was formerly a township in civil parish of Leek.
Together with neighbouring Stan ...
, although outside the city's boundaries, are part of the built up area.
Climate
Stoke-on-Trent, as with all of the United Kingdom, experiences a temperate maritime climate
An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...
, lacking in weather extremes. The local area is a little more elevated than much of Staffordshire and Cheshire, resulting in cooler temperatures year round compared to the nearby Cheshire Plain. However, on calm, clear nights this is often reversed as cold air drainage causes a temperature inversion
In meteorology, an inversion is a deviation from the normal change of an atmospheric property with altitude. It almost always refers to an inversion of the air temperature lapse rate, in which case it is called a temperature inversion. Nor ...
to occur. As such, the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle area are generally not susceptible to severe frosts. The nearest Met Office weather station is Keele University
Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...
, about four miles west of the city centre.
The absolute high temperature is 32.9 °C (91.2 °F), recorded in August 1990, although more typically the average warmest day of the year should be 27.0 °C (80.6 °F). In total, just under fourteen days should report a temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above.
The absolute minimum temperature stands at −13.3 °C (8.1 °F), recorded during January 1963. In an average year, a total of 48.3 air frosts will be registered.
Rainfall averages around 806 mm a year.
Green belt
Stoke is at the centre of the Stoke-on-Trent Green Belt, which is an environment and planning policy that regulates the rural space in Staffordshire surrounding the city and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and extending into Cheshire. It is in place to prevent urban sprawl
Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...
and minimise further convergence with outlying settlements such as Kidsgrove and Biddulph. First defined in 1967, the vast majority of area covered is outside the city, but there are some landscape features and places of interest within that are covered by the designation mainly along its fringes, these include the Trentham and Goldenhill golf courses, Hem Heath Wood Nature Reserve, Meir Heath, Barlaston Common, Caverswall Cricket Club, Park Hall Nature Reserve, Chatterley Whitfield Country Park and enterprise centre, the villages of Baddeley Edge and Ravenscliffe, Bucknall Reservoir, Caldon Canal, the River Blythe, and the Head of Trent, Wedgwood Museum and estate, Strongford Treatment Works and Trent Vale Pumping Station.
Demographics
Based on the 2011 census, the total population of the city was 249,008. This was a modest increase from the 240,636 recorded in the 2001 census. 50.2% of the population is female. 91.68% of the population of Stoke-on-Trent were born in the UK. 86.43% of the population identified themselves as White British
White British is an ethnicity classification used for the native white population identifying as English, Scottish, Welsh, Cornish, Northern Irish, or British in the United Kingdom Census. In the 2011 census, the White British population ...
, 4.19% identified as British Pakistani
British Pakistanis ( ur, (Bratānia men maqīm pākstānī); also known as Pakistani British people or Pakistani Britons) are British people, citizens or residents of the United Kingdom whose ancestral roots lie in Pakistan. This includes ...
, and 1.88% identified as Other White
The term Other White is a classification of ethnicity in the United Kingdom and has been used in documents such as the 2011 UK Census to describe people who self-identify as white (chiefly European) persons who are not of the English, Welsh, ...
. 1.35 % identified as Other Asian and 1.36 % as Black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...
. Regarding religion, 60.89% described themselves as Christian, 6.02% as Muslim and 25.19% had no religion. 14.28% of the population was retired and 5.61% were students.
Ethnicity
Religion
Points of interest
The city's ceramics collection is housed in the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Bethesda Street, Hanley, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Admission is free.
One of the four local authority museums in the city, the other three being Gladstone Pottery Museu ...
in Hanley. Etruria Industrial Museum
The Etruria Industrial Museum is located in Etruria, Staffordshire, in England. The museum is a typical and well-preserved example of a nineteenth century British steam-powered potter's mill. It is situated between the Trent and Mersey Canal ...
on the Caldon Canal
Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which opened in 1779. It runs from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the Froghall Tunnel.
History
The first plans by the proprietors of the ...
, and Gladstone Pottery Museum
The Gladstone Pottery Museum is a working museum of a medium-sized coal-fired pottery, typical of those once common in the North Staffordshire area of England from the time of the industrial revolution in the 18th century to the mid 20th cent ...
in a former potbank in Longton are dedicated to the city's industrial heritage. There is also Stoke Minster which is located in the Stoke-upon-Trent area and is the only official church with Minster status.
Most of the major pottery companies based in Stoke-on-Trent have factory shops and visitor centres. The £10 million Wedgwood Museum visitor centre opened in the firm's factory in Barlaston
Barlaston is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stafford in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is roughly halfway between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the small town of Stone. According to the 2001 census the population of the ...
in October 2008. The Dudson Centre in Hanley is a museum of the family ceramics business, which is partly housed in a Grade II listed bottle kiln. It is also a volunteer centre. Burleigh in Middleport is the world's oldest working Victorian pottery. There are also smaller factory shops, such as Royal Stafford in Burslem, Moorcroft
W. Moorcroft Limited (trading as W Moorcroft Ltd) is a British art pottery manufacturer based at Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The company was founded by William Moorcroft in 1913.
History
In 1897, Staffordshire pottery manufacture ...
in Cobridge and Emma Bridgewater in Hanley. In addition, there are ambitious plans to open the huge Chatterley Whitfield Colliery as a mining museum, since it has been given scheduled monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
status.
The Elizabethan Ford Green Hall is a 17th-century farmhouse which is now a historic house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...
in Smallthorne.
Although Trentham Gardens
The Trentham Estate, in the village of Trentham, is a visitor attraction located on the southern fringe of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
History
The estate was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. At t ...
is in the Borough of Stafford
The Borough of Stafford is a local government district with borough status in Staffordshire, England. It is named after the town of Stafford. It also includes the towns of Stone and Eccleshall, as well as numerous villages such as Weston, Hixon, ...
, it is just south of the city and is considered by many locals to be part of Stoke-on-Trent. Next door is Trentham Monkey Forest, which houses 140 Barbary macaques in a enclosure that visitors can walk through.
The Alton Towers Resort is east of Stoke-on-Trent and is one of the United Kingdom's best known attractions. The Waterworld
''Waterworld'' is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Char ...
indoor swimming complex on Festival Park near Hanley is also a significant children's attraction.
Each of the six towns in Stoke-on-Trent has at least one park. At nine hectares, Burslem Park is one of the largest registered Victorian parks in the UK. Park Hall Country Park in Weston Coyney is a national nature reserve, and its sandstone canyons are a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Hartshill Park in Stoke is also a nature reserve, and Bucknall Park is home to the City Farm. Westport Lake in Longport is the largest body of water in Stoke-on-Trent and has a nature reserve. Queens Park or Longton park in Dresden is one of the city's heritage parks and is famous for its horticulture and lakes. It houses several buildings including a clock tower and three bowling pavilions.
Economy
Stoke-on-Trent was a world centre for fine ceramics—a skilled design trade has existed in the area since at least the 12th century. But in the late 1980s and 1990s Stoke-on-Trent was hit hard by the general decline in the British manufacturing sector. Numerous factories, steelworks, collieries
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...
, and potteries were closed, including the renowned Shelton Bar
Shelton Bar (Shelton Iron, Steel & Coal Company) was a major steelworks in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. In its heyday, Shelton Bar employed 10,000 in the steelworks, had five coal mines, a complete railway system, and a by ...
steelworks. This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'high-skilled but low-paid' workforce.
The pottery firm Wedgwood
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...
and its subsidiary Royal Doulton
Royal Doulton is an English ceramic and home accessories manufacturer that was founded in 1815. Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of Engl ...
are based in nearby Barlaston
Barlaston is a village and civil parish in the borough of Stafford in the county of Staffordshire, England. It is roughly halfway between the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the small town of Stone. According to the 2001 census the population of the ...
, although much production now takes place in the firm's Indonesia
Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...
n factory. Portmeirion
Portmeirion is a tourist village in Gwynedd, North Wales. It was designed and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in the style of an Italian village, and is now owned by a charitable trust. The village is located in the co ...
is based in Stoke town, and now owns the Spode
Spode is an English brand of pottery and homewares produced by the company of the same name, which is based in Stoke-on-Trent, England.
Spode was founded by Josiah Spode (1733–1797) in 1770, and was responsible for perfecting two extremely ...
and Royal Worcester ceramics brands. Ceramics firm Emma Bridgewater is based in Hanley; Burleigh Pottery
Burleigh Pottery (also known as Burgess & Leigh) is the name of a pottery manufacturer in Middleport, Stoke-on-Trent.
The business specialises in traditionally shaped and patterned domestic earthenware of high quality.
The pottery occupies nin ...
is in Middleport; Wade Ceramics
Wade Ceramics Ltd is a manufacturer of porcelain and earthenware, headquartered in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Its products include animal figures for its Collectors Club, whisky flagons, and a variety of industrial ceramics.
In the 1950s, the ...
is in Etruria; Moorcroft
W. Moorcroft Limited (trading as W Moorcroft Ltd) is a British art pottery manufacturer based at Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The company was founded by William Moorcroft in 1913.
