62-879: First Potteries is a bus company based in Stoke-on-Trent operating services in North Staffordshire , England. It is a part of First Midlands and a subsidiary of FirstGroup . The company began life as Potteries Motor Traction. As part of the privatisation of the National Bus Company , PMT Limited was created on 12 December 1986 when it was purchased by its management and employees . The team leading PMT's buyout were managing director Mike Moors, traffic manager Steve Ellis, chief engineer Barry Parkinson and company secretary Nigel Barrett. Expansion came quickly for PMT, and it had commenced operations outside its traditional North Staffordshire area
124-464: A lord mayor from 1928. When the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent initially applied for city status in 1925, citing its importance as the centre of the pottery industry, it was refused by the Home Office as it had fewer than 300,000 inhabitants. The decision was overturned, when a direct approach was made to King George V , who agreed that the borough ought to be a city. The public announcement of
186-570: A temperature inversion to occur. As such, the Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle areas are generally not susceptible to severe frosts. The nearest Met Office weather station is Keele University , about four miles west of the city centre. The absolute high temperature is 36.1 °C (97.0 °F), recorded in July 2022. More typically the average warmest day of the year should be 27.0 °C (80.6 °F). Just under fourteen days per year have
248-1056: A complex in the city which houses its commercial head office, training centre and a truck tyre re-treading facility. Sainsbury's supermarket and The Co-operative Pharmacy have large warehouses in the city. Vodafone has a large call centre on Festival Park and the UK subsidiary of the lubricant manufacturer Fuchs Petrolub has its head office at its factory in Hanley. There is a steel foundry owned by Goodwin Steel Castings Ltd in Joiner's Square. Premier Foods make Mr Kipling slices and Cherry Bakewells in Trent Vale. The Co-operative Travel had its head office in Burslem, before it merged with Thomas Cook in 2010. First Midlands ' First Manchester, Midlands & South Yorkshire
310-465: A crossing point on the Roman road that ran from present-day Derby to Chesterton or the early presence of a church , said to have been founded in 670 AD. Because Stoke was such a common name for a settlement, some kind of distinguishing affix was usually added later, in this case, the name of the river . The motto of Stoke-on-Trent is Vis Unita Fortior which can be translated as: United Strength
372-559: A large retailer of mobile phones started by John Caudwell , until it ceased trading in September 2014. Stoke City Football Club has been a major symbol of the city since the early 20th century, having spent most of its history in the highest two divisions of the English league, constantly attracting large crowds and signing or launching the careers of many high-profile players – most notably Stanley Matthews and Gordon Banks . The club
434-540: A little over six weeks prior to purchase from NBC. On 25 October 1986, the day bus services in the UK were deregulated, a small outstation was established in the neighbouring town of Crewe . This was followed by a venture into Merseyside with the opening of a Red Rider outstation at Moreton on the Wirral Peninsula . A small operation in Leeds commenced in 1988, followed a year later by the winning of tenders in
496-479: A management buyout company created by Midland Red (West) Limited's employees. There was also a minor change in the company name, from Midland Red (West) Limited to Midland Red West Limited . The management buyout also took the 40-vehicle fleet of Midland Red Coaches , which was merged with the main operation. In 1988 Midland Red West Holdings Limited was acquired by Badgerline Holdings Limited (a management buyout company which had purchased Badgerline Limited from
558-441: A museum two years after its closure in 1976. The museum closed in 1991 and the site became a local nature reserve . It was declared a scheduled monument by English Heritage in 1993. The abandoned subterranean mines are inaccessible, though they still add complications to many building projects and occasionally cause minor tremors, detectable only by specialised equipment. The iron and steel industries occupied important roles in
620-712: A purple and white and then yellow and black variant to promote the Ball Green to Tunstall service. In 1987 PMT purchased Turners of Brown Edge and until the late 1990s some vehicles in the fleet were painted into Turners Tudor Maroon and Cream to work the 8 Hanley-Brown Edge service, subsequently extended from Brown Edge to Endon. All these liveries have now been completely superseded by the FirstGroup corporate livery. In 2011 four buses were repainted in PMT red and yellow when routes 25 and 26 were launched as gold services. For
