Crewe () is a

railway town A railway town, or railroad town, is a settlement that originated or was greatly developed because of a railway station or junction at its site. North America During the construction of the First transcontinental railroad in the 1860s, temporar ...

and

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authority ...

in the unitary authority of

Cheshire East Cheshire East is a unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The local authority is Cheshire East Council. Towns within the area include Crewe, Macclesfield, Co ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston,

Shavington cum Gresty Shavington cum Gresty () is a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies to the south of Crewe. It includes the large village of Shavington (at ), which lies 2½ miles south of ...

and

Wistaston Wistaston is a civil parish and village in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, in North West England. It is approximately west of Crewe town centre and east of Nantwich town centre. It has a ...

. Crewe is perhaps best known as a large railway junction and home to

Crewe Works Crewe Works is a British railway engineering facility located in the town of Crewe, Cheshire. The works, which was originally opened by the Grand Junction Railway in 1840, employed around 7,000 to 8,000 workers at its peak. In the 1980s, a lot ...

; for many years, it was a major railway engineering facility for manufacturing and overhauling locomotives, but now much reduced in size. From 1946 until 2002, it was also the home of

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

motor car production. The

Pyms Lane factory Bentley Crewe, also named the Pyms Lane site after the street it is located on; is the headquarters and design and manufacturing centre of Bentley Motors Limited on the outskirts of Crewe, Cheshire, England. The site covers an area of , of which ...

on the west of the town now exclusively produces

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

motor cars. Crewe is north of

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, south of

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 ...

city centre, and south of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

city centre.

History

Medieval

The name derives from an

Old Welsh Old Welsh ( cy, Hen Gymraeg) is the stage of the Welsh language from about 800 AD until the early 12th century when it developed into Middle Welsh.Koch, p. 1757. The preceding period, from the time Welsh became distinct from Common Brittonic ...

word ''criu'', meaning '

weir A weir or low head dam is a barrier across the width of a river that alters the flow characteristics of water and usually results in a change in the height of the river level. Weirs are also used to control the flow of water for outlets of l ...

' or 'crossing'. The earliest record is in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

, where it is written as ''Creu''.

Modern

Until the

Grand Junction Railway The Grand Junction Railway (GJR) was an early railway company in the United Kingdom, which existed between 1833 and 1846 when it was amalgamated with other railways to form the London and North Western Railway. The line built by the company w ...

(GJR) company chose Crewe as the site for its locomotive works and

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 pre ...

in the late 1830s, Crewe was a village with a population (c. 1831) of just 70 residents.

Winsford Winsford is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the River Weaver south of Northwich and west of Middlewich. It grew around the salt mining industry ...

, 7 miles (11 km) to the north, had rejected an earlier proposal, as had local landowners in neighbouring

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. ...

, 4 miles (6 km) away. Crewe railway station was built in fields near to

Crewe Hall Crewe Hall is a Jacobean mansion located near Crewe Green, east of Crewe, in Cheshire, England. Described by Nikolaus Pevsner as one of the two finest Jacobean houses in Cheshire,Pevsner & Hubbard, p. 22 it is listed at grade I. Built in 16 ...

and was completed in 1837. The modern urban settlement of Crewe was not formally planned out until 1843 by

Joseph Locke Joseph Locke FRSA (9 August 1805 – 18 September 1860) was a notable English civil engineer of the nineteenth century, particularly associated with railway projects. Locke ranked alongside Robert Stephenson and Isambard Kingdom Brunel as one ...

to consolidate the " railway colony" that had grown up since around 1840–41 in the area near to the railway junction station opened in 1837, even though it was called Crewe by many, from the start. Crewe was thus named after the railway station, rather than the other way round. The new town of Crewe was founded next to the railway station in the township of Monks Coppenhall which, with the township of Church Coppenhall, formed the ancient parish of Coppenhall. The railway station was named after the '' township of Crewe'' (then, part of the ancient parish of

Barthomley Barthomley is a village and ancient parish, and is now a civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. According to the 2001 and the 2011 census' the parish had a population of 202.

) in which it was located. Eventually, the ''township of Crewe'' became a civil parish in its own right also named, rather confusingly, Crewe. This civil parish changed its name to Crewe Green in 1974 to avoid confusion with the adjacent town, which had been made a

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 ...

in 1877. The railway station remained part of the civil parish of Crewe, outside the boundary of the municipal borough until 1936. So, throughout its history, the town of Crewe has neither been part of, nor has it encompassed first the ''township of Crewe'', later the ''civil parish of Crewe'', and later still the ''civil parish of Crewe Green'' adjacent to it, even though these places were the direct origin of the name of the town via the railway station which was also not part of the town before 1936. An old, local riddle describes the somewhat unusual states of affairs: "The place which is Crewe is not Crewe, and the place which is not Crewe is Crewe." Crewe War Memorial 2007

A new town grew up, in the parishes of Monks Coppenhall and Church Coppenhall, alongside the increasingly busy station, with the population expanding to reach 40,000 by 1871. GJR chief engineer

helped lay out the town. The town has a large park, Queen's Park (laid out by engineer Francis Webb), the land for which was donated by the

London and North Western Railway The London and North Western Railway (LNWR, L&NWR) was a British railway company between 1846 and 1922. In the late 19th century, the L&NWR was the largest joint stock company in the United Kingdom. In 1923, it became a constituent of the Lo ...

