Stoke-on-Trent

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City of Stoke-on-Trent
Geography
Status:	Unitary, City (1925)
Region:	West Midlands
Ceremonial County:	Staffordshire
Area: - Total	Ranked 252nd 93.45 km²
Admin. HQ:	Stoke-on-Trent
ONS code:	00GL
Demographics
Population: - Total (2005 est.) - Density	Ranked 46th 238,300 2,550 / km²
Ethnicity:	94.8% White 3.5% S.Asian
Politics
Stoke-on-Trent City Council http://www.stoke.gov.uk/
Leadership:	Mayor & Council Manager
Mayor:	Mark Meredith (Labour)
MPs:	Mark Fisher, Robert Flello, Joan Walley

Stoke-on-Trent (also known as The Potteries) is a city in Staffordshire in the West Midlands region of England. The city is a federation of six older towns (Hanley, Stoke, Burslem, Tunstall, Longton and Fenton) forming a linear city almost twelve miles long with an area of 36 square miles. With the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme it forms a conurbation, whilst together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme it forms The Potteries Urban Area in North Staffordshire. In 2001, it had a population of 240,636 ^[1].

The City is a unitary authority with a directly-elected mayor.

Contents 1 Geography 1.1 Suburbs 2 History 2.1 Etymology 2.2 Administration 2.3 Industry 3 Present day 3.1 Administration and politics 3.2 Demographics 3.3 Economy 3.4 Transport 3.4.1 Road network 3.4.2 Rail 3.4.3 Buses & coaches 3.4.4 Canals 3.4.5 Cycling 4 Culture 4.1 Arts 4.2 Dialect 4.3 Higher education 4.4 Food 4.5 Literature 4.6 Media 4.7 Music 4.8 Places of interest 4.9 References in popular culture 4.10 Sport 5 Twin town 6 Notable people 6.1 Actors 6.2 Artists 6.3 Business 6.4 Ceramic artists 6.5 Musicians 6.6 Media 6.7 Military 6.8 Politics 6.9 Religion 6.10 Science 6.11 Sport 6.12 Writers 6.13 Other 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Geography

Stoke-on-Trent is situated approximately half-way between Manchester and Birmingham and the city adjoins the town and borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, which is administered separately and situated to the west. To the east is the Peak District National Park.

The six towns run in a rough line: from north to south along the A500 road - Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton. Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, conventionally the City Centre is regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major Commercial Centre.

[edit] Suburbs

As well as the Six Towns, there are numerous suburbs including Blurton Bentilee, Bucknall, Etruria, Hartshill, Meir, Middleport, Penkhull, Shelton, Smallthorne, Sneyd Green, Trentham,Trent Vale and Abbey Hulton .

[edit] History

[edit] Etymology

The name Stoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent the original ancient parish, with other settlements being chapelries. Stoc means crossing place and Stoke-upon-Trent was the meeting point of two roads.

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.

[edit] 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 districts within a county of 'Staffordshire Potteries'. It was not until April 1, 1910 that the Six Towns were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the municipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with the urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.^[2] The combined borough took the name of town of Stoke.

The borough proposed in 1919 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 met strong objections from Newcastle's Corporation and never took place.^[3] A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill.^[4] Ultimately, Wolstanton was added to Newcastle-under-Lyme instead in 1932. Although attempts to take Newcastle, Wolstanton and Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough did however 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 in 1925 with a Lord Mayor from 1928.

The City's county borough status was abolished in 1974, and it became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire. Its status was restored as a unitary authority whilst remaining part of the ceremonial county of Staffordshire on April 1, 1997. Following a local referendum, passing the motion 28,601 votes to 20,578 (turnout of 27.8%), on May 3, 2002 a directly elected mayor system was approved.^[5]

Mike Wolfe an independent candidate became the first directly elected mayor after an election on October 17, 2002 an independent, who narrowly beat Labour Party candidate George Stevenson by just 300 votes^[6].

[edit] Industry

Since the 17th century the area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing, with such world renowned names as Royal Doulton, Spode, Wedgwood and Minton being born and based there. The presence locally of abundant supplies of coal and of suitable clay for earthenware production led to the early but at first limited development of the local pottery industry. The construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal enabled the inport of china clay from Cornwall together with other materials and facilitated the production of creamware and bone china.