682-620: A temperature of 25.1 °C (77.2 °F) or above. The absolute minimum temperature stands at −13.3 °C (8.1 °F), recorded in January 1963. In an average year, 48.3 air frosts are registered. Rainfall averages around 806 mm a year. Stoke is at the centre of the Stoke-on-Trent Green Belt, which is an environment and planning policy that regulates the rural space in Staffordshire surrounding
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#1732790261020744-463: Is Trentham Monkey Forest , which houses 140 Barbary macaques in a 60-acre (240,000 m ) enclosure that visitors can walk through. The Alton Towers Resort is 10 miles (16 km) east of Stoke-on-Trent and is one of the United Kingdom's best-known attractions. The Waterworld indoor swimming complex on Festival Park near Hanley is also a significant children's attraction. Each of
806-591: Is Stronger, or Strength United is the More Powerful, or A United Force is Stronger. An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888 when an amendment was raised to the Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns into districts within a county of "Staffordshire Potteries". On 1 April 1910 the "Six Towns" were brought together. The county borough of Hanley, the municipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with
868-493: Is also one of four counties or unitary districts that compose the Shropshire and Staffordshire NUTS 2 region. Stoke-on-Trent is often known as "the city of five towns", the name given to it by local novelist Arnold Bennett , and is the only polycentric city in the UK. In his novels, Bennett used mostly recognisable aliases for five of the six towns, although he called Stoke "Knype". Bennett said that he believed "Five Towns"
930-529: Is an operating unit of FirstGroup operating in the English Midlands , Manchester and South Yorkshire . The unit was formed in 2008 with the merger of the management and administration of First Potteries , First Worcester and First Leicester . On 1 June 2020, First Midlands merged with First Manchester and First South Yorkshire . During a group restructure in 2022, Worcester moved from Midlands control to First West & Wales. First Leicester
992-446: Is surrounded by the towns of Newcastle-under-Lyme , Alsager , Kidsgrove and Biddulph , which form a conurbation around the city. The city is polycentric , formed from the federation of six towns in 1910. It took its name from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent where the main centre of government and the principal railway station in the district were located. Hanley is the primary commercial centre. The other four towns which form
1054-494: Is the descendant of the former municipal bus operations of Leicester City Council , Leicester City Transport (itself descended from Leicester Corporation Tramways . Under bus deregulation in 1986, the council operation was incorporated as the council owned but arms length private company, Leicester Citybus Ltd. This was sold in November 1993 to the emerging GRT Group , shortly after Northampton council had sold its operations to
1116-467: Is the largest body of water in Stoke-on-Trent and has a nature reserve. Queens Park or Longton Park in Dresden is one of the city's heritage parks and is famous for its horticulture and lakes. It houses several buildings including a clock tower and three bowling pavilions. Stoke-on-Trent was a world centre for fine ceramics—a skilled design trade has existed in the area since at least the 12th century. In
1178-560: The 2011 census , the population of the city was 249,008. This was a modest increase from the 240,636 recorded in the 2001 census . 50.2% of the population is female. 91.68% of the population of Stoke-on-Trent were born in the UK. 86.43% of the population identified themselves as White British , 4.19% identified as British Pakistani , and 1.88% identified as Other White . 1.35% identified as Other Asian and 1.36% as Black . Regarding religion, 60.89% described themselves as Christian , 6.02% as Muslim and 25.19% had no religion. 14.28% of
1240-610: The A50 road – Tunstall, Burslem, Hanley, Stoke, Fenton and Longton. Although the city is named after the original town of Stoke, and the City Council offices are located there, the city centre is usually regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major commercial centre. As well as Newcastle-under-Lyme , other nearby towns include Crewe , Nantwich , Congleton , Biddulph , Kidsgrove , Stafford , Uttoxeter , Eccleshall , Cheadle , Stone and Leek . As well as
1302-611: The Adderley Green area of Stoke-on-Trent . A small number of buses use an outstation in Newcastle-under-Lyme . Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke ) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire , England, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km ). In 2022, the city had an estimated population of 259,965. It is the largest settlement in Staffordshire and