, the successor to the GJR. It has been suggested that their motivation was to prevent the rival

Great Western Railway The Great Western Railway (GWR) was a British railway company that linked London with the southwest, west and West Midlands of England and most of Wales. It was founded in 1833, received its enabling Act of Parliament on 31 August 1835 and ran ...

building a station on the site, but the available evidence indicates otherwise. The railway provided an endowment towards the building and upkeep of Christ Church. Until 1897 its vicar, non-conformist ministers and schoolteachers received concessionary passes, the school having been established in 1842. The company provided a doctor's surgery with a scheme of health insurance. A gasworks was built and the works water supply was adapted to provide drinking water and a

public bath Public baths originated when most people in population centers did not have access to private bathing facilities. Though termed "public", they have often been restricted according to gender, religious affiliation, personal membership, and other cr ...

s. The railway also opened a cheese market in 1854 and a clothing factory for John Compton who provided the company uniforms, while McCorquodale of

set up a printing works. During

World War II 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 opposin ...

the strategic presence of the railways and Rolls-Royce engineering works (turned over to producing aircraft engines) made Crewe a target for enemy air raids, and it was in the flight path to

. The borough lost 35 civilians to these, the worst raid was on 29 August 1940 when some 50 houses were destroyed, close to the station. Crewe crater on

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

is named after the town of Crewe. Crewe was described by author

Alan Garner Alan Garner (born 17 October 1934) is an English novelist best known for his children's fantasy novels and his retellings of traditional British folk tales. Much of his work is rooted in the landscape, history and folklore of his native count ...

in his novel ''

Red Shift In physics, a redshift is an increase in the wavelength, and corresponding decrease in the frequency and photon energy, of electromagnetic radiation (such as light). The opposite change, a decrease in wavelength and simultaneous increase in fr ...

'' as "the ultimate reality". Crewe was mentioned in 1984 as the setting of the 19th episode ''The Flying Kipper'', in the first series of ''Thomas & Friends''.

Governance

Crewe is within the United Kingdom

Parliamentary constituency An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...

Crewe and Nantwich Crewe and Nantwich was, from 1974 to 2009, a Non-metropolitan district, local government district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Cheshire, England. It had a population (2001 census) of 111,007. It contained 69 civ ...

. Crewe is within the

ceremonial county The counties and areas for the purposes of the lieutenancies, also referred to as the lieutenancy areas of England and informally known as ceremonial counties, are areas of England to which lords-lieutenant are appointed. Legally, the areas i ...

. Since April 2009 Crewe has been administered by the

unitary authority A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...

Cheshire East Council Cheshire East Council is the local authority of the Borough of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. It provides a full range of local government ...

; at parish level, since 4 April 2013, local matters have been dealt with by Crewe Town Council, which is based at 1 Chantry Court, Forge Street, Crewe, CW1 2DL. Crewe applied for

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 ...

as part of the

Platinum Jubilee Civic Honours As part of the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II awarded a number of civic honours, most notably the creation of new cities in a competition. Another competition for lord mayor or lord provost status was held. It was announced on 8 June 202 ...

in 2022, however this application was denied and Crewe remains a town.

Climate

Like most of the United Kingdom, Crewe has an

oceanic 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 ( ...

, with warm summers and cool winters and relatively little temperature change throughout the year.

Economy

The railways still play a part in local industry at

, which carries out train maintenance and inspection. It has been owned by

Bombardier Transportation Bombardier Transportation was a Canadian-German rolling stock and rail transport manufacturer, headquartered in Berlin, Germany. It was one of the world's largest companies in the rail vehicle and equipment manufacturing and servicing industry ...

since 2001. At its height, the site employed over 20,000 people, but by 2005 fewer than 1,000 remained, with a further 270 redundancies announced in November of that year. Much of the site once occupied by the works has been sold and is now occupied by a supermarket, leisure park, and a large new health centre. There is still an electric locomotive maintenance depot to the north of the railway station, operated by

DB Cargo UK DB Cargo UK (formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS)), is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. The company was established in early 1995 as ''North & South Railways'', successful ...

. The diesel locomotive maintenance depot, having closed in 2003, reopened in 2015 as a maintenance facility for

Locomotive Services Limited Locomotive Services Limited is a train operating company in Great Britain. The company operates rail tours using heritage steam, diesel and electric locomotives with support from associated companies and trusts. History In August 2017, Locomo ...

, having undergone major structural repairs. The

car factory is on Pyms Lane to the west of town. As of early 2010, there are about 3,500 working at the site. The factory used to produce

cars, until the licence for the brand transferred from Bentley's owners

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

to rival BMW in 2003. There is a

BAE Systems Land & Armaments BAE Systems Platforms & Services is a wholly owned subsidiary of BAE Systems Inc. and is a large provider of tracked and wheeled armored combat vehicles, naval guns, naval ship repair and modernization, artillery and missile launching systems, ad ...

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. T ...

in the village of

Radway Green Radway is a village and civil parish in Warwickshire, England, about north-west of Banbury in neighbouring Oxfordshire. The population taken at the 2011 census had reduced to 238. The village is at the foot of Edge Hill and is notable for the ...

near

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 ...

, producing

small arms A firearm is any type of gun designed to be readily carried and used by an individual. The term is legally defined further in different countries (see Legal definitions). The first firearms originated in 10th-century China, when bamboo tubes c ...

ammunition for the British armed forces. The headquarters of

Focus DIY Focus DIY was a privately owned chain of DIY stores in the United Kingdom. It served the consumer DIY market sector, and most stores had some form of garden centre. At its peak in 2002, it was the second-largest DIY retailer in the United K ...

