Stoke on Trent

Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles (19 km) long, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km²). Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke forms the The Potteries Urban Area. This, together with the rural Staffordshire Moorlands area, forms North Staffordshire, which in 2001, had a population of 457,165. The city formed by the federation of six originally separate towns and numerous villages in the early-20th century. The original settlement from which the federated town (not a city until 1925) took its name was Stoke-upon-Trent, because this was where the administration (and chief mainline railway station) was located. After the union, Hanley emerged as the primary commercial centre in the city, despite the efforts of its rival, Burslem. The three other component towns are Tunstall, Longton, and Fenton. Stoke-on-Trent is considered to be the home of the pottery industry in England and is commonly known as The Potteries. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres. The city is a unitary authority with a directly elected mayor.