History
In 1897, Staffordshire pottery manufacture ...
and Royal Stafford are based in Burslem; Aynsley China
Aynsley China Ltd. was a British manufacturer of bone china tableware, giftware and commemorative items.
History
The company was founded in 1775 by John Aynsley in Lane End, Longton, Staffordshire. In 1861 his grandson John Aynsley built the ...
is in Longton, and is one of the last remaining manufacturers of bone china
Bone china is a type of ceramic that is composed of bone ash, feldspathic material, and kaolin. It has been defined as "ware with a translucent body" containing a minimum of 30% of phosphate derived from animal bone and calculated calcium phospha ...
in the city. Fine china manufacturer Dudson have premises in Hanley and Burslem. Churchill China have their main factory in Tunstall, while hotelware manufacturer Steelite is based in Middleport at the former Dunn Bennett site.
About 9,000 firms are based in the city. Amongst the more notable are Bet365
Bet365 Group Ltd (commonly known and stylized as bet365 and spoken as "bet three-six-five") is a leading British online gambling company based in the United Kingdom. It was founded by Denise Coates, who remains the majority shareholder and join ...
, founded by local businessman and Stoke City chairman Peter Coates
Peter Coates (born 13 January 1938) is an English businessman, the co-founder of bet365, and the chairman of Stoke City Football Club. He has been listed as the 25th-richest person in British football. He founded Stadia Catering in the 1960s an ...
; and formerly Phones4U
Phones 4u was a large independent mobile phone
A mobile phone, cellular phone, cell phone, cellphone, handphone, hand phone or pocket phone, sometimes shortened to simply mobile, cell, or just phone, is a portable telephone that can mak ...
, a large retailer of mobile phones started by John Caudwell
John David Caudwell (born 7 October 1952) is a British billionaire businessman who founded the now defunct mobile phone retailer Phones 4u. He also invests in fashion, real estate and other industries, and chairs Caudwell Children, a children ...
. until it ceased trading in September 2014.
Stoke City Football Club itself has been a major symbol of the city since the turn 20th century, having spent most of its history in the highest two divisions of the English league, constantly attracting large crowds and signing or launching the careers of many high-profile players - most notably Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...
and Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...
. The club was based at the Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History ...
in Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Burslem, Fenton, Longton and Tunstall form the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, England.
The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 18 ...
from 1878 until 1997, when it moved to the Britannia Stadium (now the Bet365 Stadium
The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...
) at Trentham Lakes. This was one of the early stages of regeneration in the Trentham area of the city, which also included the regeneration of Trentham Gardens
The Trentham Estate, in the village of Trentham, is a visitor attraction located on the southern fringe of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
History
The estate was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. At t ...
several years later, when retail and food outlets were added to the visitor attraction. Trentham Monkey Forest opened nearby in 2005.
The Michelin tyre company has a complex in the city which houses its commercial head office, training centre and a truck tyre re-treading facility. Sainsbury's
J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales.
Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
supermarket and The Co-operative Pharmacy
Well, formerly known as The Co-operative Pharmacy, is the largest independent pharmacy business and the third largest overall pharmacy chain after Boots UK and Lloyds Pharmacy in the United Kingdom. It is the largest pharmacy chain in Wales.
Fo ...
have large warehouses in the city. Vodafone
Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania.
, Vod ...
has a large call centre on Festival Park and the UK subsidiary of the lubricant manufacturer Fuchs Petrolub has its head office at its factory in Hanley. There is a steel foundry owned by Goodwin Steel Castings Ltd in Joiner's Square. Premier Foods
Premier Foods plc is a British food manufacturer headquartered in St Albans, Hertfordshire. The group owns many well-known brands, including Mr Kipling, Ambrosia, Bird's Custard, Angel Delight, Homepride cooking sauces, Lyons, Sharwood's, Loy ...
make Mr Kipling
Mr Kipling is a brand of cakes, pies and baked goods made in Carlton, South Yorkshire and Stoke-on-Trent, and marketed in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and North America. It was introduced in May 1967 (at a time when cakes were more of ...
slices and Cherry Bakewells in Trent Vale. The Co-operative Travel had its head office in Burslem, before it merged with Thomas Cook
Thomas Cook (22 November 1808 – 18 July 1892) was an English businessman. He is best known for founding the travel agency Thomas Cook & Son. He was also one of the initial developers of the "package tour" including travel, accommodatio ...
in 2010.
Stoke-on-Trent City Council is the city's largest single employer. Another major employer is the Royal Stoke University Hospital
Royal Stoke University Hospital (formerly the University Hospital of North Staffordshire) is a teaching and research hospital at Hartshill in the English county of Staffordshire. It lies in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, near the border with New ...
, with over 7,000 staff.
KPMG's '' Competitive Alternatives 2004'' report declared Stoke-on-Trent to be the most cost-effective place to set up a new UK business. The city currently has the advantage of offering affordable business property, while being surrounded by a belt of affluent areas such as the Peak District
The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorla ...
, Stone
In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...
, south Cheshire, and having excellent road links via the A500 and nearby M6 and rail links.
Tourism to the city was kick-started by the National Garden Festival in 1986, and is now sustained by the many pottery factory-shops and tours, and by the improved canal network.
The main shopping centre is the Potteries Shopping Centre
Potteries Shopping Centre (formerly Intu Potteries) is an indoor shopping centre in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, in the Staffordshire Potteries.
Stores and facilities
The centre houses anchor outlet Primark, as well as a Starbucks coffee shop, a Rive ...
in Hanley, which has of retail space with 87 units including a Debenhams
Debenhams plc was a British department store chain operating in the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1778 as a single store in London and grew to 178 locations across those countries, also owning the Danish ...
anchor store, (formerly Lewis's
Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...
) and major stores for Next
Next may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film
* ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare
* ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage
* '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film
Lit ...
, New Look, Monsoon
A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal osci ...
, Gap, HMV
Sunrise Records and Entertainment, trading as HMV (for His Master's Voice), is a British music and entertainment retailer, currently operating exclusively in the United Kingdom.
The first HMV-branded store was opened by the Gramophone Company ...
, River Island
River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online.
Best known for its trend focused womenswear offering, River Isl ...
, H. Samuel, La Senza
La Senza Corporation is a Canadian fashion retailer that sells women's lingerie and intimate apparel. The La Senza brand is currently owned by Regent which operates and owns La Senza stores in Canada and the United States and uses a franchise mo ...
, Superdrug, Topshop
TOPSHOP (originally Top Shop) is a British fashion brand for women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS o ...
, Topman and Burton. Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer Group plc (commonly abbreviated to M&S and colloquially known as Marks's or Marks & Sparks) is a major British multinational retailer with headquarters in Paddington, London that specialises in selling clothing, beauty, home ...
and T.K. Maxx also have stores in Hanley. A new shopping centre on the site of Hanley's former bus station was due to open in 2016, but development has been delayed and the project is now in doubt. The other five towns of the city all have their own smaller town centres. Festival Park is a large retail and business park in Etruria, built on the former Garden Festival site. There are also retail parks in Tunstall, Fenton and Longton. A new retail park in Longton opened and has Currys, Smyths, Pets at Home and Matalan. A pub, McDonald's and Pizza Hut are also on the site.
Other notable business people from the city include Reginald H. Jones (Chairman of General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...
), venture capitalist Jon Moulton, and John Madejski (chairman of Reading F.C.
Reading Football Club ( ) is a professional football club based in Reading, Berkshire, England. The team play in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. The club is managed by Paul Ince.
Reading are nicknamed ...
and former owner of '' Auto Trader'').
Night-time industry has boomed in recent years, with Hanley becoming increasingly popular for its nightclubs, theatres, pubs, bars and restaurants.
In 2016, Stoke-on-Trent was ranked the second best city to start a business by Quality Formations, based on a number of factors including commercial property, energy, virtual offices, public transport and financial access.
Government
The city is covered by three House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
constituencies: Stoke-on-Trent North, Stoke-on-Trent Central and Stoke-on-Trent South. Until 2019 the northern and central seats had returned Labour MPs since their creation in 1950. However, in the 2019 general election, all 3 Stoke-on-Trent constituencies returned a Conservative MP. The former Labour heartland is highly eurosceptic leading to a 69.4% vote to leave the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
in 2016. The city was within the West Midlands European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
constituency.
Mayoral system
The position of Lord Mayor is largely ceremonial. The title of Lord Mayor was first conferred on the City of Stoke-on-Trent by King George V
George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936.
Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...
who visited Stoke-on-Trent Town Hall to award the town city status on 5 June 1925. The role of Lord Mayor is decided upon by a vote amongst the elected councillors; the candidates are also selected from the councillors.
Between 1910 and 1928 the Borough, and later, City of Stoke-on-Trent had a Mayor rather than a Lord Mayor. The first Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent was Cecil Wedgwood of the Wedgwood pottery dynasty.
The city was one of a limited number of English districts with an elected mayor and the only council to use the 'mayor and council manager' executive arrangements, although it was removed following a local referendum on 23 October 2008.
A local referendum approved a directly elected mayor system on 3 May 2002 by 28,601 votes to 20,578 (turnout of 27.8%).
