Salford Crescent

St Helens Central

Salford () is an area of Greater Manchester, England, west of Manchester city centre in a meander of the River Irwell, which forms part of its boundary with Manchester. The wider City of Salford local government district is administered from Swinton. The former County Borough of Salford, which included Broughton, Pendleton and Kersal, was granted city status in 1926. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886, and the City of Salford 233,933.Historically in Lancashire, Salford was the judicial seat of the ancient hundred of Salfordshire. It was granted a charter by Ranulf de Blondeville, 6th Earl of Chester, in about 1230, making Salford a free borough of greater cultural and commercial importance than its neighbour Manchester, although since the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that position has been reversed.Salford became a major cotton and silk spinning and weaving factory town and inland port on the Manchester Ship Canal in the 18th and 19th centuries. Industries declined in the 20th century, causing economic depression, and Salford became a place of contrasts, with regenerated inner-city areas like Salford Quays next to some of the most socially deprived and violent areas in England.Salford is home to the University of Salford, and has seen several firsts, including the world's first free public library, and the first street to be lit by gas. Salford's MediaCityUK became the headquarters of CBBC and BBC Sport in 2011, joined by ITV Granada in 2013.

St Helens (pronunciation ) is a large town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the 2001 Census.St Helens is in the south west of the historic county of Lancashire, 6 miles (10 km) north of the River Mersey. The town historically lay within the ancient Lancashire division of West Derby known as a "hundred". It was created by incorporation as a municipal borough in 1868, bringing together the townships of Eccleston, Parr, Sutton and Windle, for administrative purposes. It became a county borough in 1887 and a metropolitan borough in 1974. The area developed rapidly in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries into a significant centre for coal mining and glassmaking. It was also home to a cotton and linen industry (notably sail making) that lasted until the mid-19th century as well as salt, lime and alkali pits, copper smelting, and brewing.Glass producer Pilkington is the town's only remaining large industrial employer. Previously it was home to Beechams, the Gamble Alkali Works, Ravenhead glass, United Glass Bottles, Triplex, Daglish Foundry, and Greenall's brewery.