The latter exemplifies a new surge in high-rise building. The generally accepted etymology of this name is that it comes from Brittonic *mamm- ("breast", in reference to a "breast-like hill"). There are three universities in the City of Manchester. Manchester city centre suffers from constrained rail capacity that frequently leads to delays and cancellations – a 2018 report found that all three major Manchester stations are among the top ten worst stations in the United Kingdom for punctuality, with Oxford Road deemed the worst in the country. [25] Just outside the immediate city centre are a large number of former cotton mills, some of which have been left virtually untouched since their closure, while many have been redeveloped as apartment buildings and office space. [21], During the English Civil War Manchester strongly favoured the Parliamentary interest. For purposes of the Office for National Statistics, Manchester forms the most populous settlement within the Greater Manchester Urban Area, the United Kingdom's third-largest conurbation. Manchester is well known as a city of sport. One of Manchester's notable secondary schools is Manchester Grammar School. Dispatched by Hillsborough County Sheriff on weekends. Within next years other existing radio stations were renamed and added to this network. [140] After deregulation in 1986, the bus system was taken over by GM Buses, which after privatisation was split into GM Buses North and GM Buses South. Local news, breakfast, drive and weekend programming from Manchester. Windsor is transitioning to this P25 system. The canal was extended to the Mersey at Runcorn by 1776. The Manchester Ship Canal was built between 1888 and 1894, in some sections by canalisation of the Rivers Irwell and Mersey, running 36 miles (58 km)[37] from Salford to Eastham Locks on the tidal Mersey. The area also attracts large numbers of Chinese students to the city who, in attending the local universities,[96] contribute to Manchester having the third-largest Chinese population in Europe.[97][98]. [223][224][225] Granada produces Coronation Street,[226] local news and programmes for North West England. [157] In terms of concertgoers, it is the busiest indoor arena in the world, ahead of Madison Square Garden in New York and The O2 Arena in London, which are second and third busiest. [48], Manchester has a history of attacks attributed to Irish Republicans, including the Manchester Martyrs of 1867, arson in 1920, a series of explosions in 1939, and two bombs in 1992. Following the Roman conquest of Britain in the 1st century, General Agricola ordered the construction of a fort named Mamucium in the year 79 to ensure that Roman interests in Deva Victrix (Chester) and Eboracum (York) were protected from the Brigantes. At that time, it seemed a place in which anything could happen—new industrial processes, new ways of thinking (the Manchester School, promoting free trade and laissez-faire), new classes or groups in society, new religious sects, and new forms of labour organisation. [183] Manchester was the meeting place of Engels and Karl Marx. Brass band music, a tradition in the north of England, is important to Manchester's musical heritage;[165] some of the UK's leading bands, such as the CWS Manchester Band and the Fairey Band, are from Manchester and surrounding areas, and the Whit Friday brass-band contest takes place annually in the neighbouring areas of Saddleworth and Tameside. [88] The city experienced the greatest percentage population growth outside London, with an increase of 19 per cent to over 500,000. The Office for National Statistics does not produce economic data for the City of Manchester alone, but includes four other metropolitan boroughs, Salford, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, in an area named Greater Manchester South, which had a GVA of £34.8 billion. [20] The Irwell and Mersey were made navigable by 1736, opening a route from Manchester to the sea docks on the Mersey. [213] Manchester City's home ground is the City of Manchester Stadium (also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship purposes); its former ground, Maine Road was demolished in 2003. Log on to Capitalfm.com to launch the online radio player and listen LIVE! [72] They include the A62 via Oldham and Standedge,[73] the A57, Snake Pass, towards Sheffield,[74] and the Pennine section of the M62. [17] Their territory extended across the fertile lowland of what is now Salford and Stretford. [20][25] The library, which opened in 1653 and is still open to the public today, is the oldest free public reference library in the United Kingdom. Two large squares hold many of Manchester's public monuments. It gained university status in 1992, and in the same year absorbed Crewe and Alsager College of Higher Education in South Cheshire. [20][218] For many years most national newspapers had offices in Manchester: The Daily Telegraph, Daily Express, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun. [161] Manchester also has the most indie and rock music events outside London. [178], The work of Stretford-born painter L. S. Lowry, known for "matchstick" paintings of industrial Manchester and Salford, can be seen in the City and Whitworth Manchester galleries, and at the Lowry art centre in Salford Quays (in the neighbouring borough of Salford), which devotes a large permanent exhibition to his works. From 1975, BBC programmes including Mastermind,[231] and Real Story,[232] were made at New Broadcasting House on Oxford Road. A reconstructed part of the Roman fort of Mamucium is open to the public in Castlefield. Manchester (/ˈmæntʃɪstər, -tʃɛs-/)[5][6] is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester has a thriving theatre, opera and dance scene, with a number of large performance venues, including Manchester Opera House, which feature large-scale touring shows