Manchester is a city in Greater Manchester, England. In 2024, it had a population of more than 589,000 people. It is located near the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the city of Salford to the west. Manchester and Salford, along with nearby towns, form one of the United Kingdom's most densely populated areas, called the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million people.
The history of Manchester began with a settlement near a Roman fort called Mamucium or Mancunium, built around AD 79 on a sandstone hill near where the Medlock and Irwell rivers meet. Originally part of Lancashire, areas in southern Cheshire were added to Manchester in the 20th century. During the Middle Ages, Manchester was a small town ruled by a lord, but it grew quickly during the Industrial Revolution because of the booming textile industry. This made Manchester the world's first industrialized city. It became a city in 1853. The Manchester Ship Canal, completed in 1894, created the Port of Manchester and connected the city to the Irish Sea, 36 miles (58 km) to the west. After World War II, Manchester's economy suffered due to the loss of manufacturing jobs. The 1996 Manchester bombing led to major rebuilding efforts.
After significant redevelopment, Manchester hosted the 2002 Commonwealth Games. In the 2020s, the city has experienced strong economic growth, sometimes linked to a political and business-friendly approach called Manchesterism. Since 2016, Manchester's economy has grown faster than the UK average of 3% each year, and its population has increased by 9%. The city is known for its buildings, culture, music, media connections, scientific and engineering achievements, social influence, sports teams, and transportation links.
Toponymy
The name Manchester comes from Mamucium, the Latin name for the city, or its variant Mancunio. People who live in Manchester are still called Mancunians. These names are believed to be a Latin version of an older Brittonic name. Most people think the Brittonic name comes from mamm-, meaning "breast," referring to a hill shaped like a breast where the city was built. Some newer research suggests the name might instead come from the Brittonic mamma, meaning "mother," referring to a local river goddess. The suffix "-chester" comes from Old English "ceaster," meaning "Roman fortification," which was borrowed from the Latin word "castra," meaning "fort; fortified town." This term was first used after the Romans left Britain to describe places once connected to the Roman military.
Names for Manchester that came from its role in the Industrial Revolution include "warehouse city" and "cottonopolis." The city is often called "the capital of the North" and is part of a long-standing disagreement with Birmingham about being the unofficial second-largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is sometimes called "Manny," especially by people who are not from Manchester. Some residents find this nickname offensive. The term became popular because of rapper Bugzy Malone’s use of the phrase "putting Manny on the map."
Although the name Manchester officially refers only to the metropolitan borough within the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, it has been used informally for other areas over time. Examples include the "Manchester City Zone," "Manchester Post Town," and the "Manchester Congestion Charge." None of these terms cover the official city boundaries. The Manchester City Zone includes only a few stations in the city center. The Manchester Post Town covers Manchester, Sale, and Salford. The proposed boundary for the Manchester Congestion Charge was the M60 road, not the city itself.
History
The first major Celtic tribe in what is now Northern England were the Brigantes. They had a stronghold near a sandstone outcrop where Manchester Cathedral now stands, across from the River Irwell. Their territory covered the fertile lowlands that are now Salford and Stretford. In 79 AD, after the Romans took over Britain, General Agricola ordered the building of a fort called Mamucium to protect Roman interests in Deva Victrix (now Chester) and Eboracum (now York). Central Manchester has been continuously inhabited since that time.
Parts of the Mamucium fort can still be seen in Castlefield. The Roman presence in Manchester likely ended around the 3rd century. The civilian area was probably abandoned by the middle of the 3rd century, though the fort may have had a small group of soldiers until the late 3rd or early 4th century. Archaeologists first studied the fort in 1906, and it was opened to the public in 1984.
