Towns and Cities: United Kingdom

UK City of Culture

This title, which is administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, aims to "build on the success of Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture 2008, which had significant social and economic benefits for the area". It was first announced in January 2009, by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham. A working group chaired by television producer Phil Redmond decided that the designation should be given to a different city once every four years, starting in 2013.

		Shortlisted but not chosen
2013	Derry–Londonderry	Birmingham, Norwich, Sheffield
2017	Kingston–Upon–Hull	Dundee, Leicester, Swansea Bay
2021	Coventry	Paisley, Stoke–on–Trent, Sunderland, Swansea
2025	Bradford	County Durham, Southampton, Wrexham

Jubilee Cities (2022)

	Bangor (Co. Down)		Colchester		Doncaster		Douglas (IoM)
	Dunfermline		Milton Keynes		Stanley (Falklands)		Wrexham

Jubilee Cities (2012)

Jubilee Cities (2002)

Milllennium Cities (2000)

Other

Dorset village that gives its name to the world's only managed colony of nesting mute swans, where they have bred for at least 600 years – in The Fleet, a lagoon behind Chesil Beach		Abbotsbury
The UK's first city, alphabetically		Aberdeen
National Library of Wales		Aberystwyth
Suffolk town: first place in Britain to have a woman mayor (Elizabeth Garrett Anderson)		Aldeburgh
Venue of an annual festival of classical music, founded 1948 by Eric Crozier, Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears		Aldeburgh
Cheshire village, said to have a greater proportion of millionaires than any other UK location: named on Ordnance Survey maps, as late as 1871, as Chorley		Alderley Edge
Small town and port on the north coast of Anglesey: Wales's most northerly town		Amlwch
Cumbrian town on the River Eden, famous for its annual horse fair (June) – one of the largest annual gatherings for gypsies and travellers in the UK		Appleby
Deeside town famous for smoked haddock ('smokies')		Arbroath
Robert the Bruce declared independence (1320) at		Arbroath
Northern Ireland town: historically considered a city, by virtue of its being the seat of the Primate of All Ireland; lost its city corporation by Act of Parliament in 1840; city status officially granted in 1994 in belated celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession		Armagh
Seat of both Primates of All Ireland (Roman Catholic and Anglican); has two cathedrals, both dedicated to St. Patrick		Armagh
The two villages that were submerged by the creation of Ladybower reservoir – each named, at least in part, after one of the two principal rivers that feed the reservoir		Ashopton
		Derwent
Wiltshire village that stands partly within what's variously described as "the world's largest Mesolithic stone circle" and "one of Europe's largest stone circles"		Avebury
Britain's busiest ski resort: on the north–western fringes of the Cairngorms National Park, it first gained importance in the 19th century as the point where the Great North of Scotland Railway branched off from the Highland Railway		Aviemore
Devon town, gave its name to a high–quality type of carpet		Axminster
Buckinghamshire's county town: gave its name to a popular breed of duck		Aylesbury
Village in North Yorkshire: gives its name to a triple flight of waterfalls on the River Ure – a popular tourist attraction		Aysgarth
Derbyshire town, famous as the home of a pudding or tart where the pastry is covered with a thin layer of jam and filled with frangipane (almond paste)		Bakewell
Name shared by a small Devon town, famous for its annual Pony Fair, and the Oxfordshire town that was used for filming outdoor scenes in the TV series Downton Abbey		Bampton
Oxfordshire town, gives its name to a currant–filled pastry cake		Banbury
Bowes Museum (said to house the best collection of European fine and decorative arts in the North of England; includes paintings by El Greco, Canaletto and Goya) – market town in County Durham		Barnard Castle
Also known as Bideford Bay		Barnstaple
Cumbrian shipbuilding town (in Lancashire until 1974), where Britain's first submarine was built in 1901, its first nuclear submarine in 1960, and the vast majority of its nuclear–powered submarines since then		Barrow–in–Furness
The largest town in the Vale of Glamorgan (the southernmost part of Wales) and as such, the southernmost town in Wales		Barry
The first English city, alphabetically		Bath
Richard Nash (known as 'Beau' Nash) was the 18th Century Master of Ceremonies for
Royal Crescent (with 30 houses and 114 Ionic columns)
Victoria Art Gallery, Burrows Toy Museum
Pulteney Bridge (along with the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, one of only two in Europe with shops lining both sides)
Sally Lunn's House is reputedly the oldest building in
Town on Anglesey, founded by Edward I in order to build a castle; he evicted local residents (of Llanfaes) to Newborough, and only allowed English people to live there; name comes from the French for "beautiful marshes"		Beaumaris
Anglesey's first county town		Beaumaris
Snowdonia village: said to be the site of the grave of Llewellyn's wolfhound (although there is no evidence), which is the origin of its name		Beddgelert
Odyssey Arena (opened 2000)		Belfast
Village in Co. Fermanagh, renowned for its lustre finish china		Belleek
England's most northerly town		Berwick–upon–Tweed
A favourite holiday destination of L. S. Lowry (at least in the 1930s), now home to a Lowry Trail		Berwick–upon–Tweed
County town of the East Riding of Yorkshire: also famous for its minster (completed around 1420) and its racecourse		Beverley
The river Trent rises near		Biddulph (Moor)
New Street, Moor Street and Snow Hill railway stations		Birmingham