Mike Wolfe, an independent candidate, became the first directly elected mayor after an election on 17 October 2002, narrowly beating Labour Party candidate George Stevenson by just 300 votes. The elected Mayor from 5 May 2005 to 5 June 2009 was Mark Meredith (Labour Party). The 2005 election was notable because about 10% of the ballot papers were either spoiled or ineligible. Meredith's election platform included a pledge to have another referendum on the post of elected mayor. This was scheduled for May 2007 and resulted in the abolition of the mayoral system.
On 23 October 2008, voters returned to the polls to choose between modifying the system (to Mayor and Cabinet) or abolishing the position of elected Mayor. Votes were 21,231 for abolition and 14,592 for modification on a turnout of 19.23%.
Council Leader and Cabinet system
Following a citywide referendum abolishing the position of elected mayor, a Leader and Cabinet
In England, local authorities are required to adopt one of three types of executive arrangements, having either an "elected mayor and cabinet", a "leader and cabinet", or a "committee system". The type of arrangement used determines how decisions ...
system was adopted on 5 June 2009. The Leader of the council is elected by councillors. Each cabinet member makes the decisions on their portfolio area and explains the decisions at the monthly cabinet meetings. The current leader of the council is Cllr Abi Brown who is also leader of the Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
group, one of the parties that forms the city's coalition administration.
Councillor representation
Since the 2015 local elections, no party has had overall control of the city council. Following the local elections in May 2019 the council is a Conservative and City Independents coalition.
Members of Parliament
Public services
The city's acute hospital is the Royal Stoke University Hospital
Royal Stoke University Hospital (formerly the University Hospital of North Staffordshire) is a teaching and research hospital at Hartshill in the English county of Staffordshire. It lies in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, near the border with New ...
run by the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
The University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust was created on 1 November 2014. It runs Royal Stoke University Hospital, formerly run by the University Hospital of North Staffordshire NHS Trust and the County Hospital (formerly Stafford Hosp ...
. It formerly comprised two sites: the Royal Infirmary and the City General. The hospital was rebuilt on the City General site on the A34, London Road.
Community health services are run by Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership NHS Trust with mental health services provided by North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust
North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust provides mental health services across Stoke-on-Trent and North Staffordshire, England. It runs the Bungalows, Chebsey Close, Darwin Centre, Harplands Hospital, Florence House and Summer View in ...
.
Policing in Stoke-on-Trent is provided by Staffordshire Police
Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of eleven Local Policing Teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authori ...
, which has police stations in Hanley, Bucknall, Burslem, Longton, Stoke and Tunstall. Stoke-on-Trent Crown Court and Stoke-on-Trent County Court share a building in Hanley. There is no magistrates' court
A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings.
Courts
* Magistrates' court (England and Wales)
* Magistrate's Cou ...
. Hearings were held in Fenton Town Hall until it closed in 2012; all magistrates proceedings now take place in Newcastle.
Statutory emergency fire and rescue service is provided by the Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, which has fire stations in Hanley, Longton, Burslem and Sandyford.
Severn Trent
Severn Trent plc is a water company based in Coventry, England. It supplies 4.6 million households and business across the Midlands and Wales.
It is traded on the London Stock Exchange and a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. Severn Trent, the ...
manages Stoke-on-Trent's drinking and waste water.
The city's main library is the City Central Library in Hanley, which is also home to the city's archives. The city council operates eight smaller libraries throughout the city. The council also operates sixteen children's centres, nine local service centres and five "one stop shops" for council services.
Religion
Stoke-on-Trent does not have a cathedral, but the city's main, Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
, civic church, is Stoke Minster. The city is within the Anglican Diocese of Lichfield
The Diocese of Lichfield is a Church of England diocese in the Province of Canterbury, England. The bishop's seat is located in the Cathedral Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Chad in the city of Lichfield. The diocese covers of seve ...
The city is part of the Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
Archdiocese of Birmingham and the immediate area has six Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
parishes; they are dedicated to: the Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This dev ...
, Our Lady of the Angels, Saint George
Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...
, Saint Gregory the Great
Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...
, Saint Maria Goretti
Maria Teresa Goretti (; October 16, 1890 – July 6, 1902) is an Italian virgin-martyr of the Catholic Church, and one of the youngest saints to be canonized. She was born to a farming family. Her father died when she was nine, and the family ...
and Saint Teresa.
Primitive Methodism
The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834).
In the United States, the Primit ...
was founded by Hugh Bourne
Hugh Bourne (3 April 1772 – 11 October 1852) along with William Clowes was the joint founder of Primitive Methodism, the largest offshoot of Wesleyan Methodism and, in the mid nineteenth century, an influential Protestant Christian movement in ...
, a native of Stoke-on-Trent, at a public gathering in the nearby village of Mow Cop. He originally followed the Wesleyan
Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...
form of Methodism
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's br ...
but in 1801 he reformed the Methodist service by conducting it outside. He founded the first chapel in Tunstall with his brother in 1811. He promoted Sunday schools as a method of improving children's education, advocated the equal treatment of women and men, and was involved in the temperance movement
The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders emph ...
. It was from the Primitive Methodists that many early trade unions found their early leaders. Also of note is John Lightfoot, a 17th-century churchman and rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
nical scholar.
The city's first purpose-built mosque was completed in 2012. The city's only synagogue closed in 2006, and was replaced with a smaller one in nearby Newcastle-under-Lyme.
In September 2017 an anti-terrorist undercover officer secretly recorded 17 sermons by radical preacher Kamran Hussain at Tunstall mosque
A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...
. He went to trial and was convicted for encouraging terrorism and glorifying the Islamic State
An Islamic state is a state that has a form of government based on Islamic law (sharia). As a term, it has been used to describe various historical polities and theories of governance in the Islamic world. As a translation of the Arabic term ...
.
Transport
Major roads
Stoke-on-Trent is linked to the nearby M6 motorway
The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 and the western end of the A14 at ...
at junctions 15 and 16 by the A500. Locally the A500 is known as the ''D road'', as its loop between the two motorway junctions, along with the straight section of the M6 between the junctions, resembles the shape of a capital letter D. Coincidentally, the number 500 expressed in Roman numerals is ''D''.
The A50 provides an east–west link between the M6 and the M1 motorway
The M1 motorway connects London to Leeds, where it joins the A1(M) near Aberford, to connect to Newcastle. It was the first inter-urban motorway to be completed in the UK; the first motorway in the country was the Preston By-pass, which ...
; it joins up with the A500 close to the Bet365 Stadium
The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...
. Improvements to the road network have led to the construction of product distribution centres in the area.
Rail
Stoke-on-Trent railway station is located on the Stafford-Manchester line. The other railway stations in the city are Longport and Longton both on the Crewe-Derby line. Etruria station was closed in September 2005. Avanti West Coast
Avanti West Coast is a train operating company in the United Kingdom owned by FirstGroup (70%) and Trenitalia (30%) that operates the West Coast Partnership franchise.
During November 2016, the Department for Transport (DfT) announced the Inter ...
''Pendolino'' 390029 is named after Stoke-on-Trent.
Bus
Local public transport is provided almost exclusively by bus. Bus services are mainly operated by First Potteries. There are also several smaller companies operating bus services in the city, like D&G Bus
D&G Bus is a local bus operator owned by Centrebus Group and is based in Adderley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
History
D&G Bus was formed by David Reeves and Gerald Henderson in April 1998 initially operating four buses on two routes ...
. There are central bus stations in Hanley and Longton. National Express
National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...
operate long-distance coach services from Hanley bus station. As part of the city's regeneration, a new bus station has been constructed in Hanley, allowing the old one to be demolished, making room for further redevelopment. As of January 2015 there are no local authority supported bus services in the city.
Canals
The city is served by the Trent and Mersey Canal, which sees traffic of some 10,000 boats a year. Additionally, the Caldon Canal
Caldon Canal is a branch of the Trent and Mersey Canal which opened in 1779. It runs from Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, to Froghall, Staffordshire. The canal has 17 locks and the Froghall Tunnel.
History
The first plans by the proprietors of the ...
branches off from the Trent and Mersey Canal at Etruria, within the city boundaries, going to Froghall with one branch going to Leek.
Cycling
As of November 2009 there are of new National Cycle Network
The National Cycle Network (NCN) is the national cycling route network of the United Kingdom, which was established to encourage cycling and walking throughout Britain, as well as for the purposes of bicycle touring. It was created by the cha ...
off-road bicycle paths through the city, connecting to the national long-distance paths which were completed in 2005. Together with those in Newcastle-under-Lyme, there are now over of cycle paths in the urban conurbation. A further £10 million of funding has now been secured for the city's cycling network, to be spent in 2009–2011 through Cycling England's support for Stoke as a Cycling City.
Education
Higher education
There are four further and higher education institutions in the local area, the two further education colleges being City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College
The City of Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College is a mixed sixth form college on Leek Road, Stoke-on-Trent. It opened its new building on Leek Road in September 2010 having previously been located on Victoria Road, Fenton. The college is also ...
and Stoke-on-Trent College. Formerly of Fenton, now located in a newly built structure on Leek Road, the Sixth Form college provides A Level
The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...
teaching for around 1,800 students. Stoke-on-Trent College is much larger and less specialised, offering apprenticeships and adult education, and has a main campus (Cauldon Campus) in Shelton, and a secondary campus in Burslem.