However, many other production centres elsewhere in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high quality wares. It was largely the methodical and highly detailed research and a willingness to experiment carried out over many years, initially by one man, Josiah Wedgwood, and later by other local potters, scientists and engineers, together with the development of great artistic talent throughout the local community, that raised the Staffordshire Potteries to the internationally dominant position that they have held for many years.

Other industries have also occupied important roles in the development of the city both before and after federation. Notably the iron and steel making industry located in the valley at Goldendale and Shelton below the hill towns of Tunstall, Burslem and Hanley. The coal mining industry also developed greatly with new investment in mining projects within the City boundaries as recently as the 1960s and 1970s. From 1864 to 1927 Stoke housed the repair shops of the North Staffordshire Railway and was also the home from 1881 to 1930 of independent railway locomotive manufacturers Kerr Stuart & Co. Ltd.

[edit] Present day

[edit] Administration and politics

Unlike most English cities, Stoke-on-Trent's council is led by a directly-elected mayor. The current Mayor from May 5, 2005 to date is Mark Meredith (Labour Party)^[7]. The city is the only one of the twelve English districts with elected mayors to use the mayor and council manager system rather than the mayor and cabinet system^[8].

The 2005 election was notable because approximately 10% of the ballot papers were either spoiled or ineligible^[9]. Meredith's election platform included a pledge to have another referendum on the post of elected mayor^[10]. This is scheduled for May 2007.

[edit] Demographics

Based on the 2001 census, the total population of the city is 240,636 in 103,196 households^[11] with 51.3% being female^[12]. 96.3% of the population of Stoke-on-Trent were born in the UK^[13]. 94.8% of the population identified themselves as white, 2.6% as Asian British Pakistani, 0.5% Asian British Indian and 0.3% as Black Afro Caribbean.^[13]. With religion, 71.8% described themselves as Christian, 3.0% Muslim, 1.1% Hindu, 0.6% Sikh, 0.5% Jewish and 14.8% had no religion.^[13]. In the same census, 19.9% were identified as under 15 and 21.0% over 60. The average age of residents was 38½.^[12] A total of 24.2% of non-pensioner households were recorded as having no working adults.^[14]

[edit] Economy

North Staffordshire is a world centre for fine ceramics - a skilled design trade established in the area since at least the 12th century.

In the late 1980s & 1990s Stoke-on-Trent was hit hard by the general decline in the British manufacturing sector. Numerous factories, steelworks, mines, and potteries were closed, including the renowned Shelton Bar steelworks. This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'high-skilled but low-paid' workforce. However, at Q2 2004 the unemployment rate had recovered to almost the same as in the wider West Midlands. The city's present employment levels are currently stable and likely to grow from 2004 to 2008, according to a detailed 2003 study by Experian Business Strategies. About 9,000 firms are based in the city.

KPMG's 'Competitive Alternatives 2004' report declared Stoke-on-Trent to be the most cost-effective place to set up a new UK business^[15]. The city currently has the advantage of offering very affordable business property - while being surrounded by a belt of extremely affluent areas (The Peak District, Stone, South Cheshire, Newcastle-under-Lyme) and having excellent road links via the A500 and nearby M6 and rail links.

The city's housing market boomed in 2004 and 2005, with terraced houses rising at an average of £700 a week. From April to June 2005, an average Stoke-on-Trent terraced house rose in price at over £500 a week (source: H.M. Land Registry).

Around five million tourists visit Stoke each year, directly supporting around 4,400 jobs. Stoke-on-Trent shows its popularity through the number of repeat visits; around 80 percent of visitors have previously visited. Tourism to the city was kick-started by the National Garden Festival in 1986, and is now sustained by the many pottery factory-shops/tours and by the improved canal network.

A 2003/4 mapping study found 1,000 active creative businesses & artists based within a ten mile radius of the city. The survey did not include the thousands of ceramics companies.

This is a chart of trend of regional gross value added of Stoke-on-Trent at current basic prices with figures in millions of British Pounds Sterling^[16].

