Greater Manchester Postcodes — England (ENG)

Greater Manchester

Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, and Wigan are just 10 of the metropolitan boroughs that make up Greater Manchester, a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England with a population of 2.8 million. As a result of the Local Government Act of 1972, the county was established on April 1st, 1974, and it was officially recognized as a functional city region on April 1st, 2011. Greater Manchester consists of territory that was formerly a part of Cheshire, Lancashire, and the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Greater Manchester comprises an area of approximately 493 square miles (1,277 square kilometers), which includes most of the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, the second most populated urban area in the United Kingdom. The Manchester Ship Canal, which runs through Salford and Trafford, provides a connection to the sea despite the city's landlocked location. In addition to Merseyside to the north, the ceremonial counties of Cheshire (to the south and west), Derbyshire (to the south-east), West Yorkshire (to the north-east), and Lancashire (to the north) surround Greater Manchester (to the west). The concentric urbanization and industrialization that took place in Greater Manchester primarily in the 19th century, when the region flourished as the global center of the cotton industry, have resulted in a diverse urban landscape that includes dense urban cores as well as suburbs, semi-rural, and rural areas. Although Manchester and Salford and the Borough of Trafford comprise a concentrated central business district, Greater Manchester is also a polycentric county with eleven metropolitan districts, each of which is centered on a sizable town or city (Manchester and Salford being the only cities). Each municipality is divided into a number of these districts, and within them are located its suburbs, towns, and villages.

Political leaders from Greater Manchester's ten metropolitan borough councils and a directly elected mayor form the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), which is in charge of the region's economic growth, neighborhood revitalization, and public transportation. Mayor of Greater Manchester since 2017, Andy Burnham. During the decade and a half that followed 1974, the Greater Manchester County Council and the county's district councils operated as coequal bodies. Since the county council was eliminated in 1986, the districts it had previously administered (the metropolitan boroughs) have functioned as unitary authority territories. The metropolitan county, however, survived both legally and geographically, and it retained its own Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff for ceremonial purposes. Between 1985 and 2011, the Association of Greater Manchester Authorities acted as the county's central coordinator for a variety of services.

South East Lancashire North East Cheshire was the area's name before the metropolitan county was established (SELNEC). The metropolitan area of Greater Manchester was formed through the merger of 70 different local government districts from the old counties of Lancashire, Cheshire, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and eight separate county boroughs. Greater Manchester is a key hub for the service, media, and digital industries that have flourished there since the city's deindustrialization in the middle of the twentieth century. It is also famous for its guitar and dance music, as well as its association football clubs.

Geography

Greater Manchester occupies 493 square miles and is completely surrounded by land (1,277 km2). The Pennines, including the West Pennine Moors to the northwest, the South Pennines to the northeast, and the Peak District to the east, rise to the north and east of the county. The Cheshire Plain borders the county's southern border, and several coalfields (made up of sandstones and shales) may be found in the western part of the area. Mersey, Irwell, and Tame are three rivers that originate in the Pennines and flow through Greater Manchester. The Douglas, the Irk, and the Roch are just a few of the smaller rivers that flow through the area and feed into the larger ones. [17] Located in the parish of Saddleworth, at an elevation of 1,778 feet (542 m) above sea level, Black Chew Head is the highest point in Greater Manchester and the Peak District National Park.

Greater Manchester is characterized by its dense urban and industrial developments, including commercial, financial, retail, and administrative hubs; commuter suburbs and housing; and transportation infrastructure like light rail, highways, and motorway and canals. Land use in Greater Manchester is predominantly urban, however it does include some suburban, semi-rural, and rural areas. Red brick and sandstone feature strongly in Greater Manchester's built environment, alongside constructions made of modern materials, high-rise towers, and landmark 19th-, 20th-, and 21st-century buildings in the city and town centers.

For the purposes of municipal planning and public transportation, Greater Manchester's "Regional Centre" includes the central business district of Manchester as well as neighboring sections of Salford and Trafford. With the emergence of metropolitan-level centers in England, political and economic relations have developed between the city center and neighboring Salford and Trafford, and the area's high-rise iconic buildings serve as a visual orientation point of reference. Greater Manchester, on the other hand, is a polycentric county with eleven metropolitan districts, each of which contains a significant town center - and in some cases, more than one - and many minor villages. Outlying suburbs (such Denton, Middleton, and Failsworth) surround the Regional Centre and the major town centers, while the major towns surrounding Manchester city center. These elements combine to make Greater Manchester the most complicated "polycentric functional urban region" in the United Kingdom outside of London.

Culture

Manchester accounts for the largest share of the 16% of Greater Manchester jobs that are supported by the creative industries. "Greater Manchester is a creative powerhouse," said then-Foreign Secretary Will Straw in 2014. The city is known for its contributions to the arts in many fields, including soccer, television and film, and rock, punk, and electronic music. Greater Manchester's rivalry with neighboring Liverpool dates back to the beginning of the industrial revolution and is rooted in the cities' longstanding struggle in the economic and industrial sectors.

Some truly delicious treats originated in the Greater Manchester area. Bury's black pudding is a blood sausage, Bolton's pasty barm combines a pasty with a barm cake, Oldham's rag pudding is a suet pastry pudding stuffed with steak and onions, and Manchester's Manchester egg was debuted in 2010. Traditional sweet mild mints manufactured in Wigan since their inception in 1898 include Uncle Joe's Mint Balls. Other sweet treats include Eccles cake, a small round flaky pastry cake filled with currants, sugar, and spice; Manchester tart, a baked tart consisting of a shortcrust pastry shell spread with raspberry jam; and Wigan's Uncle Joe's Mint Balls. Both the soft beverages Vimto (1908) and Tizer (1924) were developed in Manchester. Manchester's Boddingtons bitter, marketed as the "Cream of Manchester" in the '90s, is often credited with helping to elevate the city's profile at the time.

The Greater Manchester Campaign for Real Ale is a branch of the national Campaign for Real Ale, an advocacy group that supports, promotes and preserves the beer and drinks industry, and recognising outstanding venues with awards; The Nursery in Heaton Norris was its National Pub of the Year in 2001, and The Baum in Rochdale was its National Pub of the Year in 2012. Established in 1997 as an urban beverage and gastronomy fair, the Manchester Food and Drink Festival has since expanded to include events all around Greater Manchester, such as the Prestwich Food and Drink Festival, the World Pie Eating Championship in Wigan, and the Ramsbottom Chocolate Festival. Mana, Manchester's lone Michelin-starred restaurant, will still be open by 2020. Moreover, three Bib Gourmand-awarded restaurants may be found in the area.