The city is also home to Staffordshire University
, mottoeng = Dare to know
, type = Public
, endowment = £70 million (2015)
, administrative_staff = 1,375
, chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford
, vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones
, ...
(formerly North Staffordshire Polytechnic), with its main site in Shelton, near Stoke-on-Trent railway station. It gained its university status in 1992 as one of the post-1992 universities
In the UK, a post-1992 university, synonymous with new university or modern university, is a former polytechnic or central institution that was given university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992, or an institution that ...
. Keele University School of Medicine
Keele University School of Medicine is a medical school located in Newcastle-under-Lyme and Shrewsbury. The first two years of the school's MBChB degree are mostly taught on the Keele University campus, while early contact to patients is criti ...
uses facilities at the Royal Stoke University Hospital
Royal Stoke University Hospital (formerly the University Hospital of North Staffordshire) is a teaching and research hospital at Hartshill in the English county of Staffordshire. It lies in the city of Stoke-on-Trent, near the border with New ...
in Hartshill. Keele University
Keele University, officially known as the University of Keele, is a public research university in Keele, approximately from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as the University College of North Staffordshire, Keele ...
itself was founded as the University College of North Staffordshire in 1949 with major involvement by Stoke-on-Trent City Council, and is located in the nearby village of Keele
Keele is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is approximately three miles (5 km) west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and is close to the village of Silverdale. Keele lies on the A53 ro ...
.
Secondary education
The city currently has 15 secondary schools: Sir Thomas Boughey Academy, Birches Head Academy, Co-op Academy Stoke-on-Trent, Discovery Academy, Excel Academy, Haywood Academy, Ormiston Horizon Academy, Ormiston Sir Stanley Matthews Academy, St Joseph's College, St Margaret Ward Catholic Academy, Ormiston Meridian Academy, St Peter's Academy, St Thomas More Catholic Academy, Stoke Studio College (with sites in Longton and Burslem), Thistley Hough Academy
Thistley Hough Academy is a coeducational secondary school located in the village of Penkhull in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. The school was built in 1938 as a girls' grammar school, housed in a classical Art Deco building. The old b ...
and Trentham High School.
A major re-structure of Stoke-on-Trent's high school system was proposed in 2007. As part of these plans several established secondary schools closed or merged including Longton High School (closed 2010), Mitchell High and Edensor High (merged to form The Discovery Academy), St Peter's CE High School and Berry Hill High (merged to form St Peter's Academy).
Potters' Holidays
One of the legacies of the pottery industry was Stoke's own version of the wakes week
The Wakes Week is a holiday period in parts of England and Scotland. Originally a religious celebration or feast, the tradition of the Wakes Week developed into a secular holiday, particularly in North West England during the Industrial Revolution ...
. Although better known in industrial Lancashire, the Stoke week is known locally as the Potters' Holidays or Potters' Fortnight and occurred the last week in June, the first week in July and another week in August. This gave what appeared to be strange school holidays—with the summer term having a two-week break at the end of June, then children returning to school for three weeks before taking a five-week summer holiday. This observance has disappeared from the local schools, due to decreased emphasis on traditional industries.
Sport
Football
Stoke-on-Trent is the smallest city to boast two professional clubs in the English Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...
. The club bearing the area's name is Stoke City, formed in 1863 and is the second-oldest professional football club in England. They currently play at the Bet365 Stadium
The Bet365 Stadium (stylised as ''bet365 Stadium'') is an all-seater football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England and the home of EFL Championship club Stoke City. The stadium was previously called the Britannia Stadium but was ...
at Stanley Matthews Way, Stoke-on-Trent, which has been their home since 1997 when they relocated from the Victoria Ground
The Victoria Ground was the home ground of Stoke City from 1878 until 1997, when the club relocated to the Britannia Stadium after 119 years. At the time of its demolition it was the oldest operational ground in the Football League.
History ...
in Stoke after 119 years. They were among the twelve founding members of the Football League in 1888, but did not win their first and, to date, only major trophy until 1972
Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...
, when they lifted the League Cup
In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...
. In 1985, they were relegated from the First Division and began a 23-year exile from the top flight of English football which did not end until they won promotion in 2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, by which time the First Division had become the Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
. Stoke City reached the final of the FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...
for the first time in 2011, but were defeated by Manchester City. Stoke City were relegated from the Premier League in 2018. The club and the city's most famous player is the late Sir Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...
, who began and ended his playing career with Stoke City, sandwiching a 14-year spell at Blackpool where he played in what became known as the Matthews Final. He also managed Port Vale from 1965 to 1968. He was the first active footballer to receive a Knighthood
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the ...
. Matthews made 54 appearances for his country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while ...
, scoring 11 times. There are two statues of Matthews in the city: one in Hanley and one at the Bet365 Stadium.
The city's other professional football club is Port Vale, who were formed in 1876 and play at Vale Park
Vale Park is a football stadium in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It has been the home ground of Port Vale F.C. since 1950.
The ground has seen its capacity go up and down, its peak being 42,000 in 1954 against Blackpool, although a club record 49, ...
in the Burslem
Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent.
...
area. Previous stadiums include the Athletic Ground in Cobridge (1886–1913) and The Old Recreation Ground in Hanley (1913–1950).[''What If There Had Been No Port In The Vale?: Startling Port Vale Stories!'' (Witan Books, 2011, )] They joined the Football League in 1892 but were forced to resign in 1907
Events
January
* January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000.
February
* February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco ...
due to financial problems, only to return in 1919
Events
January
* January 1
** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia.
** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the ...
. Their highest league position came in 1931
Events
January
* January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics.
* January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa.
* January 22 – Sir I ...
when they finished fifth in the Second Division
In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...
. In 1954, while in the Third Division North, they progressed to the FA Cup semi-final when they were knocked out by First Division West Bromwich Albion
West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...
at Villa Park
Villa Park is a football stadium in Aston, Birmingham, England, with a seating capacity of 42,682. It has been the home of Premier League side Aston Villa since 1897. The ground is less than a mile from both Witton and Aston railway station ...
. This remains the furthest they have progressed in the competition. Unlike Stoke City, their local rivals in the Potteries derby
In English football, the Potteries derby is the local derby between the two major clubs in the city of Stoke-on-Trent – Port Vale and Stoke City, first contested in 1882. Port Vale play at Vale Park whilse Stoke play at the bet365 Stadium, the ...
, they have never played top division football and hold the record for most years spent in the second tier without ever playing in the first. Individuals of note include John Rudge
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second ...
(who managed the club for 16 years from 1983 to 1999) and Roy Sproson
Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...
(who made a club record 842 appearances for the club from 1950 until 1972 and was later their manager).
Previous clubs from the city include Dresden United, a club which was disestablished before the city was federated; as well as amateur clubs Meir KA (1972–2010) and Norton United (1989–2015). Currently, the city is represented at amateur level by Eastwood Hanley (1946–1997; re-established in 2014) and Hanley Town (established 1966).
Other sports teams
The city speedway
Speedway may refer to:
Racing Race tracks
*Edmonton International Speedway, also known as Speedway Park, a former motor raceway in Edmonton, Alberta
*Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a motor raceway in Speedway, Indiana
Types of races and race cours ...
team is the Stoke Potters. Speedway was staged at the Greyhound Stadium in Sun Street, Hanley intermittently between 1929 and 1939. In 1947, the Potters were part of the post-war boom rising from Division Three of the National League to Division Two before closing in the early-1950s. The Potters were revived in 1960 and they raced in the Provincial League until the end of 1963, when the stadium was closed and the site redeveloped. Speedway was revived at Loomer Road Stadium
Loomer Road Stadium is a former sports stadium situated in Chesterton, Staffordshire. The building had considerable parking facilities, covered terracing and a bar with a view of the track. It had a capacity of 5,000. The stadium was construct ...
in Newcastle-under-Lyme, initially as Chesterton, before it reverted to the Stoke name. For many years, the Potters raced in the Premier League
The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...
, the sports second division, but as of November 2010 have dropped a division and in 2011 will race in the National League
The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team ...
. The stadium is also used for BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars
BriSCA Formula 1 Stock Cars is a class of single-seater stock-car-racing in the UK with custom-built cars, with races conducted on walled oval tracks of either shale or tarmac of approximately a quarter-mile in length. The cars are of an open w ...
and BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars
BriSCA Formula 2 Stock Cars is a class of single seater auto racing in the UK. Cars are custom-built and race on oval tracks of either shale or tarmac of up to a quarter-mile in length. The tracks they race on are surrounded by either steel pla ...
during the summer.
Cycle Speedway was very popular in the city from the 1940s. Boys would travel all over the city to race against rival teams. The most famous team in the 1960s was Shelton Tigers; they travelled all over England and Wales to race against other teams. The Tigers won the Midland League and the British "Champion's of Champions" Trophy, against Southampton.