After the Romans left and the Anglo-Saxons settled the area, the town’s center moved to where the rivers Irwell and Irk meet. During the Normans’ Harrying of the North, much of the area around Manchester was destroyed. The Domesday Book (1086) lists Manchester as part of the hundred of Salford, owned by a Norman named Roger of Poitou. Later, the Grelley family controlled the land and lived in Manchester Castle. By 1421, Thomas de la Warre built a church for the parish, which later became Manchester Cathedral. Other buildings from that time became Chetham’s School of Music and Chetham’s Library, which opened in 1653 and is the oldest free public reference library in the UK.
Manchester was recorded as a market in 1282. Around the 14th century, weavers from Flanders arrived, which helped start the region’s textile industry. The town became a key place for making and trading wool and linen. By 1540, John Leland called it “the fairest, best built, quickest, and most populous town of all Lancashire.” The cathedral and Chetham’s buildings are the only major structures from that time still standing.
During the English Civil War, Manchester supported the Parliamentarians led by Oliver Cromwell. He allowed the town to choose its own Member of Parliament. Charles Worsley, who was elected, became Major-General for Lancashire, Cheshire, and Staffordshire. He closed ale houses and banned Christmas celebrations.
Cotton began to be used in textiles around 1600, first in mixtures with linen and later as pure cotton fabrics by 1750. Cotton became more important than wool. By 1736, the rivers Irwell and Mersey were made navigable, connecting Manchester to sea docks on the Mersey. The Bridgewater Canal, the first artificial waterway in Britain, opened in 1761, bringing coal from Worsley to Manchester. The canal was extended to the Mersey by 1776. These improvements lowered the cost of coal and raw cotton, making Manchester a major center for textile trade. A commodities exchange, opened in 1729, and large warehouses helped the economy grow. In 1780, Richard Arkwright started building Manchester’s first cotton mill. Cotton goods were exported to Africa to buy slaves for the transatlantic slave trade, which supported Manchester’s growth.
Manchester was a major center for textile manufacturing during the Industrial Revolution. Most cotton spinning happened in nearby towns, but Manchester was the most productive place for processing cotton. This led to the city’s rapid expansion and its status as the world’s first industrialized city. Manchester became known as “Cottonopolis” and “Warehouse City” during the Victorian era. The Industrial Revolution caused unplanned urban growth in the 19th century. Engineering firms made machines for the cotton trade and later expanded into other industries. The chemical industry started with bleaches and dyes and grew into other areas. Banking and insurance helped the economy. In 1803, John Dalton developed his atomic theory while teaching in Manchester.
Manchester saw protests, including bread and labor riots, and demands for political rights by the working class. On August 16, 1819, a large crowd gathered in St. Peter’s Square, with estimates of 30,000 to 150,000 people at the time and 50,000 to 80,000 by modern estimates. Soldiers on horseback charged the crowd, killing at least 18 and injuring over 700 in the Peterloo Massacre.
Early industrial Manchester had ideas about capitalism and communism. The city was home to Manchester Liberalism and the Anti-Corn Law League after 1838. Friedrich Engels wrote about the working class in England in 1844 after spending time in Manchester and meeting Karl Marx at Chetham’s Library. The first Trades Union Congress was held in Manchester in 1868, and the city was important for the Labour Party, Suffragette Movement, and Chartist Movement.
Transport and distribution grew as the population expanded. The canal system was improved, and Manchester became one end of the world’s first intercity passenger railway, the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, in 1830. Cotton mills in Manchester reached 108 by 1853, but later declined as Bolton and Oldham became larger centers for cotton spinning. This decline coincided with Manchester becoming a financial hub. In 1878, the General Post Office provided its first telephones to a firm in Manchester.
New industrial methods developed in Manchester, and the city became known for its experimental ideas. The Manchester School promoted free trade and laissez-faire. New social groups, religious groups, and labor organizations formed. Public buildings like Manchester Town Hall were built, and the Hallé Orchestra helped the city’s culture. In 1889, Manchester became a county borough, gaining more independence. However, the city also had widespread poverty and extreme economic differences.