Year	Regional Gross Value Added[17]	Agriculture[18]	Industry[19]	Services[20]
1995	2,577	2	1,212	1,364
2000	2,833	1	1,107	1,725
2003	3,238	1	1,199	2,038

The main shopping centre is Hanley; location of the Potteries Shopping Centre (housing many well known national retail outlets), many well-known high street shops and some unique specialist retailers. With the Peak District National Park just ten miles away, Hanley naturally boasts five outdoors clothing & equipment shops.

[edit] Transport

[edit] Road network

Stoke-on-Trent is linked to the nearby M6 motorway at junctions 15 and 16 by the A500. Locally the A500 is known to as the D road as 500 in Roman Numerals is D, the A500 from above also resembles a D. The A50 cuts through the city, providing an important link to the M1 near Nottingham.

Improvements to the road network have led to a number of companies building distribution centres in the area^[21].

[edit] Rail

Stoke-on-Trent railway station is a mainline station on the Stafford to Manchester Line, which is a branch of the West Coast Main Line and has an inter-city train service, currently with trains to London (about 90 minutes by train) and also to Manchester (40 minutes) every half-hour on weekdays. There are regular through trains to Stafford, Wolverhampton, Birmingham, Birmingham International Airport, Coventry, Oxford, Reading and Bournemouth. Regional train services operate on the Crewe to Derby Line. Stoke-on-Trent railway station is managed by Virgin Trains and it has a first-class lounge and wi-fi service. There is are two station car parks (one small, one large), and a covered taxi rank. Virgin Pendolino train 390029 is named after Stoke-on-Trent.

The Crewe to Derby line trains also stop at Longport and Longton stations, within the city area. Etruria station on the same line was closed in September 2005.

[edit] Buses & coaches

Local public transport is almost exclusively by bus. Bus services are mainly operated by Potteries Motor Traction, now owned by First Group under the name First PMT. There are also several smaller companies operating bus services in the city. There are central bus stations in Hanley city centre and Longton town centre. National Express operate long distance coach services from Hanley bus station.

[edit] Canals

The city is served by the Trent & Mersey Canal, which sees traffic of some 10,000 boats a year. Additionally, the Caldon Canal branches off from the Trent and Mersey at Etruria, within the city boundaries, going to Froghall, Staffordshire with one branch going to Leek. Recently numerous improvements to the canal system have been made.

[edit] Cycling

There are 100-miles of new National Cycle Network off-road bicycle paths through the city, connecting the city to the national long-distance paths, completed in 2005.

[edit] Culture

[edit] Arts

Nightlife has boomed in recent years, with Hanley becoming increasingly popular for its nightclubs, theatres, pubs, bars and restaurants. There are also several theatres outside the city centre, and a long-established 'art-house' cinema in Shelton.

In 2005 the installation of £1,000,000 worth of new public art was completed.

[edit] Dialect

The local cultural identity has always been strong and there is a distinctive local spoken dialect, although its broadest use is now becoming confined only to older residents. The local spoken dialect has been revived by the local cartoon characters May un Mar Lady, written in Potteries dialect, first appearing in July 8,1986 in the Evening Sentinel, May un Mar Lady has been a local institution for over 20 years. Since the Cartoonist Dave Follows death in 2003 the full twenty-year run (7,000) of May un Mar Lady strips are being republished in the Evening Sentinel, as May un Mar Lady Revisited, keeping the dialect alive for another twenty years. Also, Alan Povey's Owd Grandad Piggott stories which were aired on BBC Radio Stoke for a number of years are recited in the Potteries dialect by the author.

[edit] Higher education

There are four higher education institutions in the local area:

• Staffordshire University has its main site in Shelton near to Stoke-on-Trent railway station (the other, for computing, is in the town of Stafford, which is sixteen miles away). This was formerly North Staffordshire Polytechnic, gaining its university status in 1992 as one of the Post-1992 universities.
• Keele University Medical School, uses facilities at the University Hospital of North Staffordshire in Hartshill. Keele University itself (founded as the University College of North Staffordshire in 1949 with major involvement by Stoke-on-Trent City Council and Staffordshire County Council) has its campus in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme .
• Stoke-on-Trent College [1] is the largest college in England^[specify] and has two sites; one in Burslem (media & performing arts) and the main centre in Shelton, just south of Hanley.
• A Workers' Educational Association residential college at Barlaston, Stoke-on-Trent.