, which went into administration in 2011, was in the town. Off-licence chain

Bargain Booze Bargain Booze is a chain of off licence shops, that operates in the United Kingdom. Established in 1981 in Sandbach, it grew to 836 shops and established the Bargain Booze Select Convenience shop franchise. From 2013 to April 2018, it was own ...

is also Crewe-based. It was bought-out in 2018 by Sir

Anwar Pervez Sir Mohammed Anwar Pervez OBE, HPk ( ur, سر انور پرویز; born 15 March 1935) is a Pakistani-born British billionaire businessman and former bus conductor and driver. He is the founder and chairman of Bestway Group. According to the ...

' conglomerate

Bestway Bestway Group is a British multinational conglomerate company based in London, England. It has its operations in United Kingdom and Pakistan. The group owns the UK's second-largest wholesaler serving 125,000 independent retailers and caterers ...

for £7m, putting drinks retailing alongside its Manchester-based

Well 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 ...

. Several business parks around the town host light industry and offices. Crewe Business Park is a 67-acre site with offices, research and IT manufacturing. Major presences on the site include

Air Products and Chemicals Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. is an American international corporation whose principal business is selling gases and chemicals for industrial uses. Air Products' headquarters is in Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of Pen ...

Barclays Barclays () is a British multinational universal bank, headquartered in London, England. Barclays operates as two divisions, Barclays UK and Barclays International, supported by a service company, Barclays Execution Services. Barclays traces ...

and

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

. The 12 acre Crewe Gates Industrial Estate is adjacent to Crewe Business Park, with smaller industry including the

ice cream van An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (North American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near ...

manufacturer Whitby Morrison. The Weston Gate area has light industry and distribution. Marshfield Bank Employment Park is to the west of the town, and includes offices, manufacturing and distribution. There are industrial and light industrial units at Radway Green. The town has two small shopping centres: the Victoria Centre and the Market Centre. There are outdoor markets throughout the week. Grand Junction Retail Park is just outside the centre of town. Nantwich Road provides a wide range of secondary local shops, with a variety of small retailers and estate agents. The Market Centre is the largest shopping centre in Crewe. It is situated in the heart of the town centre with a few national retailers, including Wilko,

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece ** Ancient Argos, the ancient city * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

and

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. There are three large car parks nearby and Crewe bus station is a five-minute walk from the shopping centre. It has a weekly footfall of approximately 100,000 visitors.

Developments

A planned redevelopment of Crewe's town centre, including the current bus station and main shopping area, was abandoned because of "difficult economic conditions" during 2008. There were also plans to revamp the railway station which involved moving it to Basford. This was pending a public consultation by

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

scheduled for autumn 2008, but no such public consultation was done. The plan was abandoned and maintenance work was carried out on the current station instead. Cheshire East Council developed a new regeneration master plan for Crewe, which included the opening of a new Lifestyle Centre, with a new swimming pool, gym and library. After a £3 million refurbishment, the Crewe Market Hall re-opened its doors on 19 May 2021, the start of many new developments in Crewe. Crewe has been proposed as the site of a transport hub for the new

High Speed 2 High Speed 2 (HS2) is a planned high-speed railway line in England, the first phase of which is under construction in stages and due for completion between 2029 and 2033, depending on approval for later stages. The new line will run from its m ...

line, with development planned for completion in 2027.

Transport

Crewe railway station Crewe railway station is a railway station in Crewe, Cheshire, England. It opened in 1837 and is one of the most historically significant railway stations in the world.North West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

and a major interchange station on the

West Coast Main Line The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest ...

. It has 12 platforms in use and has a direct service to

London Euston Euston railway station ( ; also known as London Euston) is a central London railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, managed by Network Rail. It is the southern terminus of the West Coast Main Line, the UK's busiest inter-city railw ...

(average journey time of around 1 hour 35 minutes),

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

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 gai ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, 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 ...

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and

Holyhead Holyhead (,; cy, Caergybi , "Cybi's fort") is the largest town and a community in the county of Isle of Anglesey, Wales, with a population of 13,659 at the 2011 census. Holyhead is on Holy Island, bounded by the Irish Sea to the north, and is ...

for the ferry connections to

Dublin Port Dublin Port ( ga, Calafort Átha Cliath) is the seaport of Dublin, Ireland, of both historical and contemporary economic importance. Approximatively two-thirds of Ireland's port traffic travels via the port, which is by far the busiest on the ...

. Many other towns and cities also have railway connections to Crewe. Crewe is on the A500, A530 and A534 roads, and is less than from the

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 t ...

. The main bus company in Crewe is

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 ...

following the reduction of funding given to

Arriva North West Arriva North WestCompanies House extract company no 1990871

, who still run longer distance services to Chester, Northwich, Macclesfield and Winsford.

BakerBus BakerBus was the trading name used by the bus fleet of Bakers Coaches, a bus and coach operator based in Biddulph, Staffordshire, England. Formed as a coach operator in 1936, they grew to operate a fleet of around 50 vehicles on local bus servic ...

formerly ran buses in Crewe, but their operations were sold to D&G in December 2014.