Cathedrals of St. Philip (Anglican) and St. Chad (Roman Catholic), as well as the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of ... the Mother of God and St. Andrew
Winson Green prison
Claims to have more miles of canals than Venice (35, compared with 26)
The Balti Triangle (Ladypool Road, Stoney Lane, Stratford Road) – popularly believed to be the birthplace of the Balti curry
Alexander Stadium – home to Birchfield Harriers athletics club, and HQ of UK Athletics
Hollywood is a suburb of
The Custard Factory – a 15–acre complex of shops, offices and leisure facilities, in the former home of the Bird's Custard company
Blakesley Hall (a Tudor house), Museum of the Jewellery Quarter, Sarehole Mill (a water mill) and Soho House (formerly the home of the industrialist Matthew Boulton) are all museums in
Seat of the Bishop of Durham		Bishop Auckland
National Shooting Centre – the UK's largest civilian shooting range, and headquarters of the National Rifle Association (the governing body of full bore rifle and pistol shooting sports in the UK)		Bisley
The only British resort with three piers – North (the oldest and longest of the three), Central and South		Blackpool
Home of the TVR car company
The Premium Bonds Organisation (with ERNIE 3, the third–generation prize–winner–selecting computer) moved in approximately 1996 (from here) to
Encircled by the Snowdonia National Park, but not included in it		Blaenau Ffestiniog
Town in the Welsh valleys that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (first of the UK's 28, in alphabetical order!) and home to The Big Pit: (Welsh) National Coal Museum		Blaenavon
Perthshire town, famous for its soft fruits (especially raspberries)		Blairgowrie
Derbyshire town: overlooked by a 17th–century castle, which is home to one of the world's four remaining schools of classical dressage		Bolsover
Ye Olde Man & Scythe – one of several claimants to the title of England's oldest public house (see also Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks)		Bolton
Cornish seaside village, devastated by a flash flood in August 2004		Boscastle
Dorset's largest town		Bournemouth
Headquarters of the Meteorological Office, until 2003 (when it moved here)		Bracknell
Wilde Theatre		Bracknell
The UK's National Science and Media Museum – Britain's most popular museum outside London (established in 1983; known as the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television until 2006, then the National Media Museum until 2017)		Bradford
Alhambra Theatre (opened in 1914, bought by the city council in 1964)
Forster Square and Interchange are the two main railway stations in
Divided by the River Severn into High Town and Lower Town, connected by a cliff railway		Bridgnorth
Norman keep that has leaned at 17° for 300 years
The Severn Valley Railway runs to Kidderminster from
Bevendean, Roedean (famous for its girls' school), Rottingdean (famous for its windmill) and Saltdean are former villages, now in the city of		Brighton
Volk's Electric Railway is a narrow gauge railway that runs along the seafront in
The Lanes: alleys full of antique shops, in
Cabot Tower (built in the 1890s to commemorate the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's voyage to what later became Canada)		Bristol
Temple Meads Railway Station; Colston Hall (concert venue, renamed in 2020); The Arnolfini (art gallery, founded in 1961); Cabot Circus shopping centre; The Tobacco Factory (residential and leisure complex); The Watershed (the UK's first dedicated media centre)
Brunel's SS Great Britain was built in ... and was returned there in 1970 from the Falkland Islands, where it was scuttled in 1930, and is now a museum
The New Room (a.k.a. John Wesley's Chapel) – the oldest Methodist chapel in the world, built by John Wesley in 1739
Chew Valley Lake provides drinking water for
Bedminster, Downend, Fishponds, Mangotsfield, Montpelier, Redcliffe, St. Jude's and St. Paul's are areas of
Devon fishing port and holiday resort: replica of Drake's Golden Hind (since 1963)		Brixham
Bleak House, where Dickens wrote much of David Copperfield		Broadstairs
The Royal Welsh show is held each year near		Builth Wells
Considered to be the capital of British brewing, thanks to the quality of its hard underground water; home of Bass and Marston's breweries, and Marmite (since its foundation in 1902)		Burton–on–Trent
The largest castle in Wales (also gave its name to a cheese!)		Caerphilly
Town on the River Usk, just outside Newport (formerly in Monmouthshire): site of the notable Roman legionary fortress Isca Augusta (headquarters of Augustus's Second Legion, from about 75 to 300 AD), and an Iron Age hillfort		Caerleon
Parker's Piece (a 25–acre flat and roughly square green common, near the city centre – regarded as the birthplace of the rules of Association Football)		Cambridge
The Backs (riverside lawns where colleges back onto the River Cam)
Addenbrooke's Hospital – an internationally–renowned teaching hospital and research centre
Mathematical Bridge (a wooden bridge, reputedly built without nails)
Fitzwilliam Museum
Polar Research Institute (a tribute to Captain Scott)
Town on the Kintyre peninsula, forms one of the five regions of Scotch whisky production (now chiefly known for low quality malts)		Campbeltown
Wat Tyler's revolting peasants marched to London from		Canterbury
Europe's newest capital city (since 1955)		Cardiff
Cathays Park is the Civic Centre of
Tiger Bay, Sophia Gardens, Roald Dahl Plass
Sherman Theatre (opened in 1973 by the Duke of Edinburgh)
Adamsdown, Canton, Cathays, Ely, Roath and Splott are districts of
Said to be the birthplace of Merlin – Merlin's Oak (actually planted around the time of the Restoration) actually died (was poisoned) around 1856 but stood until 1978; the last fragment is now on display in the Civic Hall		Carmarthen