The Manchester Ship Canal, built between 1888 and 1894, connected the rivers Ir
Government
The City of Manchester is managed by Manchester City Council. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority, which has a mayor chosen directly by voters, is responsible for planning and managing important areas like economic development and transportation across all of Greater Manchester. Manchester has been part of the English Core Cities Group since 1995.
The town of Manchester received a legal charter in 1301 but lost its official local government status in a court case in 1359. Before the 19th century, local government was mostly handled by manorial courts, the last of which ended in 1846. In 1792, Police Commissioners were created to help improve social conditions in Manchester. The town regained its local government status in 1838 and included areas such as Beswick, Cheetham Hill, Chorlton upon Medlock, and Hulme. By 1846, due to population growth and industrial expansion, the Borough Council took over the responsibilities of the Police Commissioners. Manchester was given city status in 1853. Over time, its boundaries expanded to include areas like Harpurhey, Rusholme, parts of Moss Side and Withington in 1885; Burnage, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Didsbury, Fallowfield, Levenshulme, Longsight, Withington, Baguley, and Northenden between the 1880s and 1930s; and Ringway in 1974.
In 2014, it was announced that Greater Manchester would have a mayor chosen directly by voters, who would manage finances and policies related to health, transport, housing, and police across ten local areas in the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. Andy Burnham became the first mayor of Greater Manchester in the 2017 election and was re-elected in 2021 and 2024. The mayor of Greater Manchester manages a budget of £2.6 billion in 2024, with £1.51 billion used for policing and transport. This makes the mayor the most powerful elected official in the country. Burnham also serves as the police and crime commissioner for Greater Manchester by law and is responsible for some housing, education, and welfare policies.
Geography
Manchester is located at 53°28′0″N 2°14′0″W / 53.46667°N 2.23333°W / 53.46667; -2.23333, 160 miles (260 km) northwest of London. The city lies in a bowl-shaped area surrounded by the Pennines to the north and east, a mountain range that runs through northern England, and the Cheshire Plain to the south. Manchester is 35.0 miles (56.3 km) northeast of Liverpool and 35.0 miles (56.3 km) northwest of Sheffield, making it the halfway point between the two cities. The city center is on the east bank of the River Irwell, near where it meets the Rivers Medlock and Irk. The area is relatively low, with elevations between 35 and 42 meters (115 and 138 feet) above sea level.
The River Mersey flows through the southern part of Manchester. Much of the inner city, especially in the south, is flat, allowing views of the Pennines’ foothills and moors from tall buildings. Manchester’s climate, its closeness to Liverpool’s seaport, the availability of waterpower from its rivers, and nearby coal reserves helped shape its early growth as an industrial city.
For the Office for National Statistics, Manchester is the most populous settlement in the Greater Manchester Urban Area, the UK’s second-largest conurbation. The city has a mix of densely populated urban and suburban areas. Heaton Park, the city’s largest open space covering about 260 hectares (642 acres), is a notable feature. Manchester borders several large settlements on all sides, except for a small part along its southern edge with Cheshire. The M60 and M56 motorways pass through Northenden and Wythenshawe in the south. Heavy rail lines connect to the city from all directions, with Manchester Piccadilly station as the main railway hub and the second-busiest in Great Britain outside London.
Manchester is at the center of the North West Green Belt, an area that limits urban expansion, prevents nearby towns from merging, protects rural communities, and preserves the countryside. This is done by restricting development in certain areas and setting stricter rules for building. The city has limited protected greenfield land due to its high urban density.
Manchester has a temperate oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb), similar to much of the British Isles, with warm summers and cold winters compared to other parts of the UK. Summer temperatures often exceed 20°C (68°F), and in recent years, they have occasionally reached 30°C (86°F). The city receives regular but light rainfall throughout the year, with an average annual rainfall of 806.6 mm (31.76 inches), slightly less than the UK average of 1,125.0 mm (44.29 inches). On average, Manchester experiences 140.4 days of rain per year, compared to the UK average of 154.4.