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#17327902610201364-507: The Old English stoc , a word that at first meant little more than place , but which subsequently gained more specific – but divergent – connotations. These variant meanings included dairy farm , secondary or dependent place or farm , summer pasture , crossing place , meeting place and place of worship . It is unknown which of these was intended here, and all are plausible. The most frequently suggested interpretations derive from
1426-778: The West Midlands . This led to vehicles being outstationed at a haulage company's yard in Willenhall . On 6 February 1990, PMT purchased the Wirral , Ellesmere Port and Chester operations of Crosville Motor Services from the Drawlane Group. PMT also purchased Pennine Blue , serving the Tameside area of Greater Manchester. PMT themselves were purchased by Badgerline in 1994 before they in turn merged with GRT Group and formed FirstBus in 1995. The sale including
1488-673: The repair shops of the North Staffordshire Railway and was the home of independent railway locomotive manufacturers Kerr, Stuart and Company from 1881 to 1930. Shelton Steel Works and the mining operations were heavily involved in the World War II industrial effort. Central to the RAF 's success was the Supermarine Spitfire designed by Reginald Mitchell who, whilst born at 115 Congleton Road in
1550-501: The urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. In 1919, the borough proposed to expand further and annex the neighbouring borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and the Wolstanton United Urban District , both to the west of Stoke. This never took place, due to strong objections from Newcastle Corporation. A further attempt was made in 1930, with the promotion of
1612-559: The 1980s Florence Colliery in Longton repeatedly set regional and national production records; in 1992 the combined Trentham Superpit (Hem Heath and Florence) was the first mine in Europe to produce 2.5 million saleable tonnes of coal. Today the mines are all closed, though the scars of mining remain on the landscape. Slag heaps are still visible on the skyline, now covered with flora and fauna. The Chatterley Whitfield site reopened as
1674-990: The 2016 open day at Adderley Green Garage two further Wright Gemini double decker buses were repainted, one of which is in the old style red and cream PMT livery. The other in silver, red and yellow, a heritage livery used on the original 6 Leyland Olympians introduced in 1989 for the 320 Hanley-Crewe route. In 2010, FirstGroup changed the management structure of First Potteries. The Staffordshire area operations are now part of First Midlands (which consists of First Leicester and First Wyvern ) with its group office at Adderley Green , Stoke-on-Trent . The Cheshire and Merseyside area depots became part of First Manchester . These were subsequently sold to Stagecoach in 2012. Crewe depot has been closed and has transferred vehicles and services to Newcastle-under-Lyme . In October 2013 First Potteries took responsibility for First Midlands ' depots in Hereford and Worcester . As of March 2013
1736-533: The City boundaries as recently as the 1990s. However, 1994 saw the last pit to close as the Trentham Superpit was shut. The Stoke mining industry set several national and international records. Wolstanton Colliery, when modernised, had the deepest mining shafts in Europe at 3,197 ft. In 1933, Chatterley Whitfield Colliery became the first Colliery in the country to mine one million tons of coal. In
1798-473: The Luton Airport shuttle having passed to First Essex 's O licence some months previously. First Worcester began life as Midland Red (West) Limited, one of five bus operating companies created when the National Bus Company 's massive Midland Red Omnibus Company Limited subsidiary was split in 1981 in preparation for privatisation. It was created in September 1981 with a fleet of 183 vehicles and used
1860-594: The NBC operating rural services around the Bristol area). In 2008 the registered office of First Midland Red Buses Limited moved from Worcester to that used by First Leicester in Abbey Lane, Leicester . The operation was rebranded as First Worcester following the closure of Hereford depot in 2015. During July 2022, First Group announced proposals for changes to their operating structure of UK bus operations. This saw
1922-712: The Six Towns, there are numerous suburbs. These include Abbey Hulton , Stockton Brook , Adderley Green , Ball Green, Baddeley Green , Bentilee , Birches Head , Blurton , Bucknall , Bradeley , Chell , Cliffe Vale , Cobridge , Dresden , Etruria , Fegg Hayes, Florence, Goldenhill , Hartshill , Heron Cross , Meir , Meir Park, Meir Hay, Middleport , Milton ,Newstead,Normacot, Norton le Moors , Oakhill, Packmoor, Penkhull , Sandyford, Shelton , Smallthorne , Sneyd Green , Trentham , Trent Vale and Weston Coyney . Blythe Bridge , Werrington and Endon , although outside