Granted to the Scots in 945; the only city added to England since the Norman Conquest		Carlisle
Road haulier Eddie Stobart is based in		Carlisle
Cumbrian village, famous for its racecourse, 12th–century priory, and (as of July 2020) two Michelin–starred restaurants (one of which has two stars)		Cartmel
Village in North Yorkshire: gives its name to the British army's largest garrison		Catterick
Dorset village made famous by the nearby chalk figure of a naked man (popularly believed to be ancient, but recently dated to about the 17th century)		Cerne Abbas
Town in the extreme south of Somerset (population 13,074 in 2011): shares its name with a leafy green vegetable of the beet family		Chard
Market town near Stoke–on–Trent, Staffordshire: dominated by the 19th century Catholic Church of St. Giles – known locally as 'Pugin's Gem', after the architect who was commissioned by John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, to create a church that "would have no rival"		Cheadle
The UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) – since 1953		Cheltenham
The UK's only city with unbroken walls		Chester
Lord Mayor has enjoyed the honorific title of Admiral of the Dee, since at least 1528
King Charles' Tower
Famous for the twisted spire of its parish church		Chesterfield
English county town, has held an annual Theatre Festival at the Festival Theatre since 1962		Chichester
Lancashire town: gave its name to a currant–filled pastry cake (said to be less sweet than the better–known Eccles cake, and made with shortcrust pastry as opposed to flaky)		Chorley
Capital of the Cotswolds; home of the Royal Agricultural University – formerly known as the Royal Agricultural College – founded in 1840, and the oldest agricultural college in the English–speaking world		Cirencester
Grimsby Town play home games in		Cleethorpes
Remains of a Norman castle with the smallest keep in England		Clitheroe
Town near Shrewsbury, famous for its translucent white bone china		Coalport
England's oldest recorded town – famous for its annual oyster festival		Colchester
The Old Siege House; Mercury Theatre; Firstsite art gallery		Colchester
North Wales coastal market town, whose mussels have had PDO status since 2015		Conw(a)y
Was a county in its own right, from 1451 to 1842		Coventry
Belgrade Theatre
Lady Godiva rode through (according to legend)
St. Michael's Cathedral – consecrated 1962 after rebuilding
Whitley – site of the headquarters of Jaguar Land Rover – is a suburb of
Headquarters of the Royal Yacht Squadron		Cowes
Northumberland fishing village famous for its kippers (smoked herrings)		Craster
National Tramway Museum (Derbyshire town)		Crich
Ashcroft Theatre, Fairfield Halls		Croydon
McDonald's first UK branch was opened (1973) in		Croydon
New town founded 1956 in Scotland's Stratchclyde Region		Cumbernauld
Essex town (London suburb) where Ford opened a plant in 1931 – which since 2002 has only made engines		Dagenham
Town on the Thames Estuary in Kent: gave its name to a species of warbler (bird)		Dartford
Linked to Thurrock (Essex) by the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge and two tunnels
See also Birthplaces
New Zealand and California are districts of (English city)		Derby
Granted city status in 1977, in connection with the Queen's silver jubilee		Derby
Northern Ireland's second–biggest city, and Ireland's fourth–biggest		Derry (Londonderry)
Railway town in South Oxfordshire (historically in Berkshire): known for its Railway Museum, opened in 1967, and power stations		Didcot
The Williams Formula 1 team was founded there in 1977 (but moved in 1995 to the village of Grove, about 8 miles to the west)		Didcot
Said by some to get its name from two rivers whose names mean respectively black (or dark) and green (or clear)		Douglas, Isle of Man
Shakespeare Cliff and Beach		Dover
Black Country Museum		Dudley
House where Robert Burns lived from 1791 until his death – now a museum		Dumfries
Served by road and rail bridges over the Tay estuary, which link it to Edinburgh (via Fife and the Forth bridges)		Dundee
Known as "the city of Jam, Jute and Journalism"
Home of D. C. Thomson & Co. (publishers of the Beano, Dandy, etc.)
Captain Scott's ship Discovery was built at, and can now be seen berthed at – as can HMS Unicorn (laid down at Chatham in 1824, and one of the six oldest ships in the world)
Cathedral (the Cathedral Church of Christ, Blessed Mary the Virgin and St. Cuthbert), along with the adjacent castle, declared a World Heritage Site in 1986		Durham
Introduced the UK's first congestion charge (for a small part of the historic city centre) in October 2002 – four months before London		Durham
New town and development area in north–western Kent, between Gravesend and Dartford, named after the river that it straddles which was sacred to the Celts		Ebbsfleet
Designated in 1947 as Scotland's first New Town; now its sixth largest town or city by population		East Kilbride
The largest town in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, and its administrative centre; its name refers to a river that joins the Usk at Newport, just before it flows into the Severn Estuary; represented in Parliament by Aneurin Bevan, 1926–60		Ebbw Vale
Town formerly in Lancashire, now part of Salford metropolitan borough (Greater Manchester): gave its name to a currant–filled pastry cake (cf. Chorley)		Eccles
Derbyshire village at the southern end of the Pennine Way (foot of Kinder Scout)		Edale
Haymarket and Waverley railway stations		Edinburgh
Holyrood Palace
The Royal Mile (a succession of streets, leading from the Castle through the old town to Holyrood Palace)
Arthur's Seat (a volcanic 'plug' in Holyrood Park, on the outskirts of the city)
Usher Hall
Calton Hill, Salisbury Crags
Heriot Watt and Napier Universities
Monument to Sir Walter Scott