The city has high humidity levels, along with soft water, which contributed to the growth of the textile industry. Snow is rare in Manchester due to urban warming, but nearby areas like the West Pennine Moors, South Pennines, and Peak District receive more snow, sometimes closing roads such as the A62, A57, and M62. The lowest temperature recorded in Manchester was −17.6°C (0.3°F) on 7 January 2010. The highest temperature was 38.0°C (100.4°F) on 19 July 2022 during the 2022 European Heatwave.
Demographics
In the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of the City of Manchester was 552,000, an increase of 9.7% from the 2011 census. This growth was slower than the increase between 2001 and 2021, which was 20.8%, the largest in the UK outside of London. The growth rate was higher than the predicted rate of 5.8%. In 2021, 43.5% of people had never married, 37% were married, 12.24% were separated or divorced, and 7.26% were widowed.
Since 1991, the City of Manchester has grown by 36.3%, faster than other major cities in England. In 2012, 6,547,000 people lived within 30 miles (50 km) of Manchester, and 11,694,000 lived within 50 miles (80 km). In 2011/2012, births exceeded deaths by 4,800. Manchester has a younger population than the average for England: nationally, 82.6% of people are under the age of 65, while in Manchester, 91.2% are under the age of 65. The Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s analysis of the 2021 census noted that the rising number of children aged 0–15 was a major reason for the population increase. The Manchester Larger Urban Zone, a Eurostat measure of the functional city-region, had a population of 2,539,100 in 2004.
The 2021 census showed major changes in the religious beliefs of the city’s population. The percentage of people identifying as Christian decreased from 62.4% in 2001, to 48.7% in 2011, and to 36.2% in 2021. The percentage of people who said they had no religion increased from 16% in 2001, to 25.3% in 2011, and to 32.4% in 2021, the largest increase among all religious groups. The second largest increase was in the percentage of Muslims, which rose from 9.1% in 2001, to 15.8% in 2011, and to 22.38% in 2021. The Jewish population in Greater Manchester is the largest in Britain outside London.
The City of Manchester has the highest non-white proportion of any district in Greater Manchester. In 2021, 56.8% of the population was White. Of these, 48.7% were White British, 1.7% White Irish, 0.1% Gypsy or Irish Traveller, and 6.2% Other White. The size of mixed European and British ethnic groups is unclear. In 2021, 5.2% of people were mixed race (1.8% White and Black Caribbean, 1.1% White and Black African, 1.1% White and Asian, 1.2% other mixed), 20.9% were Asian (2.7% Indian, 11.9% Pakistani, 1.8% Bangladeshi, 2.3% Chinese, 2.2% other Asian), 12% were Black (8.7% African, 1.9% Caribbean, 1.4% other Black), 2.7% were Arab, and 2.4% had other ethnic heritage.
Moss Side, Longsight, Cheetham Hill, and Rusholme are areas with large populations of ethnic minorities. Manchester’s Irish Festival, including a St Patrick’s Day parade, is one of Europe’s largest. The city has a well-established Chinatown that attracts many Chinese university students, contributing to Manchester having the third-largest Chinese population in Europe.
Ethnicity of Manchester, from 1971 to 2021:
Ethnicity of school pupils
Economy
The Office for National Statistics does not collect economic data for Manchester alone. Instead, it groups Manchester with Salford, Stockport, Tameside, and Trafford in an area called Greater Manchester South. In 2023, this area had a Gross Value Added (GVA) of £34.8 billion. Between 2002 and 2012, the economy grew by 2.3% more than the national average. From 2015 to 2025, the economy grew by 3.1% each year, which is twice the UK’s national average.
Greater Manchester South is ranked as a Beta– city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network in 2024. This places it second among UK cities, behind London, which is ranked A++ (the highest level). During the UK’s recovery from the 2008–2010 economic downturn, Manchester performed well. In 2012, it had the strongest annual growth in business stock (5%) of all core cities. In 2023, Manchester’s GVA per person was £61,589, which was three times higher than at the start of the 21st century.