The ski
A ski is a narrow strip of semi-rigid material worn underfoot to glide over snow. Substantially longer than wide and characteristically employed in pairs, skis are attached to ski boots with ski bindings, with either a free, lockable, or partia ...
race team based at the artificial ski slope in Festival Park compete in national Snowsport England and international FIS Fédération Internationale de Ski
The ''Fédération internationale de ski et de snowboard'' (FIS; en, International Ski and Snowboard Federation) is the highest international governing body for skiing and snowboarding. Founded on 2 February 1924 in Chamonix, France during the ...
events.
The city has a number of amateur sports clubs, including rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...
and cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...
; the latter competing in the North Staffs and South Cheshire Cricket League. The cricket ground in Longton is one of the venues used by Staffordshire County Cricket Club
Staffordshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty national county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Staffordshire. The team is currently a member of the National Counties C ...
. As well as the Longton club, Meir Heath Cricket Club are also active, though the County Ground and the Michelin Ground are no longer used for cricket.
Stoke Spitfires was the name of the city's American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
team. The team eventually folded in 1992 after a record of 35-34-1. In 1994, the Staffordshire Surge was formed and played their matches in and around Stoke-on-Trent. Currently the team play at Longton Rugby Club in Division One North of the British American Football League
The British American Football League (BAFL) was the United Kingdom's primary American football league from 1998 until 2010. It was formerly known as the British Senior League (BSL) until 2005. BAFL was the trading name for Gridiron Football Lea ...
.
Individual sports persons
The city has a sporting Hall of Fame, opened in 2011 to honour sporting legends from the city. As of March 2011, it holds the names of Stanley Matthews
Sir Stanley Matthews, CBE (1 February 1915 – 23 February 2000) was an English footballer who played as an outside right. Often regarded as one of the greatest players of the British game, he is the only player to have been knighted while sti ...
and Phil Taylor, legends of football and darts respectively, were the first names to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. They were quickly followed by Port Vale legend Roy Sproson
Roy Sproson (23 September 1930 – 24 January 1997) was an English footballer and football manager for Port Vale. A one-club man, he holds the all-time appearance record for Vale, making 837 starts (and 5 substitute appearances) for Vale ...
and England's World Cup winning goalkeeper Gordon Banks
Gordon Banks (30 December 1937 – 12 February 2019) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he made 679 appearances during a 20-year professional caree ...
(who spent five years with Stoke City).
The World Professional Darts Championship
The World Professional Darts Championship is one of the most important tournaments in the darts calendar. Originally held as an annual event between 1978 and 1993, players then broke off into two separate organisations after a controversial split ...
was hosted in the Jollees venue in the south of the city from 1979 to 1985. Phil Taylor has won the World Championship a record 16 times, winning the championship in both the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) and British Darts Organisation
The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...
(BDO). Two-time PDC World Champion Adrian Lewis
Adrian Lewis (born 21 January 1985) is an English professional darts player currently playing in the PDC. He is a two-time PDC World Darts Champion, winning in 2011 and 2012. He is nicknamed Jackpot, as he won a jackpot gambling in Las Vegas ...
and two-time BDO World Champion Ted Hankey
Edward Hankey (born 20 February 1968) is an English former professional darts player and convicted sex offender. Nicknamed "The Count", he won the BDO World Darts Championship in 2000, was runner-up in 2001, and won the title for a second time ...
are also from the Stoke area. Other well-known players from or based in Stoke include Chris Mason, Andy Hamilton
Andrew Neil Hamilton (born 28 May 1954) is a British comedian, game show panellist, television director, comedy screenwriter, radio dramatist, novelist and actor.
Early life and education
Hamilton was born in Fulham, southwest London. He ...
and Ian White.
World champion squash
Squash may refer to:
Sports
* Squash (sport), the high-speed racquet sport also known as squash racquets
* Squash (professional wrestling), an extremely one-sided match in professional wrestling
* Squash tennis, a game similar to squash but pla ...
player, Great Britain and England international Angela Smith, was born in the city and was largely responsible for the ladies' game going open. She is regarded as one of the most famous players of British squash. Wicket-keeper
The wicket-keeper in the sport of cricket is the player on the fielding side who stands behind the wicket or stumps being watchful of the batsman and ready to take a catch, stump the batsman out and run out a batsman when occasion arises. ...
Bob Taylor, who played for Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
and England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
was born and still lives in the area. He represented England 58 times and still holds the world record for the most dismissals in the first class game (1649). In golf, Trenthams' David Lynn, the golfer, (born 1973) was the KLM Open Champion of 2004.
Other notable sports people from the area include footballers turned TV pundits Mark Bright
Mark Abraham Bright (born 6 June 1962) is an English sports correspondent and former footballer.
Born to a Gambian father and English mother, he was adopted into a foster family in Stoke-on-Trent at an early age. He played non-league football ...
, Garth Crooks
Garth Anthony Crooks, (born 10 March 1958) is an English football pundit and former professional player. He played from 1976 to 1990, for Stoke City, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, West Bromwich Albion and Charlton Athletic. Throughout h ...
and Robbie Earle; tennis player Andrew Foster; snooker players Ray Reardon
Ray may refer to:
Fish
* Ray (fish), any cartilaginous fish of the superorder Batoidea
* Ray (fish fin anatomy), a bony or horny spine on a fin
Science and mathematics
* Ray (geometry), half of a line proceeding from an initial point
* Ray (gra ...
, Dave Harold
David Harold (born 9 December 1966) is an English former professional snooker player from Stoke-on-Trent. He was known by the nicknames of "the Hard Man" and "the Stoke Potter" (conflating his home city's pottery industry and his profession of ...
and Jamie Cope
Jamie Cope (born 12 September 1985) is an English former professional snooker player.
A finalist in two ranking tournaments, the 2006 Grand Prix and the 2007 China Open, Cope also reached the semi-finals of the 2011 Masters. He reached his h ...
; field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...
player Imran Sherwani; cycling world-record holder Tommy Godwin, wrestler Peter Thornley
Peter William Thornley (born 19 October 1941) is an English retired professional wrestler who was best known for the ring character Kendo Nagasaki. The character of Nagasaki was a Japanese samurai with a mysterious past and reputed powers of ...
(better known as Kendo Nagasaki
Kendo Nagasaki is a professional wrestling stage name, used as a gimmick of that of a Japanese Samurai warrior with a mysterious past and even supernatural powers of hypnosis. The name derives from the modern martial art of Japanese fencing (Kendo) ...
), professional strongman Eddie Hall
Edward Stephen Hall (born 15 January 1988) is an English media personality, actor, boxer, and former strongman.
He won the World's Strongest Man 2017 competition. Hall has also won national competitions such as UK's Strongest Man, Britain's S ...
and European taekwondo
''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...
champion Charlie Maddock.
Culture art and architecture
Architecture
From the half-timbered farmhouse vernacular of Ford Green Hall, through the 18th century canal-side Wedgwood
Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rapid ...
estate of Etruria one of the hubs of the Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States, that occurred during the period from around 1760 to about 1820–1840. This transition included going f ...
, to 19th Century country house estates eg Trentham Hall
The Trentham Estate, in the village of Trentham, is a visitor attraction located on the southern fringe of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
History
The estate was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. At ...
and railway buildings such as Stoke Station and more lately in the 20th century, the expansion and renewal of industrial, civic and amenity buildings including Potteries Museum and Art Gallery, the architecture of Stoke-on-Trent has a history expressive of locally acquired or manufactured building materials: quarried stone, coal and clay for brick and tile-making, ash, sand gravel and cement for concrete, and also cast iron steel and timber.
Stoke-on-Trent's architecture is tied closely to the industrial heritage
Industrial heritage refers to the physical remains of the history of technology and industry, such as manufacturing and mining sites, as well as power and transportation infrastructure. Another definition expands this scope so that the term a ...
of the city. Bottle ovens (used for early pottery manufacture), canal-side and railway-related mill, factory, or warehouse buildings evolved - within the tightly-knit street pattern of each of the six townships - from transport links and adjacency to local generationally skilled labour. Post WWII pottery factories developed a style typified by open-plan manufacturing areas, surrounded by wide expanses of window-walling from floor to ceiling, allowing good daylighting for intricate tasks such as lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by the German a ...
, fettling and decoration.
In 1966, Stone (Staffordshire) born Cedric Price
Cedric Price FRIBA (11 September 1934 – 10 August 2003) was an English architect and influential teacher and writer on architecture.
The son of an architect (A.G. Price, who worked with Harry Weedon), Price was born in Stone, Staffordshire ...
had proposed a Potteries Thinkbelt design which sought to make use of decommissioned railway routes following the Beeching Cuts
The Beeching cuts (also Beeching Axe) was a plan to increase the efficiency of the nationalised railway system in Great Britain. The plan was outlined in two reports: ''The Reshaping of British Railways'' (1963) and ''The Development of the M ...
and the scarred landscape of coal mining to provide linked learning centres for a technical industry-based curriculum. The Staffordshire University
, mottoeng = Dare to know
, type = Public
, endowment = £70 million (2015)
, administrative_staff = 1,375
, chancellor = Francis Fitzherbert, 15th Baron Stafford
, vice_chancellor = Professor Martin Jones
, ...
