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1. Bath
Bath was, and still is, the mainly famous spa in England, the only resort to boast hot springs and one of England's most elegant and beautiful towns. Lying protected in the valley of the Avon between the Cotswold’s and the Men dip Hills, the city, with its well balanced Georgian houses built of honey Colored stone, its beautiful squares and its parks, has a townscape unsurpassed in Britain. Some 500 of its buildings are statutorily protected as being of historical or architectural importance and almost every other house carries a plaque with the name of some eminent, usually 18th or 19th century, figure whose home it once was. The city of Bath became a World Heritage Site in 1987. The numerous theatres, museums and cultural activities have made the city a popular tourist attraction.
2. Birmingham
Birmingham, popularly known as "Brum", is Britain's second biggest city and one of the largest industrial centers in the world. Birmingham makes a good base from which to explore the Cotswold’s, the Malvern Hills and the Vale of Evesham. Its numerous canals - there are more in Birmingham than In Venice - are now principally used for pleasure, having in former times carried factory goods and raw materials. Its prosperity was based on the engineering, steel and motor industries, the latter originate with Herbert Austin's factory in 1905 and continuing with British Leyland and now the Rover group. The city also has long built-up traditions in weapons, jewelry and foods. The recent history of the legendary "smithy of England", home of Cadbury's chocolate, luxury Jaguar cars and the Austin Mini Cooper, has been one of recurrent economic crisis. The highly impressive International Convention Center, opened in 1991, symbolizes present efforts to revitalize the economy by introducing new forms of industry, especially those in the service sector capable of rapid growth.
3. Brighton
Brighton is the biggest and best known beach resort on the English Channel Coast, an urban center of population which, together with Hove, spreads for some 6mi/10km along the pebbled seashore and over the sometimes steep chalk hills of the South Downs. Once a fishing village with narrow winding lanes,After 1750 it developed into an elegant watering place where, especially in the 19th C, the English aristocracy and upper classes used to gather. In 1841 it was related to London by rail. Relaxing under the benign influence of sea air and mineral springs, visitors took leisurely strolls along the boulevards and piers and peaceful in the ballrooms of the fashionable hotels. Reminders of this period still abound: charming Regency terraces, the wonderful Palace Pier and the exotic Royal Pavilion, the unexpected folly created by the flamboyant and eccentric "Prinny", Prince of Wales - later George IV. Today even once fashionable Brighton has surrendered to mass tourism; the 3mi/5km long terraced sea front being lined with souvenir shops and amusement arcades. In addition to a full calendar of cultural events there are race meetings in the summer months and the famous Veteran Car Rally in November; there are also several sports stadiums. Over and above the lucrative holiday trade, the resort is highly popular as a conference venue. The University of Sussex, founded in 1961, is located on the outskirts. With Brighton having abandoned any pretensions to being a port, the industrial center of gravity has shifted west to nearby Shoreham.
4. Bristol
Although the old town center suffered heavily from bomb damage during the Second World War, Bristol retains its charm as a historic port. It also has some fine housing suburbs, balanced; it should be said, by some poorer ones. Bristol is noted for music and Film industries, the Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery, and the Watershed Media Centre. Having for many years been the home of two of Britain's largest aeronautical companies, Rolls Royce and British Aerospace, both with big engineering plants in the north of the city, Bristol has turned increasingly for its prosperity to the insurance and service sector and the electronics industry. Food make, tobacco processing, printing and chemicals are also important to the economy. When, because of deeper draught, ships could no longer navigate the narrow River Avon up to Bristol, a new port with modern docks, oil refineries and industrial estates sprang up in the Avon mouth/Royal Port bury area. The many emigrants for whom the port of Bristol was the gateway to the New World were following in the wake of John Cabot who, in 1497, set sail from Bristol on the expedition which discovered North America. The Cabot Tower was erected on the 400th anniversary of the voyage to honor his achievement. Bristol's three most famous landmarks, however, are the Cathedral, St Mary Radcliffe, and the Clifton Suspension Bridge which spans the tidal Avon.
5. Cambridge
Cambridge, University City and county town , lies on the River Cam. Life in the city is dominated by the 31 colleges, most being rich in tradition and each having a special quality of its own. There are also a number of medieval churches and several excellent museums in Cambridge. The Lovely college grounds, gardens and parks along the riverside make up the beautiful Backs. In Roman times there was a small town here on the north bank of the Cam. In those days the river was known as the Granta. To the Saxons consequently the town was Grantebrycg, which later became Cantebruge. Later still, in Chaucer, it appears as Chambrugge. Cambridge hosts a number of events throughout the year including the Midsummer Fair, Cambridge Folk Festival and a film festival.