Between 2015 and 2025, the economy faced challenges from Brexit and the COVID-19 pandemic. Economic output dropped by about 9–10% due to the pandemic. Only 1% of businesses in the city reported positive effects from Brexit, while 60% reported neutral or negative effects. Since 2021, the economy has recovered somewhat. Forecasts for 2025–2028 suggest the region will grow by 2.4% annually, which is higher than the UK’s expected national growth rate of 1.6%.
Manchester has both the most deprived and the most affluent neighborhoods in the UK, making it the most unequal local authority in Britain. According to the 2019 Indices of Multiple Deprivation, Manchester is the second most deprived local authority by rank, sixth by score, and fifth by the proportion of areas that are deprived. About 43% of its areas are among the top 10% nationally for deprivation, behind only Blackpool. In 2021, 53.5% of people over 16 were employed, 5.7% were unemployed, and 40.8% were economically inactive.
Greater Manchester has more multi-millionaires than any area outside London, with most living in Manchester itself. A 2024 survey by Henley & Partners ranked Manchester as the second wealthiest city in the UK, after London, and the 50th richest in the world (London was fifth). In Manchester, women earn slightly more compared to men than the rest of the UK. The gender pay gap is 3.3% per hour worked, compared to 11.1% for the UK as a whole. In Manchester, 37% of working-age people have degrees, which is higher than the average of 33% in other core cities. However, some schools in Manchester perform slightly below the national average.
In 2013, Manchester was ranked 6th in the UK for quality of life among the 12 largest cities. In 2025, it scored higher than London in the Global Liveability Index, with a score of 89.3 compared to London’s 89.2, making it the most livable city in the UK.
Manchester’s economy focuses on business, financial, and professional services, as well as cultural, creative, and digital industries, advanced manufacturing, and wholesale and retail. Eighty of the companies listed in the FTSE 100 Index have operations in Manchester. The city receives foreign direct investment second only to London. The Manchester Inward Investment Agency (MIDAS) says that partnerships between businesses, the public sector, and academia have helped the city grow economically. Manchester has the largest student population in Europe, and the city council owns two of the UK’s busiest airports, which generate revenue used for local projects. For example, Manchester’s office market is the second largest in the UK outside London. Between 2010 and 2014, the city added about 250,000 square feet of office space each quarter, more than Birmingham, the next closest city. By 2025, this had doubled to over 580,000 square feet. Other factors influencing Manchester’s economy include "northshoring," which moves jobs from the south to the north where office costs are lower, and fiscal devolution, which allowed Manchester to keep half the extra taxes from transport investments earlier than other UK cities.
Architecture
Manchester’s buildings show many different styles of architecture, from Victorian to modern designs. The city is known for its use of red brick, which is a common feature of its buildings. Many of these buildings date back to when Manchester was an important global center for the cotton trade. Near the city center, there are many old cotton mills. Some of these mills have not changed since they closed, while others have been turned into apartments and offices. Manchester Town Hall, located in Albert Square, was built in the Gothic Revival style.
Manchester has several tall buildings built in the 1960s and 1970s. The tallest building until 2006 was the CIS Tower, which is near Manchester Victoria station. The Beetham Tower, completed in 2006, is now the tallest building in the city. It is an example of recent high-rise construction and includes a hotel, restaurant, and apartments. The largest skyscraper today is Deansgate Square South Tower, which is 201 meters (659 feet) tall. The Green Building, located near Oxford Road station, is an eco-friendly housing project. One Angel Square, a recently completed building, is one of the most environmentally friendly large buildings in the world.