Mary King's Close – a covered alleyway, supposedly haunted and featured in numerous books and television programmes
Dunedin is an ancient name for
National Waterways Museum ('The Boat Museum') – industrial town on the Wirral, named after a town in Shropshire to which it is connected via canals (but not as directly as was intended)		Ellesmere Port
St. Davids Railway Station (also Central)		Exeter
The Meteorological Office moved in 2003 (from here) to
Gives its name to one of the four major codices of Anglo–Saxon literature, which was donated to the library of its Cathedral in 1072 by Leofric, its first bishop
Parliament Street – probably the world's second narrowest street
Royal Albert Memorial Museum (established in 1868)
Village on the outskirts of Brighton: location of the American Express Community (Amex) Stadium, home of Brighton & Hove Albion FC since 2011, and home to the University of Sussex (Brighton University also has a campus nearby)		Falmer
Suffolk seaport – the UK's largest container port. At the end of the A14		Felixstowe
The one of the six Potteries towns that Arnold Bennett didn't include in his five – dubbed 'the Town that Bennett Forgot'		Fenton
Town at the Southern end of Loch Ness		Fort Augustus
Village in Perthshire (Scotland), whose churchyard has a famous yew tree, said to be the oldest living tree in Europe; local legend claims it to be the birthplace of Pontius Pilate		Fortingall
Fishing port at the north–east corner of the Aberdeenshire coast (about 17 miles north of Peterhead): home to a university from 1595 to 1605		Fraserburgh
Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art (opened in 2002); Sage (centre for musical education and performance – opened in 2004); Shipley Art Gallery (opened 1917)		Gateshead
Central, Queen Street and Charing Cross railway stations; Buchanan Street and St. Enoch are former termini, now closed and demolished		Glasgow
St. Mungo's Cathedral
Burrell art collection; Kelvingrove Art Gallery
The world's third oldest underground railway system (after London and Budapest; opened in 1896) – and the only one in the UK that's entirely underground
Barlinnie Prison
Mayfest (annually, 1983–1997)
Mount Vernon (birthplace of actor John Barrowman) is a suburb of
The UK's first European City of Culture (1990)
Nottinghamshire village, whose inhabitants have a reputation for being "bereft of their wits"; shares its name with a famous fictional city (but it's pronounced differently)		Gotham
Eureka! The National Children's Museum		Halifax
Bettys and Taylors tea rooms (no apostrophes!) or Bettys Café Tea Rooms – opened 1919, since expanded to other Yorkshire towns, including York		Harrogate
Inhabitants are sometimes known as "monkey hangers" – their forebears being widely believed to have hung a monkey during the Napoleonic wars, thinking it was a French spy		Hartlepool
Essex seaport, stands to the south of the confluence of the Orwell and Stour estuaries – the only safe anchorage between the Thames and the Humber		Harwich
Home of Heinz		Hayes, Middx
Town in Powys (formerly Brecknock) famous for its second hand bookshops, and its annual literary festival – once described by Bill Clinton as "Woodstock of the Mind"		Hay–on–Wye
Market town in West Yorkshire, named in reference to the stream that joins the River Calder there: from the 1980s onwards, has embraced the title of the UK's "lesbian capital"		Hebden Bridge
Cornish town famous for its annual Furry Dance (May)		Helston
The North Tyne and South Tyne converge in		Hexham
Village (hamlet) in West Sussex: gives its name to the All England (Show) Jumping Course – venue for the Royal International Horse Show since 1992		Hickstead
Capital of the Scilly Isles		Hugh Town
Paragon Interchange (railway station opened 1847; bus station added in the 1930s; reopened in 2007 as … Paragon Interchange)		(Kingston upon) Hull
Land of Green Ginger (no definite article; previously – until about 1700 – known as Old Beverley Street) is a street in
Has its own telephone company, with distinctive cream–coloured call boxes
Wilberforce House, the birthplace of politician, abolitionist and social reformer William Wilberforce (1759–1833) – now a museum – is in the High Street of
Associated with the poets Andrew Marvell (born 14 miles to the east in 1621, moved there as a child and attended its Grammar School), Stevie Smith (born there in 1902, family moved to London when she was three), and Philip Larkin (worked as University Librarian there from 1955 until his death in 1985)
Ferens Art Gallery
London suburb, formerly in Essex: administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Redbridge		Ilford
Gants Hill tube station and the Kenneth More Theatre
Gave its name to a photographic film and chemicals manufacturer, founded 1879, closed 1976
'Sister' port to Grimsby, on the Humber estuary: together, they form (what was in 2019) the UK's largest port by tonnage		Immingham
Capital of the Highlands (of Scotland)		Inverness
The UK's most northerly city (one of the Millennium cities, created in 2000)		Inverness
Shropshire village, near the site of Abraham Darby's coal smelting works at Coalbrookdale: named after the structure built there from 1777 and opened in 1781 (Abraham Darby's grandson, Abraham Darby III, was involved in the building project, although his commission for the building work was withdrawn in 1776)		Ironbridge
Town on the south bank of the Tyne, downriver from Gateshead: associated with the Venerable Bede (he lived in its monastery and died there in 735) and the march against unemployment of 1936; also the birthplace of Steve Cram		Jarrow
Situated just north of Derwentwater (near the outflow)		Keswick
Town between Bristol and Bath, made famous in the 1950s (and early 1960s) by adverts on Radio Luxembourg for Horace Batchelor's 'Infra–draw' method for winning on the football pools		Keynsham