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1984-858: The South Yorkshire and Midlands group. The former operations in Cheshire (Birkenhead and Chester) are (as of April 2011) now part of First Manchester Ltd, which includes First Greater Manchester . This bus company was originally a municipal one owned and operated by the town's borough council . In 1993 the council sold the company to the Grampian Regional Transport GRT Group , which became part of FirstGroup in 1995. Operations in Northampton finally ceased on 14 September 2013 after years of heavy losses. The legal entity of First Northampton ceased to trade with
2046-572: The Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill. Ultimately, Wolstanton was instead added to Newcastle-under-Lyme in 1932. Although attempts to merge Newcastle, Wolstanton and Kidsgrove (north of Tunstall) were never successful, the borough expanded in 1922, taking in Smallthorne Urban District and parts of other parishes from Stoke upon Trent Rural District . The borough was granted city status in 1925, with
2108-599: The Trentham and Goldenhill golf courses, Hem Heath Wood Nature Reserve, Meir Heath, Barlaston Common, Caverswall Cricket Club, Park Hall Nature Reserve, Chatterley Whitfield Country Park and Enterprise Centre, the villages of Baddeley Edge and Ravenscliffe, Bucknall Reservoir, Caldon Canal, the River Blythe, and the Head of Trent, Wedgwood Museum and estate , Strongford Treatment Works and Trent Vale Pumping Station. In
2170-847: The area come from the 13th century. The Potteries Coalfield (part of the North Staffordshire Coalfield) covers 100 square miles (300 km ). Striking coal miners in the Hanley and Longton area ignited the nationwide 1842 General Strike and its associated Pottery Riots . When coal mining was nationalised in 1947, about 20,000 men worked in the industry in Stoke-on-Trent. Notable Collieries included Hanley Deep Pit, Trentham Superpit (formerly Hem Heath, Stafford and Florence Collieries), Fenton Glebe, Silverdale , Victoria, Mossfield, Parkhall, Norton, Chatterley Whitfield and Wolstanton . The industry developed greatly, and new investments in mining projects were planned within
2232-415: The area has been almost exclusively known for its industrial-scale pottery manufacturing. Companies such as Royal Doulton , Dudson , Spode (founded by Josiah Spode ), Wedgwood (founded by Josiah Wedgwood ), Minton (founded by Thomas Minton ) and Baker & Co. (founded by William Baker) were established and based there. The local abundance of coal and clay suitable for earthenware production led to
2294-414: The city and Newcastle-under-Lyme, and extending into Cheshire. It is in place to prevent urban sprawl and minimise further convergence with outlying settlements such as Kidsgrove and Biddulph . First defined in 1967, the vast majority of area covered is outside the city. There are some landscape features and places of interest that are covered by the designation, mainly along its fringes. These include
2356-477: The city are Burslem , Tunstall , Longton and Fenton . The home of the pottery industry in England, it is known as The Potteries . It is a centre for service industries and distribution centres . It formerly had a primarily heavy industry sector. The name Stoke is taken from the town of Stoke-upon-Trent , the original ancient parish , with other settlements being chapelries . Stoke derives from
2418-417: The city's boundaries, are part of the built-up area. Stoke-on-Trent, as with all of the United Kingdom, experiences a temperate maritime climate , lacking in weather extremes. The local area is a little more elevated than much of Staffordshire and Cheshire, resulting in cooler temperatures year-round compared to the nearby Cheshire Plain. On calm, clear nights this is often reversed as cold air drainage causes
2480-519: The city. Fine china manufacturer Dudson have premises in Hanley and Burslem. Churchill China have their main factory in Tunstall. Hotelware manufacturer Steelite is based in Middleport at the former Dunn Bennett site. About 9,000 firms are based in the city. Amongst the more notable are Bet365 , founded by local businessman and Stoke City chairman Peter Coates , and formerly Phones4U ,
2542-404: The development of artistic talent throughout the local community and raised the profile of Staffordshire Potteries . This was spearheaded by one man, Josiah Wedgwood , who cut the first sod for the canal in 1766 and erected his Etruria Works that year. Wedgwood built upon the successes of earlier local potters such as his mentor Thomas Whieldon and along with scientists and engineers, raised