and West End productions; the Palace Theatre; and the Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester's former cotton exchange, which is the largest theatre in the round in the UK. [54], On 22 May 2017, an Islamist terrorist carried out a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in the Manchester Arena; the bomb killed 23, including the attacker, and injured over 800. There is regular but generally light precipitation throughout the year. It was Manchester's first municipal airport and became the site of the first air traffic control tower in the UK, and the first municipal airfield in the UK to be licensed by the Air Ministry. Manchester later formed its own Poor Law Union using the name "Manchester". [63] In 1974, by way of the Local Government Act 1972, the City of Manchester became a metropolitan district of the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester. This represents a slower rate of growth than the previous decade. Listen online, on digital & radio to Gold, the UK's Number 1 Station for classic hits from the fifties, sixties, seventies & eighties Police are fully encrypted. These features are its climate, its proximity to a seaport at Liverpool, the availability of water power from its rivers, and its nearby coal reserves.[67]. The Fitzy sector is either a Final or an Initial Departure sector for the Manchester airport, depending on runway configuration. [106], KPMG's competitive alternative report also found that Manchester was Europe's most affordable city featured, ranking slightly better than the Dutch cities of Rotterdam and Amsterdam, which all have a cost-of-living index of less than 95. [191] Dame Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate from 2009 to 2019, moved to the city in 1996 and lives in West Didsbury. Later these were taken over by First Greater Manchester and Stagecoach Manchester. He was a diligent puritan, turning out ale houses and banning the celebration of Christmas; he died in 1656.[29]. Smaller venues include the Band on the Wall, the Night and Day Café,[159] the Ruby Lounge,[160] and The Deaf Institute. [170]:15, Manchester's museums celebrate Manchester's Roman history, rich industrial heritage and its role in the Industrial Revolution, the textile industry, the Trade Union movement, women's suffrage and football. Manchester has hosted domestic, continental and international football competitions at Fallowfield Stadium, Maine Road, Old Trafford and the City of Manchester Stadium. The largest open space in the city, at around 260 hectares (642 acres),[68] is Heaton Park. The proportion of those with no religious affiliation rose by 58.1 per cent from 16 per cent to 25.3 per cent, whilst the proportion of Muslims increased by 73.6 per cent from 9.1 per cent to 15.8 per cent. Hulme has undergone extensive regeneration, with million-pound loft-house apartments being developed. [17] Central Manchester has been permanently settled since this time. Manchester 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.[125]. Newington uses this system for public safety communications, Fire (simulcast from trunked radio system), Fire Intercity (patched with 154.265 MHz), Townwide Command/Special Events (Police, Fire, EMS, Simsbury High School Security). [194], The Madchester scene of the 1980s, from which groups including The Stone Roses, the Happy Mondays, Inspiral Carpets, 808 State, James and The Charlatans emerged, was based around clubs such as The Haçienda. [30] Manchester continued to process cotton, and in 1913, 65% of the world's cotton was processed in the area. For the towns dispatched by Capital Fire Compact, or Southwest New Hampshire dispatch, please visit the Regional Fire Dispatch Centers page. There were 76,095 undergraduate and postgraduate students at Manchester Metropolitan University, the University of Manchester and Royal Northern College of Music in the 2011/2012 academic year. [43] Manchester Cathedral, Royal Exchange and Free Trade Hall were among the buildings seriously damaged; restoration of the cathedral took 20 years. The Metro North West is available free at Metrolink stops, rail stations and other busy locations. [202], The three universities are grouped around Oxford Road on the southern side of the city centre, which forms Europe's largest urban higher-education precinct. The West sector overlies both Tommy and Fitzy sectors from above 4000 to and including 10,000. Manchester was the regional base for BBC One North West Region programmes before it relocated to MediaCityUK in nearby Salford Quays.[234][235]. [238] Defunct radio stations include Sunset 102, which became Kiss 102, then Galaxy Manchester), and KFM which became Signal Cheshire (now Imagine FM). In 2012 it showed the strongest annual growth in business stock (5 per cent) of all core cities. Fire departments includes: Tunxis Hose Co. No. [168] It is due to open at the end of 2019. First-class sporting facilities were built for the 2002 Commonwealth Games, including the City of Manchester Stadium, the National Squash Centre and the Manchester Aquatics Centre. Manchester (/ ˈ m æ n tʃ ɪ s t ər,-tʃ ɛ s-/) is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England.It has a population of 547,627 as of 2018 (making it the fifth-most populous English district). Discover online now. Bands that have emerged from the Manchester music scene include Van der Graaf Generator, Oasis, The Smiths, Joy Division and its successor group New Order, Buzzcocks, The Stone Roses, The Fall, The Durutti Column, 10cc, Godley & Creme, The Verve, Elbow, Doves, The Charlatans, M People, The 1975, Simply Red, Take That, Dutch Uncles, Everything Everything, Pale Waves and The Outfield. [143], Manchester Airport serves Manchester, Northern England and North Wales. [30] However, this period of decline coincided with the rise of the city as the financial centre of the region.