Worcestershire town famous for carpet making; the Severn Valley Railway runs from Bridgnorth to		Kidderminster
North Yorkshire village (on the edge of the North York Moors) famous for Britain's largest chalk 'White Horse';, carved by a local schoolmaster and his pupils in 1857		Kilburn
The largest population centre (town or city) in Ayrshire – linked to Glasgow by the M77		Kilmarnock
Full name of Hull		Kingston upon Hull
Principal town of Orkney		Kirkwall
Scottish village (in the Borders Region) at the northern end of the Pennine Way		Kirk Yetholm
Village on the Isle of Man, famous as the location of the world's largest working water wheel (known as the Lady Isabella)		Laxey
Midlands town, name preceded by 'Royal'		Leamington Spa
Highest navigable point on the Thames		Lechlade, Glos
Armley Jail; the Royal Armouries Museum		Leeds
Holds a prestigious international piano competition every three years (since 1963)		Leeds
(Britain's) National Space Centre (opened in 2001) – cf. Swindon		Leicester
De Montfort Hall (and University)		Leicester
Port of Edinburgh: the Royal yacht Britannia has been permanently moored there since decommissioning in 1997		Leith
Most northerly town in the British Isles		Lerwick
The world's first garden city (founded in 1903 through the garden city movement – a method of urban planning, initiated in 1898 by Sir Ebenezer Howard; this was the second; also see here)		Letchworth
Home of the world's first traffic roundabout (introduced in 1909)		Letchworth
Sussex town, famous for its anti–Catholic bonfire celebrations on 5th November (commemorating the 17 Protestant martyrs burnt at the stake there under Mary I)		Lewes
Memorial statue to Edward J. Smith, captain of the Titanic – who was born in Hanley, Stoke–on–Trent – unveiled July 1914 (5 days before the outbreak of WWI)		Lichfield
Lime Street station		Liverpool
Walker Art Gallery
Walton Gaol
Bluecoat Arts Centre – the oldest building in the city centre (built in 1718 as the Blue Coat School for poor children, which moved to Wavertree in 1906)
Tate Gallery, Wapping, Fleet Street: found in London and
European Capital of Culture, 2008
Carmarthenshire town associated with the tin plating industry – the Welsh folk song Sospan Fach (Little Saucepan) is the anthem of its rugby club		Llanelli
Town in the Welsh Valleys (county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf – historic county of Glamorgan) to which the Royal Mint moved (from London) in 1967, in order to meet demand in preparation for the conversion to decimal currency four years later		Llantrisant
Has the world's biggest and oldest underground railway, and the world's oldest rapid transit system		London
The UN General Assembly met for the first time (1946) in		London
Market town on the river Lud: self–proclaimed "Capital of the Lincolnshire Wolds"		Louth
Shares its name with the Republic of Ireland's smallest county (by area)		Louth
Great Britain's most easterly town		Lowestoft
Bedfordshire town famous for hat making		Luton
Harbour wall known as The Cobb – featured in Jane Austen's Persuasion, and also in The French Lieutenant's Woman		Lyme Regis
The Premium Bonds Organisation was based, from its foundation in 1956 until approximately 1996, in		(Lytham) St. Annes
The Football League's headquarters, from 1959 until approximately 1999, were in (see here)		(Lytham) St. Annes
Nearest town to the Centre for Alternative Technology		Machynlleth
Town on the banks of the River Blackwater, in Essex: famous for the production of high–quality sea salt		Maldon
Headquarters of the Equal Opportunities Commission, and of Ofsted		Manchester
Piccadilly and Victoria railway stations
The Ford motor company's first manufacturing plant outside the USA (opened in 1911; moved to a bigger site at Dagenham, Essex, in 1931)
Royal Exchange Theatre; Whitworth Art Gallery; G–Mex Centre
Free Trade Hall (1853–1996); Bridgewater Hall (opened in 1996)
Urbis exhibition centre – opened in 2002, closed in 2010; re–opened in 2012 as the National Football Museum (moved from Deepdale, home of Preston North End FC)
Strangeways Prison
Chill Factor–e indoor ski centre (opened 2007)
Sportcity – including the National Cycling and Squash Centres, the headquarters of the Rugby Football League, an athletics stadium, and a Premier League football ground
Town linked by a causeway at low tide to St. Michael's Mount, Cornwall		Marazion
Shropshire town, claims to be the home of gingerbread ("the oldest cake bread in the world" – BBC website)		Market Drayton
Theakston's brewery (North Yorkshire market town)		Masham
Overlooked by Riber Castle – built in 1862, home to a controversial wildlife park from 1960 to 2000 (Derbyshire town)		Matlock
Leicestershire town famous for Stilton cheeses and pork pies		Melton Mowbray
West Midlands village, near Coventry (formerly in Warwickshire) – traditionally regarded as the centre of England		Meriden
The 'parmo' – a breaded cutlet of chicken or pork, topped with a white béchamel sauce and cheese – is a popular street food in		Middlesbrough
Cheshire town: founded by the Romans, who named it Salinae for its salt deposits; the Shropshire Canal meets the Trent & Mersey here, and the rivers Croco and Wheelock meet the Dane on its outskirts		Middlewich
Bletchley Park – site of the UK's main decryption establishment in WWII, now a museum and also home to the National Museum of Computing (opened in 2007)		Milton Keynes
Headquarters of the Open University		Milton Keynes
Frontierland (theme park)		Morecambe
Shropshire town, venue of an annual "Olympic" games competition, dating from 1850, which inspired the modern Olympic games (Pierre de Coubertin visited in 1890). One of the 2012 mascots was named in their honour		Much Wenlock
