10 City Nicknames From the UK
De Vere Hotels looked at the nicknames of ten of the 10 UK's main cities, uncovering the history behind each city's nickname and illustrating each nickname.
They found that most major cities in the UK have several nicknames, these nicknames are often a fond reference to the city in question, or in other cases a tongue-in-cheek generalisation of a city's problems - "The Big Smoke" for London, for example.
City nicknames often arise officially or unofficially as part of a cities 'rebranding' efforts, aimed at improving the perceived identity of a city, but sometimes come back to haunt a city decades later - Leeds as "Motorway City" in the 70's.
While other nicknames, both good and bad arise from a city's history, referencing a city's industrial past, thus "Steel City" for Sheffield and Birmingham's "City of a Thousand Trades".
London
London is actually a bit of an anomaly when it comes to nicknames, most people in the UK would probably shrug if you asked what London's nickname is. But despite that through the ages London's most common nickname has been The Smoke or The Big Smoke, mainly due to The Great Smog of 1952, The Big Smoke is in general a common name for big cities around the world.
Birmingham
Birmingham's nickname pays homage to its former industrial might. Central to the industrial revolution Birmingham was renowned for its adaptability and creativity within its workforce that practiced a variety of skilled specializations resulting in an extremely diverse output of products.
Manchester
Manchester was known as Cottonopolis throughout the 19th century when it became the centre for the cotton industry. During its peak Manchester actually produced 32% of all global cotton. Cottonopolis also led to one of Manchester's other nicknames; Warehouse City, as the cotton industry gave rise to an unprecedented amount of new warehouses being built.
Glasgow
If you aren't that familiar with Glasgow you might not realise that it actually has over 90 parks and gardens. Its oldest park is Glasgow Green which is a favourite of many locals and visitors alike.
Newcastle
One of the nicknames with the simplest of explanations, Newcastle is fondly referred to as The Toon by many as that's how locals pronounce town. There is also a strong argument to be put forward that that is actually how town should be pronounced (regardless of accent) but we won't get into that right now!
Sheffield
Like many cities nicknames, Sheffield's was established during its industrial revolution. A combination of its natural assets such as its hills, forest and rivers combined with its innovative techniques catapulted Sheffield to the forefront of Steel and other metal production.
Liverpool
Informally Liverpool has several nicknames, often centred around its creative and cultural history. The nickname we chose - 'The Pool of Life' is credited to influential psychiatrist and 'thinker', Carl Jung whom it was thought never actually visited the city, but had a vision in a dream about the city, as described in his book 'Memories, Dreams, Reflections'. Today, the quote has a permanent place in the city, alongside a Carl Jung statue.
Leeds
Regularly referred to as 'The Capital of the North' for the last 20 or so years, many cite the additional of the Harvey Nichols store in 1996 as a turning point for Leeds, going from the unsophisticated concrete and motorway city, to a more sophisticated and vibrant city of the North, to be taken more seriously in the landscape of major UK cities.
Bristol
At first glance, Bristol's nickname doesn't appear to have much of a story behind it, it's simply how locals traditionally refer to the city. But looking in to the nickname a little bit more, it's clear that the rhotic accent behind how the local population in Bristol (traditionally) pronounces certain words has a long history, so much so that there has even been a somewhat tongue-in-cheek 'Dictionary of Bristle' written.
Belfast
Similarly to London (and other big cities) Belfast has at times been known as 'Old Smoke'. But one of its more interesting nicknames is the one we've chosen; Linenopolis. Similarly to Manchester's Cottonopolis, Belfast's development as a port city meant that they could draw in product from other linen producing areas of the country to become the predominant market place for linen.