[edit] Food

Two local culinary specialities are the much loved Potteries Oatcake (very different from the Scottish version and traditionally made in corner-shop style oatcake bakeries), whose fame has yet to travel far outside Staffordshire and neighbouring Derbyshire and Cheshire, and though no longer quite so popular, lobby, a stew not unlike Lancashire Hotpot, is still made by local people.

[edit] Literature

Originally through the works of Arnold Bennett, the city's greatest literary son, the 'Six Towns' were also sometimes known as the 'Five Towns'. In his novels Bennett consistently changed all proper names and associations, thus Hanley became Hanbridge and Burslem became Bursley. It is thought that Bennett chose to write about five towns, rather than six, because he refused to acknowledge Fenton as a proper town. The six towns weren't federated until 1910 but Fenton was still relatively new by that time, it was also the smallest in terms of population and area. As well as this Bennett changed the name of the towns' newspaper from the Sentinel (see below) to the Signal, an identity that was subsequently adopted by the city's commercial radio station.

[edit] Media

The city's main daily newspaper is The Sentinel, based in Etruria. Local radio stations are BBC Radio Stoke, the commercial Signal 1 and Signal 2 and Cross Rhythms City Radio (Community Radio). Television news is covered by Birmingham-based BBC Midlands Today, Manchester-based BBC North West Tonight, ITV Central and Granada television.

[edit] Music

Stoke-on-Trent has a rich history of clubs and live music, loosely following the experience of Manchester to the north. Local nightclub the Torch became the centre of the Northern Soul scene in the early 70s when the Twisted Wheel in Manchester was shut down. Shelley's nightclub in Longton played a pivotal role in the house and rave scene of the late 80s and early 90s too, helping to launch the career of Sasha and featuring regular appearances from Carl Cox, until it was eventually shut down by Staffordshire Police. Stoke also held the brief title (possibly invented by the media) of 'Techno City' in the early 90s, through the work of acts such as Altern 8 and Bizarre Inc. Hanley nightclub 'the Void' developed a sister relationship with Sankey's Soap in Manchester, helping the latter to revive its fortunes during the late 90s through the promotion of clubnight 'Golden'.

Stoke currently has a thriving live music scene, where local acts like Agent Blue, Alfa 9, the Rebounds, My:Audio, Big Cash Prizes, Morning Sparks, the Black Apples or the Alones can be seen rockin' clubs such as the Sugarmill and the Underground. Local indie label SONS (The Soul of North Staffordshire) has also helped to release music by local acts like This Is Seb Clarke, Friends of Ken and the Title...

[edit] Places of interest

The city's rich past can best be explored through visiting one of its many museums & galleries; such as the Etruria Industrial Museum, the Elizabethan Ford Green Hall, the world-class ceramics collection at the main Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Gladstone Pottery Museum (an Anchor Point of ERIH, The European Route of Industrial Heritage) and the newly opened Ceramica in Burslem. Burleigh in Middleport is the world's oldest working Victorian pottery. There are ambitious plans to open the huge Chatterley Whitfield colliery as a Mining Museum, since it has been given Ancient Monument status, ranking it in importance with Stonehenge. Trentham Gardens is in the south of the city and a £100 million refurbishment was completed in 2005.

Although not in the city, Alton Towers theme park is one of the United Kingdom's best known attractions and is commonly associated with Stoke-on-Trent.

[edit] References in popular culture

• The cat in Dick and Dom in da Bungalow once sang a song about Stoke-on-Trent.
• Robbie Williams's song, "It's Only Us", mentions Stoke-on-Trent.
• Indie rocker Stephen Malkmus mentions Stoke-on-Trent in "Pink India", released on his self-titled solo album.
• Peter Wyngarde as Jason King in "Flamingoes only fly on Tuesdays" makes a quip about a "knicker salesman from Stoke-on-Trent".
• Murdoc Niccals, a member of the fictional group Gorillaz with the role of bass guitarist is said, in his constructed biography, to have been born in Stoke-on-Trent.
• Slash was born in Hampstead, but grew up in Stoke from an early age. ^[22], ^[23]
• In the duet 'Me and My Shadow' as sung by Robbie Williams and Jonathan Wilkes the conversation before the beginning of the song mentions that they are from "Stoke".^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Sport

Stoke-on-Trent is home to two Football League teams, Stoke City F.C. (the Potters), whose ground is the Britannia Stadium, and Port Vale F.C. (the Valiants) who play at Vale Park. There is a shrine to Sir Stanley Matthews in Stoke-upon-Trent churchyard. In motorcycle speedway, the Stoke Spitfires in the BSPA Conference League. The ski race team based at the artificial ski slope in Festival Park compete in national Snowsport England and international FIS events.