Lancashire town, formed in the early 19th century by the merger of Great and Little Marsden (villages)		Nelson
Greenham Common US air base was near (Berkshire town)		Newbury
England's most northerly city		Newcastle–upon–Tyne
The Hoppings – an annual fair held on the Town Moor
Greggs – the UK's largest Baker – opened its first shop in 1951, and still has its headquarters, in
Cornish seaside town (near Penzance) from which the Ordnance Survey measures heights above mean sea level		Newlyn
Suffolk town almost entirely surrounded by Cambridgeshire		Newmarket
Name shared by the capital of the Isle of Wight and Wales's third–largest city (after Cardiff and Swansea)		Newport
Northern Ireland's third largest town – formed 1958 by merging seven villages		Newtownabbey
Bernard Matthews's turkey farm (Norfolk town)		North Walsingham
The UK's most easterly city; headquarters of Anglia TV		Norwich
Home of Colman's mustard, and the Colman's Mustard Museum		Norwich
The first Luddite riots (1811); the first public telephone kiosk (1908)		Nottingham
Has held an annual Goose Fair since at least AD 1284 – for eight days, starting on 21 September, up to 1752, but in the first week of October since the adoption of the Gregorian calendar (see also Tavistock)
Britain's National Watersports Centre (Holme Pierrepoint) is on the outskirts of
Britain's National Ice Skating Centre (opened 2000)
Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem – one of several claimants to the title of England's oldest public house (see also Ye Olde Man & Scythe, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks)
Lace Market (once the heart of the world's lace–making industry)
Headquarters of Boot's the Chemist, Raleigh Bicycles, Player's Cigarettes
Beeston, Hockley and Hyson Green are areas of
County town of Rutland		Oakham
Served by Mumps railway station, from 1847, until its closure in 2009 to be replaced by a Metrolink tram stop from 2012 (named after the district of the town, whose name is probably derived from a dialect word for a beggar)		Oldham
Buckinghamshire town, famous for its annual pancake race and for the hymns to which it gave its name, written in the 18th century by the local curate, John Newton, and his friend, the poet William Cowper		Olney
The Bodleian Library, including the Radcliffe Camera, is part of the University of		Oxford
Martyrs' Memorial (to archbishops Cranmer, Ridley and Latimer)
Ashmolean Museum; Sheldonian Theatre
Headquarters of Thames Valley Police
The Carfax Tower – the remains of a 12th–century church – is considered to be the centre of ("carfax" is an anglicisation of the Latin for a crossroads, via the French carrefour)
Gave its name to a 19th century religious movement, and (courtesy of its university) to a style of loose–fitting trousers, popular in the first half of the 20th century; also formal styles for shoes and shirts
Cornish seaside town, famous for its May Day Hobby Horse ('Obby 'Oss) festival and for Rick Stein's (several) seafood restaurants		Padstow
The major fishing port on the Isle of Man; St. German's Cathedral – seat of the Bishop of Sodor and Man		Peel
The most westerly major town in Cornwall, and the most westerly harbour on the English Channel; situated on Mount's Bay, about eight miles from Land's End		Penzance
Traditionally part of Northamptonshire, though separately administered; joined with Huntingdonshire in 1965–74, now part of Cambridgeshire		Peterborough
Scotland's most easterly town (fishing centre, 30 miles north of Aberdeen)		Peterhead
New town in Co. Durham, built after World War II and named after a famous miners' leader who died in 1935		Peterlee
The River Tamar flows into the sea at		Plymouth
The largest city in England never to have had a top flight football team, since Hull's promotion to the Premiership in 2008
Name changed from Sutton in the 15th century; Sutton Harbour (f.k.a. Sutton Pool) is bordered by the Barbican, an area of cobbled streets and historical dockside buildings
National Marine Aquarium – built on reclaimed land in Sutton Harbour, next to the Barbican (see above), and opened in 1998
Market town in West Yorkshire, famous for liquorice (its sandy soil makes it one of the few places in the UK where the plant can be grown; in 2015 there were still two factories there producing liquorice, but the plant is no longer actually grown there)		Pontefract
Name comes (according to local tradition) from the Latin for "broken bridge"		Pontefract
Headquarters of the RNLI		Poole
Welsh village designed in Italianate style by Clough Williams–Ellis, famous for its pottery and for being used as the setting for the cult 60s TV series The Prisoner		Portmeirion
Welsh coastal town founded 1811 by William Madocks, MP for Boston, Lincolnshire, when he built a sea wall to create agricultural land		Porthmadog (Portmadoc) – also Tremadoc
HMS Victory; Mary Rose Exhibition		Portsmouth
The UK's only island city
The Hard (originally a slipway – now a transport interchange)
Charles Dickens Birthplace Museum
D–Day Museum (opened in 1984, on the 40th anniversary)
Spinnaker Tower – opened in 2005: the tallest building open to the public in Britain, outside London (at 558 ft – 4 ft higher than Manchester's Beetham Tower)
Cornish coastal town: home of the shanty–singers Fisherman's Friends, and used as a filming location for several TV dramas including Doc Martin		Port Isaac
Model village set up on the Wirral by William Lever in 1828, and named after the first branded household soap; home to the Lady Lever Art Gallery (opened in 1922)		Port Sunlight
Formed in 1921 by the amalgamation of Aberavon and Margram		Port Talbot
Experimental model town on the outskirts of Dorchester, on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall; construction started in 1993, based on an initiative of Prince Charles, and was planned to take 25 years		Poundbury