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2604-463: The development of the city, both before and after the federation. Especially notable were those mills located in the valley at Goldendale and Shelton below the hill towns of Tunstall , Burslem and Hanley. Shelton Steelworks ' production of steel ended in 1978—instead of producing crude steel, they concentrated on rolling steel billet which was transported from Scunthorpe by rail. The rolling plant finally closed in 2002. From 1864 to 1927 Stoke housed
2666-616: The early (initially limited) development of the local pottery industry. The construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal (completed in 1777) enabled the import of china clay from Cornwall together with other materials and facilitated the production of creamware and bone china . Other production centres in Britain, Europe and worldwide had a considerable lead in the production of high-quality wares. Methodical and highly detailed research and experimentation, carried out over many years, nurtured
2728-507: The elevation to city status was made by the king during a visit to Stoke in June 1925. The county borough was abolished in 1974. Stoke became a non-metropolitan district of Staffordshire. Its status as a unitary authority was restored in April 1997. It remains part of the ceremonial county of Staffordshire. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG23). Since the 17th century,
2790-621: The firm's Indonesian factory. Portmeirion is based in Stoke town, and now owns the Spode and Royal Worcester ceramics brands. Ceramics firm Emma Bridgewater is based in Hanley. Burleigh Pottery is in Middleport. Wade Ceramics is in Etruria. Moorcroft and Royal Stafford are based in Burslem. Aynsley China is in Longton, and is one of the last remaining manufacturers of bone china in
2852-583: The fleet consisted of 185 buses. First Potteries received its first new buses in 8 years in 2014, when nine brand new Wright Streetlite Max MicroHybrid vehicles were delivered to Adderley Green depot. A tenth was delivered in 2015, which was the first bus within FirstGroup to have a Euro6 engine. Further new buses were bought in October 2016, with new Alexander Dennis Enviro 200 MMCs used on routes 21, 21A, 23 and 23A. First Potteries operations are based in
2914-425: The fleetname in a 'zipper' logo. Despite this, several variations were introduced to suit individual routes – Silverdale Shuttle and Bradwell Shuttle, which saw the red replaced with blue; Hospitalslink, a scheme used exclusively on a handful of minibuses and which was green-based; and Birches Head Townabout, again a minibus operation and which received a yellow and orange livery. Additionally, a pair of minibuses gained
2976-654: The former Crosville operations in Chester and Wirral. A network of services in Chester was acquired through the purchase of ChesterBus in 2007. This business was integrated with the existing First Chester & The Wirral which already ran a network of services in these areas. The Chester & Wirral operations were sold to Stagecoach Merseyside in December 2012. First Potteries now operates mainly urban services in and around Stoke-on-Trent , Newcastle-under-Lyme and
3038-565: The group. The company began life as Potteries Motor Traction Limited or PMT. It expanded beyond its Staffordshire base into Merseyside, Cheshire and Greater Manchester and in 1989/90 PMT acquired the Wirral, Chester and Stalybridge operations of Crosville from the Drawlane Group but not the Manchester, Runcorn and Warrington operations of Crosville which were integrated into Drawlane's North Western/associated Bee Line Buzz Company divisions. PMT
3100-513: The huge Chatterley Whitfield Colliery as a mining museum since it has been given scheduled monument status. The Elizabethan Ford Green Hall is a 17th-century farmhouse which is now a historic house museum in Smallthorne . Although Trentham Gardens is in the Borough of Stafford , it is just south of the city and is considered by many locals to be part of Stoke-on-Trent. Next door
3162-524: The late 1980s and 1990s Stoke-on-Trent was hit hard by the general decline in the British manufacturing sector. Numerous factories, steelworks , collieries , and potteries were closed, including the renowned Shelton Bar steelworks. This resulted in a sharp rise in unemployment in the 'high-skilled but low-paid' workforce. The pottery firm Wedgwood and its subsidiary Royal Doulton are based nearby Barlaston , although much production now takes place in
