Stoke-on-Trent, ENG - Postcode - ST3 1DN

Stoke-on-Trent, England

Stoke-on-Trent is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England, having an area of 36 square miles (93 km2). An estimated 256,375 people called the city home in 2019. The cities of Alsager, Kidsgrove, Biddulph, and Stone, along with the county seat of Newcastle-under-Lyme, create a conurbation around the county seat.

Stoke-on-Trent, sometimes known as The Potteries, is the center of England's pottery industry. Historically a hub for manufacturing, today it serves as a major hub for service sectors and distribution facilities.

Geography

The city of Newcastle-under-Lyme lies to the west of Stoke-on-Trent, and the cities of Manchester, Wolverhampton, and Birmingham are all within easy driving distance. It is situated in the upper Trent valley, in the south-western foothills of the Pennines, close to the highlands of the Peak District to the north-east and the lowlands of the Midlands and Cheshire Plain to the south and west. The elevation of the city varies from 96 to 250 meters (315 to 820 feet).

Stoke-on-Trent is widely known as "the city of five towns", the designation given to it by local novelist Arnold Bennett, and is the only polycentric city in the UK. The names of five of the six cities in Bennett's novels are easily recognizable (although he called Stoke "Knype"). On the other hand, Bennett claimed that "Five Towns" sounded better than "Six Towns," therefore Fenton was left out (now sometimes referred to as "the forgotten town").

As it is a city made up of various towns, the city creates a conurbation (although in this case the conurbation is bigger than Stoke itself, because the urban area of Stoke is contiguous with that of administratively-separate Newcastle).

Along the A50, the six settlements of Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton, and Longton form a roughly linear pattern from north to south. Although the City Council buildings and the name of the city were both taken from the old settlement of Stoke, the commercial hub of the city is generally agreed upon to be in Hanley.

Economy

Since at least the 12th century, the city of Stoke-on-Trent has been home to a thriving ceramics design industry. However, the loss of British industry in the 1980s and 1990s had a significant impact on Stoke-on-Trent. Numerous factories, steelworks, collieries, and potteries were closed, including the famed Shelton Bar steelworks. As a result, the jobless rate skyrocketed among the so-called "high-skilled but low-paid" workers.

The pottery manufacturer Wedgwood and its offshoot Royal Doulton are based in neighboring Barlaston, although much production currently takes place in the firm's Indonesian factory. Portmeirion, with headquarters in nearby Stoke, has just acquired both the Spode and Royal Worcester pottery labels. Hanley is home to Emma Bridgewater, a ceramics company; Middleport to Burleigh Pottery; Etruria to Wade Ceramics; Burslem to Moorcroft and Royal Stafford; and Longton to Aynsley China, one of the city's few remaining bone china producers. Both in Hanley and Burslem is where the fine china maker Dudson has its headquarters. Churchill Steelite, a manufacturer of hotelware, has its headquarters at the former Dunn Bennett building in Middleport, although China's main production is located in Tunstall.

Since the turn of the 20th century, Stoke City Football Club has been an important symbol of the city. The club has spent the vast majority of its history in the top two divisions of the English league, drawing massive crowds and helping launch the careers of many famous players, including Stanley Matthews and Gordon Banks. The club was situated at the Victoria Ground in Stoke-upon-Trent from 1878 until 1997, when it moved to the Britannia Stadium (now the Bet365 Stadium) at Trentham Lakes. This was an early step in revitalizing the Trentham neighborhood of the city, a process that would eventually expand to encompass the revitalization of Trentham Gardens, a popular tourist destination, by adding shops and restaurants to the site. In 2005, the neighboring Trentham Monkey Forest was established.

Michelin has its commercial headquarters, a training center, and a truck tyre retreading factory all located in the same city. The grocery store Sainsbury's and the pharmacy The Co-operative both have massive distribution centers there. Festival Park is home to Vodafone's massive call center, while Hanley's plant is the headquarters for Fuchs Petrolub, the German lubricant manufacturer's UK branch. Goodwin Steel Castings Ltd. operates a steel foundry in Joiner's Square. Trent Vale is home to Premier Foods, where you can find Mr. Kipling slices and Cherry Bakewells. The Co-operative Travel, which amalgamated with Thomas Cook in 2010, was headquartered in Burslem.