Town in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, where the Shakespeare North Playhouse opened in 2022 – in recognition of the Playhouse that was there in Shakespeare's day		Prescot
England's National Football Museum opened, in 2001, in (moved to Manchester in 2012)		Preston
Headquarters of the Football League (except from 1959 until approximately 1999 when they were here)
Garth prison
Nearest village to Dartmoor Prison		Princetown
Village on the Firth of Forth, now a suburb of Edinburgh, between the road and rail bridges (now often referred to as South …, to distinguish it from North … on the other bank)		Queensferry
Forbury Gardens – featuring the Maiwand Lion, a memorial to (and named after) one of the principal battles of the Second Anglo–Afghan war (1878–80)		Reading
Market town in North Yorkshire, on the eastern edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park: shares its name with a London borough and a US state capital		Richmond
Fishing village between Scarborough and Whitby, with a history of smuggling: known locally as Bay Town		Robin Hood's Bay
Eastern extremity of Wainwright's Coast to Coast path		Robin Hood's Bay
The Co–operative movement was founded, in 1844, in		Rochdale
City in Kent and port in New York State		Rochester
Formerly (but never officially) known as New Sarum (Old Sarum is an ancient fort from which the modern city essentially developed); bishops have used Sarum as their Latin title since the 14th century; its cathedral has the world's oldest working clock		Salisbury
The only city in Wiltshire		Salisbury
Model town near Bradford, built in 1853 and now a World Heritage Site; named after its founder and the local river		Saltaire
Salts Mill – a leisure complex, including an art gallery devoted to the works of David Hockney		Saltaire
Cheshire town where Foden and ERF lorries were manufactured (marques discontinued in 2006 and 2007 respectively)		Sandbach
Stephen Joseph Theatre (Alan Ayckbourn was its Artistic Director, 1972–2009)		Scarborough
Market town at the foot of the Howgill Fells in Cumbria: England's official 'book town' (equivalent to Hay–on–Wye in Wales and Wigtown in Scotland); also famous for its public school		Sedbergh
Crucible Theatre		Sheffield
Hallam Arena, (and University)
Meadowhall shopping centre (near)
National Centre for Popular Music (opened 1999, closed 2000; now a Students' Union building for Hallam University)
Kelham Island Industrial Museum
The rivers Loxley, Sheaf and Rivelin, and the Porter Brook, all join the Don in
Park Hill Estate: built 1957–61 to replace streets of back–to–back housing, it became Europe's largest listed building when it was controversially Grade II listed in 1998
'Supertram' public transport system (tram and tram–train): opened in 1994, operating in and around
Gold Hill – made famous in the 1973 Hovis advert (where the delivery boy had to push his bike up the hill, to the tune from Dvořák's New World symphony) – is in (Dorset town)		Shaftesbury
Welsh Bridge, Kingsland Bridge		Shrewsbury
" ... so bracing" (famous advertising campaign)		Skegness
Has four tides a day		Southampton
HQ of the Ordnance Survey		Southampton
The world's longest pleasure pier – 1.34 miles long		Southend–on–Sea
Granted city status in 2022, in memory of Sir David Amess, one of its MPs and a long–time supporter of city status for the borough, who was fatally stabbed in 2021		Southend–on–Sea
British Lawnmower Museum; Royal Birkdale golf course (up to and including 2023, has hosted the Open Championship ten times – first in 1954, last in 2017)		Southport
Seaside resort that forms the southern half of Portsmouth		Southsea
Smallest English town with a cathedral		Southwell
Berkshire village (now part of Newbury) that gave its name to a system of poor relief that was devised there (by local magistrates) in 1795		Speenhamland
Headquarters of CAMRA		St. Albans
Ye Olde Fighting Cocks – one of several claimants to the title of England's oldest public house (see also Ye Olde Man & Scythe, Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem)		St. Albans
Coastal town in Fife: known as the 'home of golf' (home to the Royal & Ancient Golf Club); also home to Scotland's oldest university (the UK's third oldest, after Oxford and Cambridge)		St. Andrews
Britain's second smallest city, after St. David's: one of the 2012 Jubilee cities (population 3,355 in 2011)		St. Asaph
Britain's smallest and most westerly city – population 1,841 (2011 census)		St. David's
Lost its city status in 1888 for legal reasons; city status was officially granted in 1994 in belated celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession		St. David's
World of Glass (museum)		St. Helens
Cornish seaside town, where an artists' colony was established in 1928; Ben Nicholson and Barbara Hepworth moved there in 1939; Hepworth's studio and garden opened as a museum, the year after her death there in a fire in 1975; a branch of the Tate Gallery opened there in 1993		St. Ives
Town in Greater Manchester (formerly Cheshire) with Britain's longest and shortest pub names (The Old Thirteenth Cheshire Astley Volunteer Rifleman Corps Inn, and Q, respectively)		Stalybridge
The Wallace Monument, on the summit of Abbey Craig, is just outside		Stirling
Britain's first New Town, created under the New Towns Act 1946 (designated 11 November 1946; cf. Letchworth)		Stevenage
'The Other Place' Theatre		Stratford–on–Avon
Somerset village: headquarters of C & J Clark, shoe manufacturers, which was founded there in 1825 (although they no longer manufacture there)		Street
Millfield School (founded in 1935, originally housed in a mansion built by the Clark family)		Street
Gloucestershire town: gave its name to blankets used for trading with Native Americans (which were probably manufactured there)		Stroud