Albert Square and St Peter’s Square are home to many public monuments. Albert Square has statues of Prince Albert, Bishop James Fraser, Oliver Heywood, William Gladstone, and John Bright. Piccadilly Gardens has monuments to Queen Victoria, Robert Peel, James Watt, and the Duke of Wellington. The cenotaph in St Peter’s Square is Manchester’s main memorial for people who died in wars. It was designed by Edwin Lutyens and looks similar to the one in London. The Alan Turing Memorial in Sackville Park honors his role in creating modern computing. A large statue of Abraham Lincoln, created by George Gray Barnard, stands in Lincoln Square. It was given to Manchester to recognize Lancashire’s role in the cotton famine and the American Civil War of 1861–1865.
Near Manchester Airport is the Runway Visitor Park, an aviation center. It houses G-BOAC, one of the twenty Concorde airplanes ever built. This aircraft was the main one in British Airways’ fleet because BOAC stood for the British Overseas Airways Corporation. Other planes on display at the park include a BAE Systems Nimrod MRA4, a Hawker Siddeley Trident, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, and a British Aerospace 146.
Heaton Park, located in the northern part of the city, is one of the largest municipal parks in Europe. It covers 610 acres (250 hectares) of parkland. Manchester has 135 parks, gardens, and open spaces. The city has six designated local nature reserves: Chorlton Water Park, Blackley Forest, Clayton Vale and Chorlton Ees, Ivy Green, Boggart Hole Clough, and Highfield Country Park.
Transport
Manchester Liverpool Road was the first railway station in the world built specifically for both passengers and goods. It was the main stop in Manchester for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, which was the first railway in the world connecting two cities. The station opened in 1830 and stopped operating in 1975. Since 1983, the site has been part of the Science and Industry Museum.
Two of Manchester’s four main railway stations, Manchester Central and Manchester Exchange, stopped serving passengers in 1969. Manchester Mayfield station stopped passenger services in 1960 and freight services in 1986. In 2025, Manchester City Council approved plans to turn the Mayfield site into a housing area.
The Northern Hub improvement project in the 2010s added electric train tracks through Manchester, improved Victoria station, and built the Ordsall Chord, which connects Victoria and Piccadilly stations directly. Manchester’s local rail network now operates at full capacity. The city is also the center of a larger railway network, including the West Coast Main Line, with two mainline stations: Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria. The group of stations—Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Victoria, Manchester Oxford Road, and Deansgate—is the third busiest in the UK, with 25.8 million passengers recorded in 2023/2024. The Castlefield Corridor in the city center has limited rail capacity, causing delays and cancellations. A 2024 report ranked Manchester Oxford Road as the fifth worst-performing station and Manchester Piccadilly as the twentieth worst.
Manchester became the first city in the UK to have a modern light rail tram system when the Manchester Metrolink opened in 1992. In 2023–2024, 42 million passengers used the system. The Metrolink mostly runs on old commuter rail lines changed for light rail use and crosses the city center using street-level tracks. The network includes eight lines with 99 stops. Over a dozen park and ride sites, which use heavy and light rail, also serve Manchester city center.
Manchester has one of the largest bus networks outside London. Before the Bee Network bus franchising program started in late 2023 and ended in early 2025, over 50 bus companies operated in Greater Manchester. In 2011, 80% of public transport trips in Greater Manchester were by bus, totaling 220 million journeys each year.
After bus services were deregulated in 1986, GM Buses took over the system. After privatization, GM Buses split into GM Buses North and GM Buses South, which were later bought by First Greater Manchester and Stagecoach Manchester. In 2019, much of First Greater Manchester’s business was sold to Diamond North West and Go North West. Stagecoach Manchester, a large company in the Stagecoach Group, operates a free two-route bus network connecting the city’s business areas and major transport hubs.
Manchester Airport is the third busiest in the UK, with more than twice as many passengers as the next busiest non-London airport. Forty-nine airlines operate from the airport, serving nearly 200 destinations. It is the only airport outside London with two fully operational runways. It is a "Category 10" airport, meaning it can handle large planes like the Airbus A380, one of only 17 airports worldwide and three in the UK to operate the A380.