First Potteries First Potteries is a bus company based in Stoke-on-Trent operating services in North Staffordshire, England. It is a part of First Midlands and a subsidiary of FirstGroup. History The company began life as Potteries Motor Traction. As part ...

operate a single service (route 3) running to Stoke-on-Trent via Kidsgrove. The closest airport to Crewe is

Manchester Airport Manchester Airport is an international airport in Ringway, Manchester, England, south-west of Manchester city centre. In 2019, it was the third busiest airport in the United Kingdom in terms of passenger numbers and the busiest of those n ...

, which is away. Next closest is

Liverpool John Lennon Airport Liverpool John Lennon Airport is an international airport in Liverpool, England, on the estuary of the River Mersey south-east of Liverpool city centre. Scheduled domestic, European, North African and Middle Eastern services are operated fr ...

, away.

Culture

Crewe Heritage Centre Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished in ...

is located in the old LMS railway yard for

Advanced Passenger Train The Advanced Passenger Train (APT) was a tilting high speed train developed by British Rail during the 1970s and early 1980s, for use on the West Coast Main Line (WCML). The WCML contained many curves, and the APT pioneered the concept of activ ...

The

Grade II-listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Edwardian Lyceum Theatre is in the centre of Crewe. It was built in 1911 and shows drama, ballet, opera, music, comedy and pantomime. The theatre was originally located on Heath Street from 1882. The Axis Arts Centre is on the

Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester, England. The university has over 40,000 students and over 4,000 members of staff. It is home to four faculties (Arts and Humanities, Business and Law, Health and Educat ...

(MMU) campus in Crewe. It relocated from the university's Alsager Campus when it closed. The centre has a programme of touring new performance and visual art work. The Axis centre closed at the end of the spring 2019 season with the withdrawal of MMU from the Crewe campus. The Box on Pedley Street is the town's main local music venue. Both the Lyceum Theatre and the Axis Arts Centre feature galleries. The private Livingroom art gallery is on Prince Albert Street. The town's main library is on Prince Albert Square, opposite the Municipal Buildings. Crewe has six

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

churches, three

Methodist 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 b ...

, one

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 lette ...

(which has a weekly Mass in

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

) and two

Baptist Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...

. There is a museum dedicated to

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 Primiti ...

in the nearby village of Englesea-Brook. The Jacobean mansion

is located to the east of the town near

Crewe Green Crewe Green is a small village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. The village lies 1½ miles to the east of the centre of Crewe. The parish also includes a dispersed settlem ...

. It is a

grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building, built in 1615–36 for Sir Randolph Crewe. Today, it is used as a hotel, restaurant and health club. There is a multiplex

Odeon Odeon may refer to: Ancient Greek and Roman buildings * Odeon (building), ancient Greek and Roman buildings built for singing exercises, musical shows and poetry competitions * Odeon of Agrippa, Athens * Odeon of Athens * Odeon of Domitian, Rome ...

cinema on Phoenix Leisure Park on the edge of the town centre, as well as a Mecca bingo hall. Queens Park is the town's main park; £6.5 million was spent on its restoration in 2010. It features walkways, a children's play area, crown green bowling, putting, a boating lake, grassed areas, memorials and a café. Jubilee Gardens are in Hightown and there is also a park on Westminster Street. In 2019, Crewe hosted Pride in the Park (previously held at

Tatton Park Tatton Park is an historic estate in Cheshire, England, north of the town of Knutsford. It contains a mansion, Tatton Hall, a medieval manor house, Tatton Old Hall, Tatton Park Gardens, a farm and a deer park of . It is a popular visitor attr ...

in 2018) in Queens Park. The 2020 event, which had been due to take place on 12 September, was cancelled on 20 May, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

Media

The weekly ''

Crewe Chronicle The ''Crewe Chronicle'', originally known as the ''Crewe and Nantwich Chronicle'', is a UK weekly newspaper first published on 21 March 1874. It was founded by the editor of the '' Chester Chronicle'' as a Radical alternative to the Tory A ...

'', the ''Crewe and Nantwich Guardian'' and the daily ''

Sentinel Sentinel may refer to: Places Mountains * Mount Sentinel, a mountain next to the University of Montana in Missoula, Montana * Sentinel Buttress, a volcanic crag on James Ross Island, Antarctica * Sentinel Dome, a naturally occurring grani ...

'' newspapers all cover the town. The local radio station is The Cat broadcasting on 107.9FM from the Cheshire College South and West building covering the town along with Nantwich and other local settlements. Other radio stations that cover the area include

Silk 106.9 Cheshire's Silk 106.9 is an Independent Local Radio serving Macclesfield and parts of Cheshire East, East Cheshire, owned and operated by neighbouring station Dee 106.3, Chester's Dee Radio. It broadcasts a mix of current and classic hits alongs ...

from Macclesfield,

Signal 1 Signal 1 is an Independent Local Radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Staffordshire and South Cheshire. As of September 2022, the station has a weekly audience of 172,000 listeners a ...

and

Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire Greatest Hits Radio Staffordshire & Cheshire is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting from studios in Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent, to Staffordshire and Cheshire. The station was owned by Wireless Group and ran a "gold format" playlist ...

from Stoke-on-Trent and BBC Radio Stoke. Nantwich-based online-only station RedShift Radio also cover the area. Sonnet Radio is a Crewe based online-only station ran by volunteers. It covers Crewe and surrounding areas broadcasting 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The Crewe News is a hyperlocal blog publishing local news, business, events and sports news. Cheshire Live, an online news source that covers news across Cheshire, also has a section dedicated to Crewe news.