Granted city status in 1992, in connection with the 40th anniversary of the Queen's accession		Sunderland
"The Magic Roundabout" (a complicated gyratory system of traffic roundabouts)		Swindon
Headquarters of Honda UK, 1985–2021 (after which Honda ceased production in Europe)
Headquarters of the UK Space Agency (known before 2010 as the British National Space Centre – cf. Leicester)
STEAM – the museum of the Great Western Railway (on the site that was once the GWR's locomotive works)
Heelis – an award–winning new office building, home (since 2005) to the National Trust
North Yorkshire market town: home to John Smith's and Samuel Smith's breweries		Tadcaster
Devon market town: granted a Royal Charter in 1116 to hold a three–day fair to mark the feast of its patron saint, St. Rumon – a tradition still maintained in the annual Goosey Fair (2nd Wednesday in October)		Tavistock
Designated in 1963 as Dawley New Town; renamed in 1968 after the Scottish civil engineer who became Surveyor of Public Works in Shropshire in 1787, and established himself as an engineer of road and canal projects through his works in the county; also includes Wellington, Oakengates, Madeley		Telford
The Warwickshire Avon (a.k.a. Shakespeare's Avon) flows into the Severn at (Gloucestershire town – scene of one of the decisive battles of the Wars of the Roses)		Tewkesbury
The Church of St. John the Baptist, known as the Cathedral of the Peak, is in (Derbyshire village)		Tideswell
Essex town, between Chelmsford and Colchester: famous for Wilkin & Sons' jam factory		Tiptree
Torquay, Brixham, Paignton: collectively (mid–way between Exeter and Plymouth, on the south coast of Devon – known to tourist authorities as The English Riviera)		Torbay
Village in Snowdonia National Park, approximately four miles east of Porthmadog: name means 'across [the] mountain'; gives its name to a man–made reservoir (built in the 1920s to feed a hydro–electric power station) and a nuclear power station beside it (operational from 1965 to 91)		Trawsfynydd
Cornwall's only city; England's most westerly, and the UK's most southerly		Truro
The only UK city that begins with T		Truro
The Pantiles is the historic and tourist centre of		Tunbridge Wells
Oxfordshire village (formerly in Berkshire) famous for its Bronze Age white horse – probably the oldest in Britain		Uffington
Loopallu festival – annually since 2005 (coastal town in the north of Scotland)		Ullapool
Laurel & Hardy Museum		Ulverston
Westgate and Kirkgate railway stations (English cathedral city)		Wakefield
The Hepworth art museum – established in 2011, named after the artist and sculptor Barbara Hepworth who was born and educated there		Wakefield
Midland town, famous for saddle making		Walsall
Bank Quay railway station		Warrington
Ikea opened its first UK store, 1987, in		Warrington
England's smallest cathedral city (Somerset)		Wells
Founded in the 1920s by Sir Ebeneezer Howard (following his success with Letchworth)		Welwyn Garden City
The Public (community arts project, based in; and its controversial headquarters): opened in 2008, cost £72 million, closed 2013, re–opened in 2014 as a sixth–form college building		West Bromwich
Wiltshire village famous for one of Britain's oldest "White Horses" (before 1742)		Westbury
Seaside town in North Devon, named after a novel by Charles Kingsley – the only place in Britain with an exclamation mark in its name		Westward Ho!
The Isle of Portland lies just to the south of, and is connected by road to (coastal town)		Weymouth
A whalebone arch (on the West Cliff) commemorates the historic link with the whaling industry of		Whitby
The best Cheshire cheeses are said (paradoxically, because it's in Shropshire) to be made within a 20 mile radius of		Whitchurch
Kentish seaport, known since Roman times for its oysters		Whitstable
Birthplace of the alkali industry (19th century)		Widnes
Wallgate and North Western railway stations		Wigan
The River Douglas was diverted in 1892 to make way for a railway station, in		Wigan
East Sussex village famous for the nearby 17th century chalk figure known as the Long Man		Wilmington
Gives its name to the UK's Legoland resort – opened 1996, on the site of a former safari park which had gone into receivership in 1992		Windsor
Britain's first mosque (1889) and its first cremation (1884)		Woking
Midland town (now a city), had High Level and Low Level railway stations, up to 1965 (Low Level was closed for passenger services in 1972, and altogether in 1981; High Level was rebuilt in 1965, since when it's been known known only by the name of the town/city)		Wolverhampton
Britain's first automatic traffic lights were deployed in 1927 (the year after its first traffic lights were deployed in Piccadilly Circus, London) in
Monmore Green Stadium (a greyhound racing venue, which also hosted speedway until 2023)
Wiltshire market town, became noted for informal public mourning as the remains of troops killed in the Afghanistan war were taken from RAF Lyneham; granted a royal charter (the right to precede its name with 'Royal') in 2011 – the first English town for over 100 years to be given this honour		Wootton Bassett
Shrub Hill and Foregate Street railway stations		Worcester
Major town of The Dukeries (Nottinghamshire)		Worksop
Norfolk village that gave its name to a fine woollen fabric		Worstead
The Fleet Air Arm Museum is near (Somerset town)		Yeovil
Stands at the confluence of the Foss with the Yorkshire Ouse		York
Bootham Bar, Monk Bar, Walmgate Bar and Micklegate Bar are the four main gatehouses in the city walls of
Clifford's Tower is a popular name for the keep, and the only remaining part, of the Castle of
Micklegate, Whip–ma–Whop–ma–gate and The Shambles are streets in
National Railway Museum, Jorvik Viking Centre
The UK's last city, alphabetically