A smaller airport, Manchester Barton Aerodrome, is located 9.3 km (6 miles) west of Manchester city center. It was Manchester’s first municipal airport, the site of the UK’s first air traffic control tower, and the first municipal airfield licensed by the Air Ministry. It is used for private flights, general aviation, and has a flight school. The Greater Manchester Police Air Support Unit and the North West Air Ambulance also base their helicopters there.
An extensive canal network runs through Manchester, including the Ashton Canal, Rochdale Canal, and Bridgewater Canal, all of which end in the city center. These canals are still maintained but are now mainly used for leisure activities. The Manchester Ship Canal, built during the Industrial Revolution to carry freight, ends in neighboring Salford before connecting to the River Irwell, which flows through the north of the city.
Cycling is popular in Manchester for both transportation and leisure, and the city plays a key role in British cycle racing. As of 2023, 2% of journeys in Manchester are made by bicycle. Cycle routes are part of Manchester’s multimodal Bee Network, which includes walking, train, tram, and bus routes.
Culture
In the 1960s, Manchester had music groups like the Hollies, Herman's Hermits, and Davy Jones of the Monkees. Earlier, the Bee Gees, who grew up in Chorlton, were also from
Education
In 2019, the Manchester Local Education Authority (LEA) was ranked second from the bottom among Greater Manchester's ten LEAs and 140th out of 151 in the country based on the percentage of students who got grades 4 or higher in English and mathematics GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education). Only 56.2% of students in Manchester achieved this goal, compared to the national average of 64.9%. Of the 63 secondary schools in the LEA, four schools had 80% or more students getting grades 4 or higher in English and math GCSEs: Manchester High School for Girls, The King David High School, Manchester Islamic High School for Girls, and Kassim Darwish Grammar School for Boys. The Manchester Grammar School, founded in 1515, is the largest private day school for boys in the United Kingdom.
There are three universities in the City of Manchester: the University of Manchester, Manchester Metropolitan University, and the Royal Northern College of Music. These three universities are located around Oxford Road on the southern side of the city center, forming Europe's largest urban higher-education area. Together, they have more than 80,000 students as of 2022.
The University of Manchester is the second largest full-time non-collegiate university in the United Kingdom. It was created in 2004 by merging Victoria University of Manchester and the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology. The university includes the Manchester Business School, which started the first Master of Business Administration program in the UK in 1965. It is part of the Russell Group, a group of 24 leading universities, and was a founding member in 1994. The university has been the site of important scientific discoveries, including Ernest Rutherford's team discovering the nuclear atom in 1919, the development of the world's first stored-program computer, the Manchester Baby, in 1948 by Frederic C. Williams, Tom Kilburn, and Geoff Tootill, and the first isolation of graphene by Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov in 2004.
Manchester Metropolitan University was formed in 1970 as Manchester Polytechnic through the merger of three colleges. It became a university in 1992 and that same year absorbed Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education in South Cheshire. The Cheshire campus closed permanently in 2019. The University of Law, the largest provider of vocational legal training in Europe, has a campus in the city.
Sport
Two Premier League football clubs are named after the city of Manchester: Manchester City and Manchester United. Manchester City plays its home games at the City of Manchester Stadium in east Manchester. This stadium was built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games and later changed to a football ground in 2003. Manchester United, even though they began in Manchester, moved to the nearby borough of Trafford in 1910. Their stadium, Old Trafford, is next to the Lancashire County Cricket Club’s ground, which also shares the name Old Trafford. The cricket club has a strong connection to Manchester because of its location near the city and because Manchester was once part of Lancashire.
Sports facilities built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games include the City of Manchester Stadium, National Squash Centre, and Manchester Aquatics Centre. Manchester tried to host the Olympic Games twice but lost to Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. The National Cycling Centre includes a velodrome, BMX Arena, and Mountainbike trials. It is home to British Cycling, UCI ProTeam Team Sky, and Sky Track Cycling. The Manchester Velodrome, built as part of the bid for the 2000 Games, has helped British athletes achieve success in cycling.