Education

Cheshire has adopted the

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

model of secondary education, so all of the schools under its control cater for pupils of all levels of ability. Until the late 1970s Crewe had two

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

s, Crewe Grammar School for Boys, now Ruskin High School and Crewe Grammar School for Girls, now

the Oaks Academy The Oaks Academy (formerly King's Grove High School) is a mixed secondary school located on ''Buchan Grove'' in Crewe, Cheshire, England.http://www.kings-grove.cheshire.sch.uk/website/index.php History Grammar school The site was the former C ...

(formerly Kings Grove School). The town's two other secondary schools are

Sir William Stanier School Sir William Stanier School is a Mixed-sex education, co-educational secondary school located in Crewe in the English county of Cheshire. The school is named after William Stanier, a former railway engineer, and Chief Mechanical Engineer of the L ...

, a specialist technology and arts academy, and St. Thomas More Catholic High School, specialising in mathematics and computing and modern foreign languages. Although there are eight schools for those aged 11–16 in Crewe and its surrounding area,

South Cheshire College South Cheshire College is a former further education college, located in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The College was a single campus situated in a residential area about one mile from Crewe town centre. It also served students from Nantwich, Als ...

is one of only two local providers of education for pupils aged 16 and over, and the only one in Crewe. The college also provides educational programmes for adults, leading to qualifications such as

Higher National Diploma Higher National Diploma (HND), part of the Higher Nationals suite of qualifications, is an academic higher education qualification in the United Kingdom and various other countries. They were first introduced in England and Wales in 1920 alongsi ...

s (HNDs) or foundation degrees. In the 2006–07 academic year 2,532 students aged 16–18 were enrolled, along with 3,721 adults.

's (MMU) Cheshire Faculty is based in Crewe, in a part of town which has been rebranded as the ''University Quadrant''. The campus offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in five areas: business and management, contemporary arts, exercise and sport science, interdisciplinary studies, education and teacher training. The campus underwent a £70 million investment in its facilities and buildings in 2015. The campus was used as a pre-games training camp for the London 2012 Olympic Games. Since 2016, there has been a

University Technical College A university technical college (UTC) is a type of specialist secondary school in England that is led by a sponsor university and has close ties to local business and industry. These university and industry partners support the curriculum developm ...

for 14-19 year olds interested in automotive or railway engineering. Though rated Good by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

, the

Crewe Engineering and Design UTC Crewe Engineering and Design UTC is a university technical college located in Crewe, Cheshire, England. The UTC is sponsored by Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester Metropolitan University is located in the centre of Manchester ...

fails to attract students.

Sport

Crewe's local

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club is

Crewe Alexandra Crewe Alexandra Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of Crewe, Cheshire, that competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. Nicknamed 'The Railwaymen' because of ...

. During the late 20th century the club enjoyed something of a renaissance under the management of

Dario Gradi Dario Gradi, MBE (born 8 July 1941) is an Italian-English former amateur football player, coach and manager. He was associated for more than 36 years with Crewe Alexandra, where he was variously manager, director of football and director of the ...

, playing in the First Division – the second tier of the professional pyramid – for five seasons from 1997 to 2002. Crewe Alexandra will play in

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

(the fourth tier), having been relegated from

League One The English Football League One (often referred to as League One for short or Sky Bet League One for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League One from 2004 until 2016) is the second-highest division of the English Football Leag ...

in April 2022. In 2013 the club won its first major silverware after beating

Southend United Southend United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. As of the 2022–23 season, the team competes in the National League, the fifth tier of English football. Southend are known as ...

2–0 in the

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

final at Wembley. From the early 1980s, Crewe Alexandra built a reputation for developing young players through its youth ranks: England internationals

Geoff Thomas Geoff or Geoffrey Thomas may refer to: * Geoffrey Thomas (academic) (born 1941), president of Kellogg College, Oxford * Geoffrey Thomas (businessman) (born 1959), Australian businessman * Geoff Thomas (footballer, born 1948) (1948–2013), Welsh fo ...

, Danny Murphy,

David Platt David Andrew Platt (born 10 June 1966) is an English former professional football coach and player, who played as a midfielder. Born in Chadderton, Lancashire, Platt began his career as an apprentice at Manchester United before moving to Crewe ...

, Rob Jones and

Dean Ashton Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...

, plus Northern Ireland's

Neil Lennon Neil Francis Lennon (born 25 June 1971) is a Northern Irish football coach and former player. During his playing career he represented English clubs Manchester City, Crewe Alexandra and Leicester City. Lennon moved to Celtic in 2000, where he ...

and Steve Jones, and Wales's

Robbie Savage Robert William Savage (born 18 October 1974) is a Welsh former professional Association football, footballer who played as a midfielder, now a association football, football pundit and director of football at club Macclesfield F.C., Macclesfie ...

and David Vaughan all passed through the club. Among their earlier most notable home-grown players was

Frank Blunstone Frank Blunstone (born 17 October 1934) is an English former footballer who played as an outside left for Crewe Alexandra, Chelsea and the England national team. Playing career After surprisingly rejecting Wolverhampton Wanderers in favour of h ...

, born in the town in 1934, who was transferred from "The Alex" to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in 1953, and went on to win five England caps. Internationals

Bruce Grobbelaar Bruce David Grobbelaar (born 6 October 1957) is a Zimbabwean former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper, most prominently for English team Liverpool between 1981 and 1994, and for the Zimbabwean national team. He is remembered fo ...

and Stan Bowles were also on the books at one time in their careers. Crewe's local rugby clubs are both based in or near

. The

Crewe & Nantwich Steamers Crewe & Nantwich Steamers is a rugby league club in Nantwich, Cheshire. They play in the North West Division of the Rugby League Conference and run a second team in the North West Merit League. History Crewe Wolves entered the Northern Div ...

(formerly Crewe Wolves), who played in the

Rugby League Conference The Rugby League Conference (RLC) (also known as the Co-operative Rugby League Conference as a result of sponsorship from The Co-operative Group), was a series of regionally based divisions of amateur rugby league teams spread throughout England, ...

, were based at Barony Park, Nantwich, while Crewe and Nantwich RUFC play their home games at the Vagrants Sports Ground in Willaston. Speedway racing was staged in Crewe in the pioneer days of the late 1920s to early 1930s; the stadium in Earle Street also operated from 1969 until 1975 when the

Crewe Kings The Crewe Kings was a British Speedway team which operated in Crewe, Cheshire from 1969 until its closure in 1975. History The team first competed in 1969 promoted by Maury Littlechild for Allied Presentations who also promoted the Rayleigh R ...

raced in

British League Division Two The British League Division Two was created in 1968 and was the second tier of speedway racing in the United Kingdom until the restructuring of British speedway in 1995. It was renamed the New National League in 1975 and the National League between ...

, then the National League. At the time the track was the longest and fastest in the UK. Crewe Kings riders included

Phil Crump Philip John Crump (born 9 February 1952) in Mildura, Victoria is a retired Australian Motorcycle speedway riderLawson,K (2018) “Riders, Teams and Stadiums”. who attained 3rd place in the 1976 World Championship. He also won the 1976 Spe ...

(father of

Jason Crump Jason Philip Crump (born 6 August 1975) is an Australian international motorcycle speedway rider. He is a three-time Speedway World Champion, a World Cup winner and a former World Under-21 Champion. In a 21-year career in Speedway, Jason Cr ...

Les Collins Leslie 'Les' Collins (born 24 May 1958) is a former speedway rider. He finished runner-up in the 1982 Speedway World Championship as well as winning the Intercontinental Final in 1982, the British Under-21 Championship in 1977 and the British ...

(brother of Peter Collins),

Dave Morton David James Morton (born 24 September 1953 in Eccles, Lancashire, England) is a former international motorcycle speedway rider who started his career with the Crewe Kings. He represented England at test level. His brother Chris Morton was also ...

(brother of

Chris Morton Christopher John Morton, MBE (born 22 July 1956) is a former motorcycle speedway rider. He rode bikes from a young age at the farm of Peter Collins' parents. Brief career summary Born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, Morton made his debut for Elles ...

), Geoff Curtis, John Jackson, Jack Millen and Dave Parry. Grand Junction Retail Park occupies the site of the now demolished stadium. The

Crewe Railroaders The Crewe Railroaders are an 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 w ...

are the town'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 with ...

team, currently competing in the BAFA Central League Division 2 and the subject of the film ''Gridiron UK'', which premiered at the Lyceum Theatre on 29 September 2016. Crewe also has its own

roller derby Roller derby is a roller skating contact sport played by two teams of fifteen members. Roller derby is played by approximately 1,250 amateur leagues worldwide, mostly in the United States. Game play consists of a series of short scrimmages (jam ...

team, Railtown Loco Rollers, founded in September 2013. They skate at Sir William Stanier Leisure Centre and compete with skaters and teams from all over the North West. Crewe's main leisure facility is the Crewe Lifestyle Centre, which now houses Crewe's main public swimming pool after the Flag Lane premises closed in 2016. Other notable leisure facilities include Sir William Stanier Leisure Centre and Victoria Community Centre.

Notable people

Cardiff Mardi Gras 2010 MMB 27 Adam Rickitt

Politicians

Thomas Nevitt Thomas Nevitt (May 1864 – 13 September 1932) was a member of both the Queensland Legislative Council and Queensland Legislative Assembly. Nevitt was born at Crewe, Cheshire, to James Nevitt and his wife Ellen (née Warburton) and was educate ...

(1864 in Crewe – 1932) member of the

Queensland Legislative Council The Queensland Legislative Council was the upper house of the parliament in the Australian state of Queensland. It was a fully nominated body which first took office on 1 May 1860. It was abolished by the Constitution Amendment Act 1921, which to ...

* William Edwin Wheeldon (1898 in Crewe – 1960) British co-operator and municipal politician from Birmingham and MP * Gwyneth Patricia Dunwoody (1930 – 2008) British Labour Party politician, MP for

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

from 1966 to 1970, then for

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The Crewe built-up area had a total population of 75,556 in 2011, which also covers parts of the adjacent civil parishes of Willaston ...

, later

from 1974 * Janet Elizabeth Ann Dean (born 1949 in Crewe) British Labour Party MP for Burton from 1997 to 2010 *

Tom Levitt Tom Levitt (born 10 April 1954) was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for High Peak from the 1997 to 2010 general elections. Early life Born in Crewe in 1954, Levitt was raised in Leek, Staffordshire. He w ...

(born 1954 in Crewe) Labour Party politician who was the MP for High Peak * Carol Jean Mountford (born 1954 in Crewe), known as ''Kali'', Labour Party politician and MP for

Colne Valley The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield. ...

* Anthony Edward Timpson (born 1973) British Conservative MP for

(

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; ...