The city has a number of amateur sports clubs, including rugby union and cricket, the later competing in the North Staffs and South Cheshire Cricket League. There is also the Parogon Water Polo Team which is widely regarded as being one of the top teams in the country.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Twin town

• Erlangen, Germany.

[edit] Notable people

[edit] Actors Hugh Dancy (actor) Freddie Jones (actor) Alan Lake (actor & widower of Diana Dors) Adrian Rawlins (actor) Hanley Stafford (American radio actor, born Alfred John Austin in Hanley) Jonathan Wilkes (actor) Neil Morrissey (Actor) [edit] Artists Arthur Berry (artist, novelist, playwright & poet) Arnold Machin (sculptor & artist, coin & stamp designer) Sidney Tushingham, A.R.E. (minor Victorian painter) [edit] Business Peter Coates (businessman) Reginald H. Jones (Chairman of General Electric) Thomas Whieldon (18th century master potter) Josiah Wedgwood (18th century potter & industrialist) John Madejski (businessman) Thomas and Herbert Minton (Stoke-upon-Trent potters, entrepreneurs and industrialists) Josiah Spode (18th c. potter and industrialist) John Caudwell (started Phones4U mobile phone business) [edit] Ceramic artists Clarice Cliff (ceramic painter and designer) Susie Cooper (ceramic artist) Lorna Bailey (ceramic artist) Charlotte Rhead (ceramic artist) Frederick Hurten Rhead (ceramic artist) Jabez Vodrey (19th C. potter) [edit] Musicians (for information about Slash and Murdoc Niccals, see references in popular culture) Headrush (rock band) Havergal Brian (composer) Gertie Gitana (music hall star and singer) Lemmy (rock singer and bassist) Patricia Leonard (singer/contralto) Robbie Williams (popstar) Jem Finer (Banjoist, The Pogues) 20 July 1955 Discharge (Punk Band)

[edit] Media Frank Bough (TV presenter) Bruno Brookes (radio disk-jockey and Top of the Pops presenter) Garth Crooks (football pundit) Nick Hancock (TV presenter and comedian) Anthea Turner (TV presenter) [edit] Military John Baskeyfield (Second World War soldier and war hero) Squadron Leader George 'Ben' Bennions, DFC, (Battle of Britain, RAF, Spitfire pilot and teacher) [edit] Politics David Sumberg (politician) David Kidney (MP for nearby Stafford 1997 - present) [edit] Religion Hugh Bourne (joint founder of Primitive Methodism) John Lightfoot (17th century minister) [edit] Science William Astbury (physicist) Sir Oliver Lodge (wireless pioneer) Reginald Mitchell (designer of the Spitfire) [edit] Sport Mark Bright (footballer) Garth Crooks (footballer) Ross Pointon (UFC Fighter) Andrew Foster (professional tennis player) Ted Hankey (world champion darts player) Dave Harold (professional snooker player) Sir Stanley Matthews (footballer) Imran Sherwani (field hockey player) Phil Taylor (former world champion darts player) Jamie Cope (professional snooker player) [edit] Writers Arnold Bennett (author) Elijah Fenton (poet, 1683-1730) Peter Whelan (playwright) John Wain (poet, critic and scholar) Pauline Stainer (poet) Charles Tomlinson (poet, graphic artist, translator, editor and critic) [edit] Other Captain Edward Smith (ill-fated master of the RMS Titanic)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Potteries
• Stoke-on-Trent City Council
• Creative Stoke
• Local Information from The Sentinel newspaper
• Stoke-on-Trent Tourism
• Stoke-on-Trent College
• Stoke-on-Trent Sixth Form College
• Start Up Citywide
• Stoke-on-Trent Museums
• Hanley Museum
• Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Archive Service
• Stoke-on-Trent RUFC
• Exploring the Potteries

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Coordinates: 53°00′N, 2°11′W