Architecture course has introduced an annual Cedric Price day celebrating this and other projects of his.
Science
Oliver Lodge
Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge, (12 June 1851 – 22 August 1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Hertz's proof and at his ...
(1851–1940) was a British physicist and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for, radio. He was born in Penkhull
Penkhull is a district of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, part of Penkhull and Stoke electoral ward, and Stoke Central parliamentary constituency.
Penkhull is a conservation area, and includes Grade II listed buildings suc ...
.
William Astbury
William Thomas Astbury FRS (25 February 1898 – 4 June 1961) was an English physicist and molecular biologist who made pioneering X-ray diffraction studies of biological molecules. His work on keratin provided the foundation for Linus Pauling ...
(1898–1962) was an English physicist and molecular biologist who made pioneering X-ray diffraction studies of biological molecules. He was born in Longton.
Visual art
The major art gallery is The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery
The Potteries Museum & Art Gallery is in Bethesda Street, Hanley, one of the six towns of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire. Admission is free.
One of the four local authority museums in the city, the other three being Gladstone Pottery Museu ...
, located in Hanley. It contains a collection of fine ceramics, a rotating programme of exhibitions and a permanent collection. In 2010, it became one of the permanent homes of the Staffordshire Hoard, the most important collection of Anglo-Saxon gold yet found.
The city's Cultural Quarter in Hanley contains the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, the Regent Theatre and the Victoria Hall. There are also smaller elements, including the independent Dazed Gallery and AirSpace, the city's only contemporary art gallery, artist-led and artist run. The Artbay Gallery in Fenton has a contemporary range of original works as well as limited editions.
Edwardian School of Art
An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on the visual arts, including fine art – especially illustration, painting, photography, sculpture, and graphic design. Art schools can offer elementary, secondary, post-second ...
in Burslem has been refurbished with £1.2 million, and is now run without a public subsidy. The Hothouse Centre for Ceramic Design, and the Roslyn Works complex of craft studios operate in Longton. Also based in Burslem is the Barewall Gallery, which has a large collection of work by local artists including original art by Arthur Berry (The Lowry of The Potteries), Jack Simcock, and by new emerging Potteries artists.
Stoke-on-Trent is the birthplace of several artists including Arthur Berry (also a novelist, playwright & poet), Glenys Barton (sculptor), Arnold Machin (sculptor, coin & stamp designer) and Sidney Tushingham, A.R.E.
Public art
The Grade II* listed statue of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', which stands adjacent to the lake at Trentham Gardens, a part of Trentham Estate
The Trentham Estate, in the village of Trentham, is a visitor attraction located on the southern fringe of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
History
The estate was first recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086. At ...
, is a copy of an original work by Benvenuto Cellini, which was sculpted for Cosimo I Duke of Tuscany from 1545 to 1554. In the early 19th Century, the then Duke of Tuscany, allowed a cast of Cellini’s statue to be taken for his friend, the 2nd Duke of Sutherland; it is the only bronze cast of the statue The bronze sculpture was installed at Trentham in 1840 during Charles Barry’s remodelling of the estate and the statue forms a focal point for his Italianate gardens located by the lake at the south end of the central axis of the parterre. Barry designed the circular platform on which the statue is set.
Welcoming visitors to the city as they alight from their train at Stoke-on-Trent station is a statue of Josiah Wedgwood
Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the indus ...
, the centrepiece to the Grade II listed Winton Square area. The statue by Edward Davis (sculptor) Edward Davis MIBS (1813 – 14 August 1878) was a 19th century British sculptor.
Life
He was born in London but his parents were from Carmarthen in south Wales.
He attended the Royal Academy Schools in London and trained in the studio of Edwa ...
was cast in bronze in 1860 and first displayed at the 1862 London Exhibition (also known as the International Exhibition of 1862) which was the successor to the 1851 Great Exhibition. Funded by public subscription, the Stoke-on-Trent unveiling took place on 24 February 1863. A replica of the statue was cast in the 1950s for the Wedgwood Barlaston factory site, where it now stands - outside the Wedgwood Museum. In Josiah's hand is an example of his pre-eminent work, the Portland Vase
The Portland Vase is a Roman cameo glass vase, which is dated to between AD 1 and AD 25, though low BC dates have some scholarly support. It is the best known piece of Roman cameo glass and has served as an inspiration to many glass and porcelain ...
.
''The Spirit of Fire'' also known as ''The Man of Fire'' or sometimes locally as ''Jack Frost'' or even ''The Spiky Man'', a 1964 sculpture by David Wynne, is mounted upon the façade of what was the Lewis's
Lewis's was a chain of British department stores that operated from 1856 to 2010. The owners of Lewis's have gone into administration many times over the years, including 1991. The first store, which opened in Liverpool city centre, became ...
Department Sore (designed by the Percy Thomas Partnership). Inscription below the sculpture reads: "Fire is at the root of all things visible and invisible" - a reference to the industrial heart of The Potteries: ceramics, railways, steelmaking and mining.
''A Man Can't Fly'', commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council in 1989, is a statue of "a figure of a man balancing horizontally upon one leg (arabesque
The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...
, a ballet pose), by Cheshire sculptor Ondre Nowakowski (b.1954). The pose appears as a reference to Superman in flight. It stands atop a column with the words 'A MAN CAN'T FLY' repeated vertically around its circumference". The location is at the Leek Road/ Glebe Street junction close to Stoke Station.
The outskirts of Tunstall became home to a new public art statue called ''Golden'' in 2015. The 69 ft (21m) steel work of art by Wolfgang Buttress
Wolfgang Buttress (born 1965) is an English artist. He creates multi-sensory artworks that draw inspiration from our evolving relationship with the natural world. Buttress explores and interprets scientific discoveries, collaborating with archi ...
was privately funded with £180,000 Section 106 monies and is made from COR-TEN Steel, the same material as the ''Angel of the North
The ''Angel of the North'' is a contemporary sculpture by Antony Gormley, located in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Completed in 1998, it is believed to be the largest sculpture of an angel in the world and is viewed by an estimated 33 m ...
''. The tapered lozenge design features powerful LED lights that will illuminate 1,500 glass prisms containing the written wishes or memories of local residents. Each prism will be suspended from the main body of the sculpture by a short arm, giving the artwork a bristly appearance. It is located on the former site of the Potteries Pyramid, which was to have been moved to a nearby roundabout.
In October 2013 a sculpture, ''Unearthed (Lidice)'' designed by Sarah Nadin (b.1983) and Nicola Winstanley (b.1984) also known as Dashyline studios, commemorating the efforts of miners to rebuild the Czech village of Lidice
Lidice (, german: Liditz) is a municipality and village in Kladno District in the Central Bohemian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 600 inhabitants.
Lidice is built near the site of the previous village of the same name, which was co ...
devastated during the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
was unveiled. The steel sculpture cost £100,000 to build and features 3,000 tags bearing the initials of people who promise to share the story of the 1942 Lidice Shall Live movement. North Staffordshire-based Dashyline was commissioned by Stoke-on-Trent City Council to create the artwork, which has been installed near Hanley bus station. The sculpture was manufactured and installed by local Company, Patera Engineering Ltd based in Fenton.
Theatre
The city's main theatre is the 1,603-person capacity Regent Theatre, which is in Hanley. Nearby is the main concert hall, the Victoria Hall. The purpose-built theatre in the round
A theatre in the round, arena theatre or central staging is a space for theatre in which the audience surrounds the stage.
Theatre-in-the-round was common in ancient theatre, particularly that of Greece and Rome, but was not widely explored aga ...
New Vic Theatre
The New Vic Theatre is a purpose-built theatre in the round in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire. The theatre opened in 1986, replacing a converted cinema, the Victoria Theatre in Hartshill, Stoke-on-Trent.
History
In the early 1960s, Stephen J ...
is just outside the city's boundary in Newcastle-under-Lyme. The Victorian Kings Hall in Stoke-on-Trent Town Hall is used for smaller events. In Burslem, the Queen's Theatre has been refurbished and restored at private expense. The Stoke-on-Trent Repertory Theatre is based in Stoke and puts on amateur productions. The previously city council-run Mitchell Memorial Youth Theatre, based in Hanley, completed its £4.3m refurbishment in 2011 and is now known as the Mitchell Arts Centre. It is named in honour of one of the city's most famous sons, Reginald Mitchell, designer of the legendary World War II fighter plane, the Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force and other Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. Many variants of the Spitfire were built, from the Mk 1 to the Rolls-Royce Grif ...
.
Cinema
On 17 December 2015 a new 9 screen Cineworld Cinema opened in Hanley. It is situated at The Hive which is an extension to the Intu Potteries shopping centre.
There is an Odeon multiplex cinema on Festival Park. The independent volunteer-run art-house cinema, The Stoke-on-Trent Film Theatre, is located very near the railway station, and shows art-house and subtitled films, as well as films that have finished their run in larger cinemas.
Literature
Through the works of Arnold Bennett
Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist. He wrote prolifically: between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaboratio ...