–2017) and Eddisbury (from 2019). * Paul Christopher Maynard (born 1975 in Crewe) British Conservative MP for Blackpool North and Cleveleys and Rail Minister * Lauren Jane Moss (born 1987 in Crewe) Australian politician

Public service and commerce

* William Hope (1863 – 1933) pioneer of

spirit photography Spirit photography (also called ghost photography) is a type of photography whose primary goal is to capture images of ghosts and other spiritual Non-physical entity, entities, especially in ghost hunting. It dates back to the late 19th century. ...

, based in Crewe, member of the

Crewe Circle William Hope (1863 – 8 March 1933) was a pioneer of so-called "spirit photography". Based in Crewe, England, he was a member of the well known spiritualists group, the Crewe Circle. He died in Salford hospital on 8 March 1933. Biography As a ...

Ada Nield Chew Ada Nield Chew (28 January 1870 – 27 December 1945) was a campaigning socialist and a British suffragist. Her name is on the plinth of Millicent Fawcett's statue in Parliament Square, London. Life Nield was born on a White Hall Farm, Talk ...

, (1870 – 1945)

suffragette A suffragette was a member of an activist women's organisation in the early 20th century who, under the banner "Votes for Women", fought for the right to vote in public elections in the United Kingdom. The term refers in particular to members ...

wrote a series of letters to the ''Crewe Chronicle'', signed ''"A Crewe Factory Girl"'' *

Blaster Bates Blaster Bates was the name used by Derek Macintosh Bates (5 February 1923 – 1 September 2006), an English explosives and demolition expert and raconteur, who was born in Crewe. He made a series of sound recordings from the 1960s to 1980 ...

a.k.a. Derek Macintosh Bates (1923 in Crewe – 2006), an English explosives and demolition expert and raconteur *

Harold Hankins Harold Hankins CBE FREng (18 October 1930 – 2 May 2009) was a British electrical engineer and the first Vice-Chancellor of UMIST. Early life and education Hankins was born 18 October 1930 in Crewe, Cheshire and at the age of 16 began an appre ...

CBE FREng (1930 in Crewe – 2009) was a British electrical engineer and the first

Vice-Chancellor A chancellor is a leader of a college or university, usually either the executive or ceremonial head of the university or of a university campus within a university system. In most Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth and former Commonwealth n ...

UMIST The University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) was a university based in the centre of the city of Manchester in England. It specialised in technical and scientific subjects and was a major centre for research. On 1 Oct ...

. *Professor Christine Dean BA. MD. FRCPsych (born in Crewe 1939) London psychiatrist, attended Crewe County Grammar School *

Chris Hughes Chris Hughes (born November 26, 1983) is an American entrepreneur and author who co-founded and served as spokesman for the online social directory and networking site Facebook until 2007. He was the publisher and editor-in-chief of ''The New R ...

(born 1947) one of Britain's top quizzers, featuring in '' Eggheads''. Lives in Crewe *

Mark Price, Baron Price Mark Ian Price, Baron Price (born 2 March 1961) is a British businessman, Founder of WorkL for Business and WorkL, Chairman of Fair Trade UK, writer, President of the Chartered Management Institute and member of the House of Lords. He was a fo ...

(born 1961 in Crewe) businessman, was MD of

Waitrose Waitrose & Partners (formally Waitrose Limited) is a brand of British supermarkets, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. It was acquired in 1937 by employee-owned retailer John Lewis Partnership, which still se ...

and Deputy Chairman of

John Lewis Partnership The John Lewis Partnership plc (JLP) is a British company which operates John Lewis & Partners department stores, Waitrose & Partners supermarkets, its banking and financial services, and other retail-related activities. The privately-held publ ...

Arts

William Cooper William Cooper may refer to: Business *William Cooper (accountant) (1826–1871), founder of Cooper Brothers * William Cooper (businessman) (1761–1840), Canadian businessman *William Cooper (co-operator) (1822–1868), English co-operator * Will ...

(real name Harry Summerfield Hoff), (1910 – 2002) novelist, lived at 99 Brooklyn Street *

John Mark Ainsley John Mark Ainsley (born 9 July 1963) is an English lyric tenor. Known for his supple voice, Ainsley is particularly admired for his interpretations of baroque music and the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the course of his career, he has g ...

(born 1963 in Crewe) English lyric tenor of baroque music and the works of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

Carl Ashmore Carl Stuart Ashmore (born 17 August 1968) is an English children's author. He is best known for his book ''The Time Hunters''. Early life and education Ashmore was born in the town of Crewe, Cheshire in 1968. He is a graduate of Bournemouth Un ...

(born 1968) children's author *

Any Trouble Any Trouble are a British rock band, originating from Crewe, England, best known for their early 1980s recordings.

a British rock band, originating from Crewe in 1975, best known for their early 1980s recordings *

Carey Willetts Carey Willetts (born January 1976 in Crewe, Cheshire, England) is an English musician, songwriter and producer. He has released work under the name "Boxes", and was the bassist in the English indie band Athlete, with whom he has won an Ivor No ...

(born 1976 in Crewe) British musician, songwriter, and producer. *

Lee Oakes Lee Oakes (born 1976) is an English actor best known for his role as Munch Wilkinson in the British comedy ''Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps'' and as Kev in the British television series '' After You've Gone,'' a friend and fellow buil ...

