83 articles
Altrincham
Altrincham is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, established by market charter in 1290 and known for its independent food scene and award-winning town-center regeneration.
Ashton-under-Lyne
Ashton-under-Lyne, shortened to Ashton, is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, about six miles east of Manchester. Chartered 1284; cotton and coal mill town; population 8,000 in 1800, 36,000 by 1851.
Barnard Castle
Barnard Castle ('Barney') is a Teesdale market town in County Durham, England, named for the Norman Balliol castle above the River Tees; besieged in 1569, now an English Heritage ruin near the Bowes Museum.
Barnsley
Barnsley, South Yorkshire market town between Leeds and Sheffield, grew on the Barnsley coal seam with glass, linen and wire industries; now known for Glass Works regeneration, 9.3 million town centre visits, and Health on the High Street.
Barrow-in-Furness
Barrow-in-Furness is a Cumbrian industrial town, home of BAE Systems' shipyard, the UK's sole nuclear submarine builder, and the focus of the £200m-plus Team Barrow regeneration programme.
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Berwick-upon-Tweed, also Berwick, is England's northernmost town, in Northumberland at the River Tweed mouth near the Scottish border. Contested 13–14 times until 1482, it retains unique Elizabethan bastioned ramparts begun in 1558.
Beverley
Beverley is a market town in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, also called Beverley in Yorkshire, founded around the monastery of St John of Beverley, famed for its Gothic Minster, medieval sanctuary, Hanseatic wool trade, Westwood common, and 1690 racecourse.
Billingham
Billingham: town in Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham, Teesside; population 33,798 (2021 parish). Known for the ICI chemical works (from 1918), the 1967 town centre, Billingham Forum ice rink, and the International Folklore Festival.
Birkenhead
Birkenhead: town on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside, opposite Liverpool. Known for Birkenhead Priory (1150), the world's first publicly funded park (1847), Cammell Laird shipbuilding, and the Birkenhead 2040 regeneration framework.
Bishop Auckland
Bishop Auckland, County Durham market town, seat of the Bishops of Durham at Auckland Palace; railway and coal town, later Auckland Project heritage regeneration led by Jonathan Ruffer from 2012.
Blackburn
Blackburn, Lancashire town and seat of Blackburn with Darwen unitary borough; former world weaving capital with 29,000 weavers in 1920; borough population 163,801 (mid-2025), ranked 11th most deprived in England.
Blackpool
Blackpool is a seaside resort and unitary authority on Lancashire's Fylde coast, famed for its Tower, three piers, Pleasure Beach and Illuminations. It draws about 18 million visitors and £1.5 billion in spend yearly, alongside major regeneration and deep deprivation.
Bootle
Bootle is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, recorded as Boltelai in Domesday Book and incorporated as Bootle-cum-Linacre in 1868. Known for its docks, the Strand shopping centre regeneration, and Salt and Tar events venue.
Bradford
Bradford is a city in West Yorkshire, England, with a metropolitan district population of 546,400 at the 2021 Census, once nicknamed Worstedopolis as the world's leading worsted wool center.
Bridlington
Bridlington is a seaside town, port, and parish on the East Riding of Yorkshire coast, the county's largest town. Known historically as Burlington, it centers on its medieval priory, working harbour, Old Town conservation area, and ongoing regeneration.
Burnley
Burnley is a Lancashire mill town on the River Brun and Calder, once a major cotton-weaving center; home of Queen Street Mill, Turf Moor, the Weavers' Triangle, and among England's most deprived yet most affordable districts.
Bury, Greater Manchester
Bury, Greater Manchester: market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, one of Greater Manchester's ten boroughs. Six towns, about 195,500 people, cotton-mill heritage, John Kay's flying shuttle, Bury Market and regeneration plans.
Carlisle
Carlisle is Cumbria's only city, England's historic border city founded as the Roman fort and town of Luguvalium in AD 72, refounded by William II in 1092 with castle, walls, and cathedral, now a Cumberland Council regeneration hub.
Catterick Garrison
Catterick Garrison, known as Catterick Camp until 1973, is a British Army garrison and town in North Yorkshire, England, south of Richmond, with a population over 15,000.
Chester
Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, north-west England, on the River Dee near the Welsh border, founded by the Romans as the fortress of Deva.
Colne
Colne is a market town in Pendle, East Lancashire, England, historically a cotton-weaving town specializing in quality cloths, now known for independent shops, the Great British Rhythm & Blues Festival, and its regenerated Market Hall.
Crewe
Crewe, Cheshire: railway town founded around the 1837 Grand Junction Railway station and Crewe Works (1843), a West Coast Main Line junction, later shaped by HS2's cancelled northern leg and ongoing regeneration.
Darlington
Darlington is a market town and unitary borough in southern County Durham, England, population under 100,000. Home of the 1825 Stockton & Darlington Railway, the world's first public steam railway, and the Pease family's civic legacy.
Doncaster
Doncaster, South Yorkshire city granted city status in the 2022 Platinum Jubilee honors (effective 1 November 2022); Roman fort Danum, GNR railway works that built Flying Scotsman and Mallard, home of the St Leger Stakes, population about 308,100 (2021).
Durham, England
Durham, England: cathedral city in County Durham on a River Wear peninsula, seat of the medieval Prince-Bishops, home to Durham Castle and Cathedral (UNESCO World Heritage Site, 1986) and Durham University (1832).
Farnworth
Farnworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, historically in Lancashire. Known for coal pits from 1611, underground canals to Worsley, a 1939 municipal borough, and the Farnworth Green regeneration.
Filey
Filey is a seaside town in North Yorkshire, England, on the North Sea coast between Scarborough and Flamborough Head, known for its late Roman signal station at Filey Brigg.
Fleetwood
Fleetwood, Lancashire: planned Victorian port and seaside town on the Wyre Peninsula, founded by Peter Hesketh; once England's third largest fishing port, now known for its dock fish industry, Fleetwood Market, and coastal flood defences.
Gateshead
Gateshead: Tyne and Wear metropolitan borough on the south bank of the River Tyne opposite Newcastle; medieval borough under the Bishops of Durham, coal-mining and industrial town, now a culture-led regeneration area with BALTIC, the Glasshouse and Gateshead Quays.
Grassington
Grassington is a market town in Upper Wharfedale, Yorkshire Dales National Park, England, about 8 miles north of Skipton. Known for its cobbled square, Grassington Moor lead mining remains, scheduled monument 1018333, and as TV's Darrowby in All Creatures Great and Small.