Manchester is a major city in North West England, historically notable for its central role in the Industrial Revolution. The City of Manchester is a metropolitan borough with City status.

The metropolitan borough of Manchester has a population of 441,200, while the Greater Manchester Urban Area is home to 2,240,230 people. Manchester is England's third largest conurbation after Greater London and the West Midlands.

Manchester is home to Manchester City and Manchester United football clubs, and Lancashire County Cricket Club, and having hosted the XVII Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Manchester is known as The Cotton City (as the city mainly produced textiles during the Industrial Revolution) or The Rainy City (due to the high levels of precipitation). More popularly has become 'Madchester' due to the city's notorious music scene.

The Greater Manchester county consists of the City of Manchester and the other metropolitan boroughs which surround it: Trafford, Tameside, Salford, Wigan, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale and Stockport. The Manchester postal area contains parts of all ten boroughs except Stockport - Salford and Sale form separate post towns within the area.