, described by some as the greatest realist writer of the 20th century, the "Six Towns" were sometimes known as the "Five Towns". In his novels, Bennett wrote about local events in the 19th century and consistently changed all proper names and associations, thus Hanley became Hanbridge and Burslem became Bursley. The "Six Towns" were not federated until 1910 when Fenton was still relatively new; it was also the smallest in terms of population and area. Bennett also changed the name of the local newspaper from ''The Sentinel'' to ''The Signal'', an identity that was subsequently adopted by the city's commercial radio station.
Other notable contributors to literature include Elijah Fenton (poet), Peter Whelan (playwright), John Wain
John Barrington Wain CBE (14 March 1925 – 24 May 1994) was an English poet, novelist, and critic, associated with the literary group known as " The Movement". He worked for most of his life as a freelance journalist and author, writing and re ...
(poet, critic and scholar), Pauline Stainer
Pauline Anita Stainer (''née'' Rogers, born 5 March 1941) is an English poet. She was born Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. She left the city to study at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she took a degree in English. After Oxford she com ...
(poet) and Charles Tomlinson
Alfred Charles Tomlinson, CBE (8 January 1927 – 22 August 2015) was an English poet, translator, academic, and illustrator.
He was born in Penkhull, and grew up in Basford, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Life
After attending Longton High Sc ...
(poet, graphic artist, translator, editor and critic).
In Jorge Luis Borges
Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...
' novel "The Garden of Forking Paths
"The Garden of Forking Paths" (original Spanish title: "El jardín de senderos que se bifurcan") is a 1941 short story by Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges. It is the title story in the collection ''El jardín de senderos que se bifurca ...
", Dr. Yu Tsun goes to a suburb of Fenton to meet Stephen Albert.
Young Poet Laureate
Since 2010, the council's library service has run a competition to appoint a Young Poet Laureate for the city. This is a competition for local poets aged between 11 and 19. The first winner was Daniel Tatton, and he was succeeded in 2011 by Bethanie Hardie.
Media
* The Sentinel daily local newspaper
* BBC Radio Stoke the third BBC local radio station to begin broadcasting
* Signal 1 local commercial radio
* Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire local commercial radio
* 6 Towns Radio
6 Towns Radio is a community radio station covering Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle and Kidsgrove in the United Kingdom. The aim of the station is to appeal to a wide demographic, covering musical styles including House, Northern Soul and Rock. It ...
local community radio
* Cross Rhythms City Radio
Cross Rhythms City Radio is a community radio
Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities ...
Local television news is covered by BBC Midlands Today
''Midlands Today'' is the BBC's regional television news service for the West Midlands. It was launched in 1964 and is presented by Mary Rhodes, Nick Owen, Elizabeth Glinka, Rebecca Wood and Shefali Oza.
Overview
''Midlands Today'' is produ ...
and ITV Central
ITV Central, previously known as Central Independent Television, Carlton Central, ITV1 for Central England and commonly referred to as simply Central, is the Independent Television franchisee for the Midlands. It was created following the rest ...
; and in certain parts of the city by BBC North West and ITV's Granada.
The city is to be part of the second wave of UK cities to get its own local TV Station.
Famous entertainers
Stoke has been the birthplace of many actors and entertainers, including:
* Hugh Dancy
Hugh Michael Horace Dancy (born 19 June 1975) is an English actor who rose to prominence for his role as the titular character in the television film adaptation of ''David Copperfield'' (2000) as well as for roles in feature films as Kurt Schmid ...
actor
* Neil Morrissey actor
* Rachel Shenton actress
* Anthea Turner
Anthea Turner (born 25 May 1960) is an English former television presenter. She was a host of ''Blue Peter'' from 1992 until 1994, and of ''GMTV'' from 1994 until 1996.
Early life
Turner was born in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, and educated ...
TV presenter
* Nick Hancock TV presenter
* Freddie Jones
Frederick Charles Jones''Births, Marriages & Deaths Index of England & Wales, 1916-2005.''; at ancestry.com (12 September 1927 – 9 July 2019) was an English actor who had an extensive career in television, theatre and cinema productions for a ...
actor
* Adrian Rawlins
Adrian John Rawlins (born 27 March 1958) is an English actor best known for playing Arthur Kidd in ''The Woman in Black'' and James Potter in the ''Harry Potter'' films. In 2019, he starred in ''Chernobyl'' as Nikolai Fomin.
Early life
Rawlin ...
actor
* Bruno Brookes
Trevor Neil "Bruno" Brookes (born 1959 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire) is an English former radio presenter who became prominent on British radio in the 1980s. He was CEO of in-store radio company Immedia from 2000–2020.
Early life and care ...
former BBC Radio One
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
presenter
* Dominic Burgess
Dominic Burgess (born 29 July 1982) is an English actor. He is known for his appearances in several television adverts and series such as '' Raising Hope'', ''Doctor Who'', ''It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia'', and '' Feud: Bette and Joan''.
E ...
actor
Music
Stoke has a vibrant music scene. The Golden Torch, a local nightclub, became the centre of the Northern soul scene in the early 1970s. Shelley's Laserdome
Shelley's Laserdome was a night club in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was at the heart of the house and rave scene in the early 1990s, helping to launch the career of DJ Sasha and featuring regular appearances from Carl C ...
nightclub in Longton played a pivotal role in the house and rave scene of the late 1980s and early 1990s, helping launch the career of Sasha and featuring regular appearances from Carl Cox
Carl Cox (born 29 July 1962) is a British house and techno club DJ, as well as radio DJ and record producer. He is based in Hove, Sussex, England.
Cox has won and been nominated for numerous awards. He has performed at numerous clubs and e ...
, until it was eventually shut down by Staffordshire Police
Staffordshire Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent in the West Midlands of England. It is made up of eleven Local Policing Teams, whose boundaries are matched to the nine local authori ...
. The Void, a Hanley nightclub, developed a sister relationship with Sankey's Soap in Manchester, helping the latter to revive its fortunes during the late 1990s via the promotion of a club night called ''Golden''.
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
is the most famous pop star to hail from the city. Many of his songs refer to Stoke-on-Trent, either directly or indirectly. These include "It's Only Us", "Burslem Normals", "The 80's" and the spoken introduction to his duet with Jonathan Wilkes
Jonathan Wilkes (born 1 August 1978) is an English television presenter and singer.
Early life and career
Jonathan Wilkes was born in Baddeley Green, Stoke-on-Trent, to Eileen Wilkes and Graham Wilkes, and spent most of his childhood in ...
of the song "Me and My Shadow". The song "Angels" was partly inspired by the golden angel at Burslem Town Hall
The Old Town Hall is a former town hall in Burslem, in Staffordshire, England. It is in the Market Place, in the centre of the town. It is a Grade II* listed building, listed on 2 October 1951.
History
The first town hall in the town, erected ...
. In 2015, three streets in a new housing estate in Middleport were named after Williams' hit songs: Supreme Street, Candy Lane and Angels
In various theistic religious traditions an angel is a supernatural spiritual being who serves God.
Abrahamic religions often depict angels as benevolent celestial intermediaries between God (or Heaven) and humanity. Other roles incl ...
Way.
Saul Hudson, the lead guitarist for Guns N' Roses better known by his stage name " Slash", was born in Stoke-on-Trent. His father, Anthony Hudson, was from the area, and he spent a few of his early childhood years living in the city before moving to his mother's native United States in 1970. He did not meet many of the British side of his family until 1992 when Guns N' Roses played Wembley Stadium
Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 2002 to 2003. The stadium ...
as part of the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. Slash has recalled in interviews and his autobiography that his Stoke relatives drank all of the band's considerable rider:
"I witnessed one of my uncles, my cousin, and my grandfather, on his very first trip to London from Stoke, down every drop of liquor in our dressing room. Consumed in full, our booze rider in those days would have killed anyone but us."
Lonnie Cook is a rock 'n' roll guitarist and local celebrity who played with Screaming Lord Sutch in the 1970s. He is remembered in the area for his Radio Stoke show ''Sunday Best'', and for standing as a Monster Raving Loony Party candidate. In 2010 he started getting airplay on a New York radio station for his 1994 song "Knock Me Down, Pick Me Up". This led to the song being released for mp3 download in the US and the UK.
Other notable individuals and groups from the area include Andy Moor who is a DJ and producer, Gertie Gitana (music hall star and singer), Lemmy, the founder of the rock band Motörhead
Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...
, Patricia Leonard (singer/contralto
A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type.
The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...
), Jem Finer
Jeremy Max Finer (born 20 July 1955) is an English musician, artist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Pogues.
Life and career
Finer was born in Stoke-on-Trent, England, the son of political scientist Samuel Finer. He took ...