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#17327902610203224-773: The major pottery companies based in Stoke-on-Trent have factory shops and visitor centres. The £10 million Wedgwood Museum visitor centre opened in the firm's factory in Barlaston in October 2008. The Dudson Centre in Hanley is a museum of the family ceramics business, which is partly housed in a Grade II listed bottle kiln. It is a volunteer centre. Burleigh in Middleport is the world's oldest working Victorian pottery. There are smaller factory shops, such as Royal Stafford in Burslem, Moorcroft in Cobridge and Emma Bridgewater in Hanley. There are ambitious plans to open
3286-464: The nearby village of Butt Lane , had his apprenticeship at Kerr, Stuart and Company's railway works. The Michelin tyre company has a presence in Stoke-on-Trent, and in the 1920s built their first UK plant in the city. In the 1980s nearly 9,000 workers were employed at the plant. In 2006 about 1,200 worked there. RAF Meir was located on the outskirts of the city. Stoke-on-Trent is between Manchester , Wolverhampton and Birmingham and adjoins
3348-643: The population was retired and 5.61% were students. The city's ceramics collection is housed in the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Hanley. Etruria Industrial Museum on the Caldon Canal , and Gladstone Pottery Museum in a former potbank in Longton are dedicated to the city's industrial heritage. There is Stoke Minster which is located in the Stoke-upon-Trent area and is the only official church with Minster status . Most of
3410-410: The pottery business to a new level. Josiah Spode introduced bone china at Trent in 1796, and Thomas Minton opened his manufactory. With the industry came a large number of notable 20th-century ceramic artists including Clarice Cliff , Susie Cooper , Charlotte Rhead , Frederick Hurten Rhead and Jabez Vodrey . North Staffordshire was a centre for coal mining. The first reports of coal mining in
3472-581: The six towns in Stoke-on-Trent has at least one park. At nine hectares, Burslem Park is one of the largest registered Victorian parks in the UK. Park Hall Country Park in Weston Coyney is a national nature reserve , and its sandstone canyons are a Site of Special Scientific Interest . Hartshill Park in Stoke is a nature reserve. Bucknall Park is home to the City Farm. Westport Lake in Longport
3534-404: The surrounding towns and villages. Route numbers change & some buses have been repainted in the new livery as well as Wi-Fi being provided free of charge on newer buses. The traditional colours of the PMT fleet were red and cream. During National Bus Company ownership in the 1970s and 1980s, poppy red and white livery was used. Following privatisation, the livery became red and yellow with
3596-658: The town of Newcastle-under-Lyme to the west. It lies on the upper valley of the River Trent at the south-west foothills of the Pennines , near the uplands of the Peak District to the north-east and the lowlands of the Midlands and Cheshire Plain to the south and west. The city ranges from 96 to 250 metres (315 to 820 ft) above sea level. For Eurostat purposes, it is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG23); it
3658-411: The trading name Midland Red West. In November 1985 the company introduced a fleet of 60 new minibuses to operate its urban network in Worcester as part of a new high-frequency service within the City. Similar but much smaller minibus services were launched for the Kidderminster and Stourport areas a year later. In December 1986 the company was sold by the NBC to Midland Red West Holdings Limited ,
3720-466: Was based at the Victoria Ground in Stoke-upon-Trent from 1878 until 1997 when it moved to the Britannia Stadium (now the Bet365 Stadium ) at Trentham Lakes. This was one of the early stages of regeneration in the Trentham area of the city, which included the regeneration of Trentham Gardens several years later when retail and food outlets were added to the visitor attraction. Trentham Monkey Forest opened nearby in 2005. The Michelin tyre company has
3782-578: Was later purchased by the Badgerline Group plc before they in turn merged with GRT Holdings plc and formed FirstGroup , this sale including Crosville's operations in Chester and Wirral. First Potteries now operates mainly urban services in Stoke and surrounding towns. In May 2020, First South Yorkshire merged with First Midlands to be run by the current leadership team at First Midlands. During July 2022, First Group announced their proposal for changes to their operating structure of UK bus operations, this will see Greater Manchester operations become part of
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#17327902610203844-404: Was more euphonious than "Six Towns", so he omitted Fenton, now sometimes referred to as "the forgotten town". As it is a city made up of multiple towns, the city forms a conurbation . In this case, the conurbation is bigger than Stoke itself, because the urban area of Stoke is contiguous with that of administratively separate Newcastle. The six towns run in a rough line from north to south along
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