Stoke-on-Trent is a city in Staffordshire, England. The city is a federation of six older towns: (Hanley, Stoke, Burslem, Tunstall, Longton, and Fenton). Together, they make a linear city almost twelve miles (19 km) long, with an area of 36 square miles (93 km²). With the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme it forms a conurbation, whilst together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme it forms The Potteries Urban Area, which added with the Staffordshire Moorlands forms the North Staffordshire area. In 2001, it had a population of 240,636. Stoke-on-Trent is considered to be the home of the pottery industry in the United Kingdom and is commonly known as The Potteries. It grew from the six towns and several villages to become a unified city in the early 20th century. Formerly a primarily industrial conurbation, it is now a centre for service industries and distribution centres. The city is a unitary authority with a directly elected mayor. Stoke-on-Trent is situated approximately half-way between Manchester and Birmingham[1] and the city adjoins the town and borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, which is administered separately and situated to the west. To the east is the Peak District National Park. Stoke-on-Trent is known as "the city of five towns". When the city was constituted it included only Hanley, Stoke, Longton, Tunstall and Burslem, the mother town. At this time Fenton was only a small village, though as it grew to town size it was incorporated into Stoke-on-Trent A city like Stoke made up of multiple towns is known as a conurbation. The six towns run in a rough line from north to south along the A500 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, conventionally the city centre is regarded as being in Hanley, which had earlier developed into a major commercial centre. More on Stoke-on-Trent