(banjoist, The Pogues), Broken Bones
A bone fracture (abbreviated FRX or Fx, Fx, or #) is a medical condition in which there is a partial or complete break in the continuity of any bone in the body. In more severe cases, the bone may be broken into several fragments, known as a '' ...
and Discharge (punk band), who invented the D-beat
D-beat (also known as Discore, kängpunk, Discrust, and crust-beat) is a style of hardcore punk, developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, after whom the genre is named, as well as a drum beat characteristic of this subgenre. D-be ...
style. Experimental musician Phil Todd, best known for his Ashtray Navigations
Ashtray Navigations is an English experimental music group centred upon Phil Todd and active since 1991. Colloquially referred to as "Ash Nav", the group operates out of Todd's home in Stoke-on-Trent, from which he also ran the record labels ...
project, grew up in Madeley. Other bands to hail from the city include: '' This Is Seb Clarke'' (soul-punk), ''Agent Blue
Agent Blue is one of the " rainbow herbicides" that is known for its use by the United States during the Vietnam War. It contained a mixture of dimethylarsinic acid (also known as cacodylic acid) and its related salt, sodium cacodylate, and w ...
'' (alternative rock), ''Epilogue
An epilogue or epilog (from Greek ἐπίλογος ''epílogos'', "conclusion" from ἐπί ''epi'', "in addition" and λόγος ''logos'', "word") is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature, usually used to bring closure to the w ...
'' (prog rock), ''All the Young
All the Young (formerly called 'New Education') is a five-piece alternative rock band from Stoke-on-Trent, England. Led by Ryan Dooley (singer/songwriter) and his younger brother Jack Dooley (bass/vocals).
Ryan and Jack started to play at sch ...
'' and ''The Title
The Title are a British four-piece indie band based in Stoke-on-Trent, England, and signed with Sons Ltd.[Murdoc Niccals
Murdoc Faust Niccals (born Murdoc Alphonce Niccals) is the fictional British bassist for the virtual band Gorillaz. He is voiced by Phil Cornwell and was created by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett.
In the Gorillaz universe, Murdoc was respons ...]
, a fictional member of the group Gorillaz
Gorillaz are an English virtual band formed in 1998 by musician Damon Albarn and artist Jamie Hewlett, from London. The band primarily consists of four fictional members: 2-D (vocals, keyboards), Murdoc Niccals (bass guitar), Noodle (guitar, ...
with the role of bass guitarist is (in his constructed biography) said to have been born in Stoke-on-Trent.
The cat in ''Dick and Dom in da Bungalow
''Dick & Dom in da Bungalow'' is a British children's television series presented by the duo Dick and Dom (Richard McCourt and Dominic Wood). The series was broadcast on weekend mornings on various BBC television channels for five series, runnin ...
'' once sang a song about Stoke-on-Trent.
Havergal Brian
Havergal Brian (born William Brian; 29 January 187628 November 1972) was an English composer. He is best known for having composed 32 symphonies (an unusually high total for a 20th-century composer), most of them late in his life. His best-know ...
(1876–1972), the classical composer and music writer, who composed 32 symphonies
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...
and five operas, was born in Stoke (in Dresden). The large scale and unfashionable style of his compositions led to them being neglected for most of his lifetime and not a note of his music was commercially issued on record during his lifetime. He died without having heard many of his finest works.
Food
Staffordshire oatcake
A Staffordshire oatcake (a type of savoury pancake) is made from oatmeal, flour and yeast to make a dense pancake. It is cooked on a griddle, "backstone" or "baxton". The oatcake is a local speciality in the North Staffordshire area of Engla ...
s (very different from the Scottish version and traditionally made in corner-shop style oatcake bakeries) are a much-loved local culinary speciality. They remain popular although are no longer the cheap alternative to bread. Oatcakes can be eaten cold or hot with any sweet or savoury fillings. Lobby
Lobby may refer to:
* Lobby (room), an entranceway or foyer in a building
* Lobbying, the action or the group used to influence a viewpoint to politicians
:* Lobbying in the United States, specific to the United States
* Lobby (food), a thick stew ...
, a stew not unlike Lancashire hotpot
Lancashire hotpot is a stew originating from Lancashire in the North West of England. It consists of lamb or mutton and onion, topped with sliced potatoes (or a more traditional topping of pastry or puff pastry) and baked in a heavy pot on a l ...
, is still made by local people.
Stoke Pride
Stoke Pride is the city's annual pride march that has been running since 2005, although it was not officially called Stoke Pride until 2008. It is a celebration of the city's LGBT
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is a ...
community and attracts visitors from many different areas across the country and the globe. There were talks about such an event in 2003, but the idea was faced by opposition from the local BNP councillors and their supporters. Originally held in Hanley, the event was held at Northwood Park until 2016 and has since moved to Hanley Park in 2017 attracting over 7000 attendants, six times the amount of the previous year. It continued in 2018 with increased attendance, and in 2019. It was due to continue in 2020, on 20 June, but was postponed because of COVID-19.
Dialect
The Potteries has a distinctive local dialect
Local may refer to:
Geography and transportation
* Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand
* Local, Missouri, a community in the United States
* Local government, a form of public administration, usually the lowest tier of administra ...
. Whilst it contains many non-standard words (e.g. ''nesh'' meaning "soft, tender, or to easily get cold"; and ''slat'' meaning "to throw"), the best known word is ''duck'', which is used as a greeting to either men or women. It is believed to be derived from the Saxon
The Saxons ( la, Saxones, german: Sachsen, ang, Seaxan, osx, Sahson, nds, Sassen, nl, Saksen) were a group of Germanic
*
*
*
*
peoples whose name was given in the early Middle Ages to a large country (Old Saxony, la, Saxonia) near the Nor ...
word ''ducas'', used to indicate respect; in Middle English
Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English p ...
this became ''duc'' or ''duk'', which denotes a leader; in turn, it became the title ''Duke
Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...
'' and the Old French
Old French (, , ; Modern French: ) was the language spoken in most of the northern half of France from approximately the 8th to the 14th centuries. Rather than a unified language, Old French was a linkage of Romance dialects, mutually intelligib ...
word ''duché'', which indicates the territory ruled by a Duke.
Another common variation on the standard English dialect is the use of the word ''shug'' for sugar. This is usually used as a term of endearment when closing a sentence, as in "Ta Shug" (thank you, sugar).
A local cartoon
A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...
called '' May un Mar Lady (Me and my Wife)'', published in the newspaper '' The Sentinel'' and written in Potteries dialect
Potteries is an English dialect of the West Midlands of England, almost exclusively in and around Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
Origin and history
As with most local dialects in English, Potteries dialect derives originally from Anglo Sa ...
, first appeared on 8 July 1986 and ran for over 20 years. Since the death of cartoonist Dave Follows
Dave Follows (3 October 1941 – 17 October 2003) was a British cartoonist best known for his comic strip ''Creature Feature''.
Career
Follows was born in Stafford, Staffordshire, England. His first published cartoon was for the ''Stafford Advert ...
in 2003, the full twenty-year run (7,000) of ''May un Mar Lady'' strips are being republished in ''The Sentinel'' as ''May un Mar Lady Revisited'', keeping the dialect alive for another twenty years.
Alan Povey's ''Owd Grandad Piggott
Owd Grandad Piggott is a fictional character created by author Alan Povey based on a real-life person. The Owd Grandad Piggott stories are best known in Povey's home town of Stoke-on-Trent where they have often been heard on BBC Radio Stoke, r ...
'' stories which have aired on BBC Radio Stoke for a number of years are recited in the Potteries dialect by the author.
International relations
Twin towns - sister cities
* East Liverpool
East Liverpool is a city in southeastern Columbiana County, Ohio, United States. The population was 9,958 at the 2020 census. It lies along the Ohio River within the Upper Ohio Valley and borders Pennsylvania to the east and West Virginia to th ...
, Columbiana County
Columbiana County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Ohio. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 101,877. The county seat is Lisbon, Ohio, Lisbon and its largest city is Salem, Ohio, ...
, Ohio
Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...
, United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
* Erlangen
Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...
, Bavaria
Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
Freedom of the City
* List of Freemen of the City of Stoke-on-Trent
The following people, military units, and groups have received the honorary freedom of Stoke-on-Trent.
Individuals
* Sir Stanley Matthews : 25 July 1963.
* George Stevenson: 2006.
* Robbie Williams: 2 July 2014.
* Neil Baldwin : 16 Octobe ...
.
See also
* Erlangen
Erlangen (; East Franconian German, East Franconian: ''Erlang'', Bavarian language, Bavarian: ''Erlanga'') is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative d ...
, Germany (twinned in 1989)
* List of people from Stoke-on-Trent
This is a list of notable people who were born in or near, or have been residents of the City of Stoke-on-Trent, England. Also listed are people who lived in the area before City status in the United Kingdom, city status was granted in 1925.
The ...
* Listed buildings in Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Staffordshire, England. Known as ''The Potteries'' and is the home of the pottery, pottery industry in the United Kingdom. Formed in 1910 from six towns, the city has almost 200 listed buildings within the city. Man ...
* Stoke-on-Trent power station
Notes
References
External links
*
The Potteries
The history of the North Staffordshire Potteries
Creative Stoke
creativestoke.org.uk
Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service
staffordshire.gov.uk
The People's Archive
Chronicling the changing face of North Staffordshire
Local media
Local Information
from '' The Sentinel'' newspaper
Local Information
from the ''BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...