6. Liverpool
The name Liverpool right away conjures up the Beatles, the first class football teams Liverpool FC and Everton FC and the accent of the "Scoucers", as the people of Liverpool are known. The heart of the Merseyside Conurbation lies on the east bank of the Mersey estuary, about 3mi/5km from the open sea . At this point the Mersey is about 0.75mi/1.2km wide, opening out inland into a basin 3mi/5km wide. Liverpool, with one of the biggest harbors in the world not dependent on tides, is a major port for transatlantic shipping. The huge container ships are handled at the modern docks situated outside the city near Bootle and Birkenhead on the opposite bank. This city of superlatives is not only an important trading metropolis, university town and financial center. For years it has been trying to resolve serious structure problems by across-the-board redevelopment programs, diversification initiatives for industry and incentive for the tertiary sector. The major employers are the motor companies Ford and General Motors, the food manufacturer United Biscuits and Nabisco, Unilever, whose presence dates back over 100 years, Glaxo, Metal Box, Pilkington Glass and Shell. In 1984 it became a free port. Liverpool's central importance is underlined by the location here of the seating of both Catholic and Anglican bishops; the Anglican cathedral is one of the biggest churches in Christendom.
7. Manchester
Manchester, the center of the southeast Lancashire city, is the commercial and cultural capital of the northwest of England. It is noted as an arts, media, and higher education centre. With Salford and eight other municipalities, it forms the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, in which Some three million people now live. The slums which he described have now moved out, and the city, which suffered much destruction during the Second World War, has been rebuilt in modern style. Latterly, however, problems in the structure of the economy have in many places created new problem areas through high unemployment, emigration and decay. The legendary cradle of the cotton industry today finds itself, in common with other British cities, faced with the difficult task of a substantial, efficiently imperative restructuring. The decline of the traditional textile mills was dictated by various circumstances: the loss of markets in the colonies, insufficient urgency in reacting to change, an over-delayed switch from a labor-intensive to a capital-intensive economy, outdated production and organization techniques, as well as measures on the part of the government, which stepped up subsidies to other struggling branches of the economy, such as the mines and the docks.
8. Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Newcastle-upon-Tyne is a county town and in an fiscal as well as cultural sense, the capital of the northeast of England. This industrial city stands on the River Tyne, which is here span by six bridges and is about 9mi/14km from its mouth. The city center possesses some noteworthy Victorian building and historic streets, three large shopping centers, as well as a number of interesting museums and varied amusement facilities, including the prestigious performances offered by the Victorian Theatre Royal in Gray Street. Newcastle, along with neighboring towns, has grown into the conurbation of Tyneside. Previously it was an important exporting port, in particular for coal, but this activity has in later years become drastically reduced, although the importance that coal once had is reflected in the phrase "carrying coals to Newcastle". Newcastle's centers for heavy industry, mechanical engineering, shipbuilding, chemicals and locomotive building today suffer greatly, in common with other big towns in Northern England, from the effects of the industrial structural crisis and the prolonged recession. The newest restructuring attempts are local initiatives which form part of national projects and attract foreign investment, for instance firms set up by the off-shore oil industry, such as Press Production, and investors such as Dunlop Armaline and British Telecom Marine.
9. Oxford
Oxford is one of the oldest and mainly celebrated university towns in Europe and for centuries has rivaled Cambridge for academic pre-eminence in England. Its untrammeled spirit of investigation, which permeate the old college walls, its pleasant gardens, calm courtyards and squares, the hectic bustle of its pedestrian Zone, its excellent cultural facilities - all these help to create the town's special environment. Oxford has numerous major tourist attractions including Carfax Tower, offering views over the city, and the historic Covered Market with its many tourist shops. The name of the town comes either from its literal meaning, a ford for oxen, or from "Osca's ford". It first appears in the records in 912. The beginnings of the university, on the other hand, are obscure. Oxford gradually became the meeting point of scholars who came together mainly to discuss religious questions. The building of teaching institutions independent of monasteries and churches was begun shortly after 1264, when Merton College was founded. In the years following there were further institutions created leading to the creation of an education system which can maintain to form the academic elite of the country and which strives to serve both the need for individuality and the demand for a sense of social responsibility.
10. Sheffield
England's fourth-largest city lies around 35mi/56km south of Leeds on the River Don, at the foot of the Derbyshire Hills. An industrial city, Sheffield is a popular base from which to explore the Peak District, the favorite recreational area of those living in this conurbation in Central England
Sheffield itself also has a number of well-tended parks and a attractive greenbelt area. It is worth visiting the center of this university town, whose academic institutions have long worked closely with local industry. The most recent example of this is the new Technology Park, established to carry out research, which is situated near the technical college. Sheffield is famous for knives, all types of cutting tools, guns and high-grade steel manufacture. As early as about 1478 Chaucer refers in his "Canterbury Tales" to a "Sheffield thwitel", the ancestor of the modern pocket knife. The knives and other implements were formerly made in home workshops; they are now manufactured in large factories and exported all over the world. Since the early 1980s, recession, a fall in sales and rationalization have resulted in the loss of more than 70% of jobs in this region; today's leading manufacturers comprise United Engineering Steels, Sheffield Forge masters, British Steel Stainless, Davy Mackee and Arthur Lee. Another important employer is the confectioner Bassett, subsidiary of the Cadbury-Schweppes Group.
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