The velodrome hosted the UCI Track Cycling World Championships for a record third time in 2008. The National Indoor BMX Arena (capacity: 2,000), located next to the velodrome, opened in 2011. The Manchester Arena hosted the FINA World Swimming Championships in 2008. Manchester has also hosted the 2008 World Squash Championships, the 2010 World Lacrosse Championship, the 2013 Ashes series, the 2013 Rugby League World Cup, the 2015 Rugby World Cup, the 2019 Ashes series, and the 2019 Cricket World Cup.
Media
The Guardian newspaper was started in the city in 1821 and was originally called The Manchester Guardian. Until 2008, its main office was in the city, although many administrative tasks were moved to London in 1964. For many years, most national newspapers had offices in Manchester, including The Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, and The Sun. At its peak, 1,500 journalists worked there, which earned the city the nickname "second Fleet Street." In the 1980s, these newspapers closed their northern offices and focused their work in London.
An effort to create a Northern daily newspaper called the North West Times, which hired journalists who had lost jobs at other newspapers, ended in 1988. Another attempt was made with the North West Enquirer, which aimed to provide a true "regional" newspaper for the North West, similar to the Yorkshire Post for Yorkshire or The Northern Echo for the North East. This newspaper also closed in October 2006.
The main regional newspaper in the city is the Manchester Evening News, which was for over 80 years a related publication of The Manchester Guardian. The Manchester Evening News has the largest number of copies sold among UK regional evening newspapers. It is given out for free in the city center on Thursdays and Fridays but requires payment in the suburbs. Despite its name, it is available all day. Several local weekly free papers are distributed by the MEN group. The Metro North West is given out for free at Metrolink stops, train stations, and other busy places.
Manchester has been a center for television broadcasting since the 1950s, with several television studios operating there. The ITV franchise Granada Television has been based in Manchester since 1954. Now located at MediaCityUK, the company’s former headquarters at Granada Studios on Quay Street, known for its bright sign, was a well-known landmark for many years. Granada produces Coronation Street, local news, and programs for North West England. Manchester is also covered by an internet television channel called Manchester TV.
With the rise of regional television in the 1950s, Manchester became one of the BBC’s three main centers in England. In 1954, the BBC opened its first regional television studio outside London, Dickenson Road Studios, in a former church building in Rusholme. The first broadcast of Top of the Pops was shown there on New Year’s Day 1964. From 1975, BBC programs such as Mastermind and Real Story were made at New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road. Cutting It and The Street were set in Manchester, as was Life on Mars. Manchester was the regional base for BBC One North West Region programs before they moved to MediaCityUK.
Manchester has many licensed radio stations, including local stations such as BBC Radio Manchester, Hits Radio Manchester, Capital Manchester and Lancashire, Greatest Hits Radio Manchester & The North West, Heart North West, Smooth North West, Gold, and Radio X. It has over 28 DAB stations, which Digital Radio UK says makes Manchester the world’s largest DAB multiplex. Student radio stations include Fuse FM at the University of Manchester and MMU Radio at the Manchester Metropolitan University. A community radio network is managed by Radio Regen, with stations covering Ardwick, Longsight, and Levenshulme (All FM 96.9) and Wythenshawe (Wythenshawe FM 97.2).
International relations
During the Industrial Revolution, increased international trade led to the first consuls being created in the 1820s. Since then, more than 800 consulates from around the world have been located in Manchester. Manchester provides consular services for most of northern England.
Manchester has a sister city relationship with Chemnitz, Germany, since 1983 and with Wuhan, China, since 1986. Greater Manchester has a sister city relationship with Osaka, Japan, since 2025 and works with many other cities.
In addition to these sister cities, Manchester has friendly relations with other locations. Manchester has the largest number of consulates in England outside of London. The current consulate-generals, unless otherwise noted, are: