Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent ( pronunciation; often abbreviated to Stoke), also called The Potteries, is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation stretching for 12 miles (19 km), with an area of 36 square miles (93 km2). Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Stoke forms 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 conurbation continues to be polycentric, having been formed by a federation of six separate towns and numerous villages in the early-20th century. The settlement from which the federated town (it was not a city until 1925) took its name was Stoke-upon-Trent, where the administration and chief mainline railway station were 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.