Moving to Stoke?
Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Northern Staffordshire. The local dialect is very distinctive
and fun! There are a lot of non-common ‘slang’ words, such as, ‘nesh’, meaning,
soft and tender or to easily get cold; and ‘snappie’, which means food. ‘Duck’ is
a commonly used greeting, for both men and women.
The city forms a conurbation with five other towns. This basically means that due
to city development, and expansion, a town, or city, merges with multiple other
towns, creating a pretty much continuous urban and industrially developed area.
The other five towns in this particular conurbation are, Hanley, Burslem, Langton,
Tunstall and Fenton. Hanley is usually considered to be the city centre.
North Staffordshire has the reputation of being a world centre for the production
of fine ceramics. A trade it established as early as the 12th Century. However,
it was in the 17th Century that Stoke-on-Trent became known worldwide for its pottery
making on an industrial scale. It was home, and still is, to some very famous brand
names, including, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Minton etc. The reason for the city being
often referred to as, ‘The Potteries’ is fairly obvious!
Obviously as a result of this there are many shops offering local ceramic products,
and a fair few museums linked primarily to the pottery industry. The Potteries Museum
and Art Gallery is one such museum and is home to a world-class ceramics collection.
Aside from pottery shops, museums etc, there are other things to do and see in Stoke-on-Trent,
such as Trentham Monkey Forest; a 60acre, walk-through enclosure, which is home
to around 140 Barbary Macaques. The Trent and Mersey Canal is a very busy canal,
seeing around 10,000 boats each year! The city also has 77 miles of National Cycle
Network off-road bicycle paths. Within the urban conurbation there is 100 miles
of bicycle paths!!
Stoke-on-Trent has a healthy music scene and can boast Robbie Williams as one of
its exports! The city is an exciting place to visit, to work and to live.