(born 1976) British actor, from

Haslington Haslington is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies about 2 miles (3 km) north-east of the much larger railway town of Crewe and approximately 4 miles (6. ...

near Crewe *

Mackenzie Taylor Andrew Iain Mackenzie Taylor (8 September 1978 – 18 November 2010) was a British comic, writer and director. Early life Born in Crewe, Cheshire, his family moved to Camberley, in Surrey, when he was still a baby. Taylor attended Roy ...

(1978–2010) British comic, writer and director. Born in Crewe * Adam Peter Rickitt (born 1978) English actor, singer and model and charity fundraiser

Sport

* John Warburton (1903–?), English Football League player, mostly for

and

. *

(born 1934 in Crewe), English footballer who played for Crewe Alexandra, Chelsea and England.Profile at englandfc.com
/ref> *

Sir Philip Craven Sir Philip Lee Craven (born 4 July 1950) is an English sports administrator, former Paralympic wheelchair basketball player, Swimming (sport), swimmer and track and field athlete. Between 2001 and 2017 he was the second president of the Intern ...

MBE (born 1950), president of the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; german: Internationales Paralympisches Komitee) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and fun ...

(IPC) 2001–2017, lives in Shavington. *

Neil Brooks Neil Brooks (born 27 July 1962) is an Australian former sprint freestyle swimmer best known for winning the 4 × 100 m medley relay at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow as part of the '' Quietly Confident Quartet''. Brooks was as m ...

(born in Crewe 1962), Australian Olympic swimming gold medallist *

John Edward Morris John Edward Morris, M.M. (1889–1987) was an American Roman Catholic priest who served as the Prefect of Peng-yang in Korea from 1930 to 1936. Born in the United States on 1 January 1889, Morris was ordained a priest for the Roman Catholic Di ...

(born 1964), former English cricketer, played most 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 ...

. *

David Gilford David Gilford (born 14 September 1965) is an English professional golfer. Gilford was born in Crewe. In 1981, aged just 15, he won the Carris Trophy, English Boys Under-18 Open Amateur Stroke-Play Championship, at Moor Park. He won the Engli ...

(born 1965),

European Tour The European Tour (currently known as the DP World Tour for sponsorship reasons), legally the PGA European Tour is the leading men's professional golf tour in Europe. The organisation also operates the European Senior Tour (for players aged fift ...

and

Ryder Cup The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named af ...

golfer (1991, 1995) is from Crewe *

Mark Rivers Mark Rivers (born 26 November 1975) is an English former professional footballer who played as a forward from 1994 until 2006 notably for Crewe Alexandra and Norwich City. Career Crewe Alexandra Mark Rivers was a product of the Crewe Alexandra ...

(born 1975 in Crewe), English footballer who played as a forward for Crewe Alexandra and

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club (also known as The Canaries or The Yellows) is an English professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk. The club competes in the EFL Championship following their relegation from the Premier League in the 20 ...

. *

Kevin Street Kevin Street (born 25 November 1977) is an English footballer who played in the Football League as a midfielder for Crewe Alexandra, Luton Town, Bristol Rovers and Shrewsbury Town. Playing career Street, a strong passing central midfielder, b ...

(born 1977 in Crewe), English footballer who played for Crewe Alexandra and

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

, among others. *

Neil Critchley Neil Critchley (born 18 October 1978) is an English former footballer who played in the Football League First Division for Crewe Alexandra. He was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship side Queens Park Rangers. He has previously ...

(born 1978 in Crewe), a former

footballer and now head coach at

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

. *

Mark Cueto Mark John Cueto (born 26 December 1979 in Workington, Cumbria) is a former English international rugby union player. He played on the wing for Sale Sharks and England. He is currently the third leading try scorer in the Aviva Premiership. O ...

MBE (born 1979), international rugby and lions player currently playing for the

Sale Sharks Sale Sharks is a professional rugby union club from Greater Manchester, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. Originally founded in 1861 as Sale Football Club, now a distinct amateur club, they adopted the n ...

* Craig Jones (1985 in Crewe – 2008), English motorcycle racer who grew up in Northwich *

Shanaze Reade Shanaze Danielle Reade (born 23 September 1988 in Crewe, Cheshire, United Kingdom) is a British former bicycle motocross (BMX) racer and track cyclist whose prime competitive years began in 2002. She has won the UCI BMX World Championships th ...

(born 1988), world BMX and

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

champion * Muthu Alagappan (born c. 1990 in Crewe), medical student known in the US for his professional basketball analytics * Bryony Page (born 1990 in Crewe), an Olympic silver medal-winning trampolinist, raised in the village of

Wrenbury Wrenbury-cum-Frith is a village and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It lies on the River Weaver, around 8.5 miles south-west of Crewe. The civil parish of Wrenbury cum Frit ...

, 8.5 miles from the town.

Town twinning

* Bischofsheim, near

Mainz Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main (river), Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-we ...

, Germany *

Dzierżoniów Dzierżoniów (; szl, Rychbach; german: Reichenbach im Eulengebirge ) is a town located at the foot of the Owl Mountains in southwestern Poland, within the Lower Silesian Voivodeship (from 1975 to 1998 in the former Wałbrzych Voivodeship). It is ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

''(since 2005)''

References

Notes Bibliography * * * * * * * *

External links

Crewe Town Council
*
Crewe Heritage Centre railway museum
{{authority control Towns in Cheshire Railway towns in England Civil parishes in Cheshire

History

Medieval

Modern

Governance

Climate

Economy

Developments

Transport

Culture

Media

Education

Sport

Notable people

Politicians

Public service and commerce

Arts

Sport

Town twinning

See also

References

External links