Warrington, England, United Kingdom

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Warrington is a large town and unitary authority area in Cheshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Mersey. Warrington is the largest town in the county of Cheshire.

Warrington was founded by the Romans at an important crossing place on the River Mersey. A new settlement was established by the Saxons. By the Middle Ages, Warrington had emerged as a market town at the lowest bridging point of the river. A local tradition of textile and tool production dates from this time.

Historically part of Lancashire, the expansion and urbanisation of Warrington coincided with the Industrial Revolution, particularly after the Mersey was made navigable in the 18th century. The West Coast Main Line runs north to south through the town, and the Liverpool to Manchester railway (the Cheshire Lines route) west to east. The Manchester Ship Canal cuts through the south of the borough (west to east). The M6, M56 and M62 motorways form a partial box around the town and are all accessible through Warrington.

The modern Borough of Warrington was formed in 1974 with the amalgamation of the former County Borough of Warrington, part of the Golborne Urban District, the Lymm Urban District, part of the Runcorn Rural District, the Warrington Rural District and part of the Whiston Rural District.

Economy There is a large Unilever factory in Warrington where powder detergents are made. In January 2020, Unilever put the plant under review owing to a fall in demand for washing powder compared with other forms of detergent.

Warrington Council and Warrington & Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust are major employers in the borough.

ESR Technology's main operations are located at Warrington.

Retail In spite of its proximity to significant retail areas in Manchester, Liverpool, Chester and the out-of-town Trafford Centre, Warrington continues to have one of the larger shopping centres in North West England. Despite the competition, Warrington has seen an increase in its customer trade, due in part to the modernisation of the town centre. It has a shopping centre (Golden Square) first opened in 1974, which has been extended to include a Primark store, and a new bus station. The old Cockhedge Textile Mill was demolished and replaced by another shopping mall. The main shopping streets are Buttermarket Street, Horsemarket Street, Sankey Street and Bridge Street. Where these four streets intersect at Market Gate, there is a redevelopment with a large fountain and "guardians" (known locally as "the skittles") designed by Howard Ben Tré. Musical instrument retailer Dawsons Music originates in the town, and was located on Sankey Street from 1898 until 2019. The town also has a large indoor market which was redeveloped as part of the Time Square development which brought the return of a cinema in the town centre along with office space, restaurants, bars and retail opportunities. The town also has several other small shopping malls located in the town centre and throughout the town such as Hatters Row and Birchwood Mall. IKEA chose Warrington as the location for their first store when they came to the UK; the store is located in the large out-of-town shopping area of Gemini, which is home to one of the largest Marks and Spencer stores in the UK. Nearby to this, there is also an ODEON Luxe cinema, which was refurbished in 2019 due to its popularity.

Leisure There is ten-pin bowling located in the town centre and at Winwick Quay, and indoor paintball. An indoor karting centre is located near to Bank Quay. Pitch and putt and crazy golf are available at Walton Hall and Gardens. A Laser Quest arena and a snooker club can also be found in Warrington, both located close to the town centre. Gulliver's World theme park is located in Old Hall, Apple Jack's Farm theme park is situated in Stretton.

Developments The Omega Development Site close to the M62 on the northern edge of Warrington, on part of the site of the Burtonwood Airbase, was intended to be a major business park but has instead been developed as mainly warehousing with a large residential area.

Other planned developments in Warrington were delayed by the economic climate, but redevelopment of the Time Square area, including a new Market, multi-story car park with around 1,200 spaces, cinema, retail outlets and council offices was completed in 2020 with an estimated cost of £142 million. Warrington is developing a new Local Plan but plans to build 24,000 new homes were scaled back as government guidance changed. Included in the plans would be a new "Garden City Suburb" in the south of Warrington. The four main areas of growth as outlined in the planning were the waterfront around the River Mersey, the town centre, the Garden City Suburb and south west urban extension.

Transport The town has two main railway stations: Bank Quay is on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Glasgow Central and the Manchester Piccadilly to North Wales via Chester line, while Central is on the Liverpool to Manchester line (via Widnes and Warrington) with through services to Sheffield then to East Anglia or Cleethorpes. Bank Quay is much altered, but Central (built 1873) is of some architectural merit, featuring polychromatic brickwork. Both have undergone some refurbishment including new entrances. There are also railway stations in the suburbs at Padgate, Sankey, Glazebrook and Birchwood. A new railway station, Warrington West in Chapelford, near Great Sankey, opened in December 2019.

The town lies close to the M62, M6 and M56 motorways and midway between Liverpool and Manchester airports. It also has five primary A roads, the A49, A50, A56, A57 and A580 (East Lancashire Road), which forms part of the northern boundary of the borough.

Warrington's Own Buses, one of the few municipal bus companies to survive in public ownership, runs most bus services within the town. Go North West and Arriva North West provide bus links to surrounding destinations such as Manchester, the Trafford Centre, Liverpool, St Helens, Runcorn, Widnes and Chester. A real-time passenger information system is installed at some bus stops. A new bus station known as Warrington Interchange opened in 2006 at the Golden Square Shopping Centre.

The River Mersey runs through the heart of the town dividing it in two. There are only two main thoroughfares crossing the Mersey in Warrington: at Warrington Bridge at Bridge Foot and at the Kingsway Bridge. Before the M6 was built, these routes were very busy with through traffic.

The Manchester Ship Canal runs through the south of the town; three swing bridges and a high-level cantilever bridge provide crossing points. Although shipping movements on the ship canal are far less frequent than in years past, they can cause severe delay to local road traffic. The Bridgewater Canal runs through the borough from the village of Lymm to Walton Hall and Gardens, a local park/leisure area. The course of the Sankey Canal runs through the west of the town, although the only navigable section is at the lock to the River Mersey estuary at Fiddlers Ferry.

Warrington Bus Interchange The interchange consists of 19 departure stands, numbered from 1 to 19, all of which employ a drive-in reverse-out layout. Each stand has a computerised information screen which also ties into the real-time information system. All stands are served from the main concourse building, which contains toilets, a newsagent, cafe, and a combined travel and tourist information office. There is access to the Golden Square shopping centre via escalators and lifts. The exits on the eastern side of the building lead onto Winwick Street, on which can be found a taxi rank and Warrington Central railway station within around 100 metres.

The bus station is the terminus for all local bus services within Warrington. Regional services operate to neighbouring cities Liverpool, Manchester and Chester, as well as to Wigan, Leigh, the Trafford Centre, Altrincham, Northwich, Runcorn, Widnes and St Helens. The majority of bus services are operated by Warrington's Own Buses. Other services are provided by Arriva North West and Go North West.

Culture In March 2017 Warrington Borough Council made an unsuccessful bid to become the UK City of Culture in 2021. However, various aspects of the town's cultural heritage gained prominence as a result of the bid such as the Grade II-listed Warrington Transporter Bridge, the last railway transporter bridge in the world, and the Warrington Academy which once earned the town the nickname of the Athens of the North.

Warrington has a concert hall (the Parr Hall), an arts centre (the Pyramid), three museums, and various public libraries throughout the borough. Warrington Central Library was the first rate-supported library in the UK.

There is a cinema at Westbrook, and another opened in 2019 as part of a town centre redevelopment. There are several parks in Warrington and designated nature reserves at Woolston Eyes, Risley Moss, Rixton Claypits and Paddington Meadows.

Museums Warrington Museum & Art Gallery is situated in Warrington's Cultural Quarter on the first floor of a building it currently shares with Warrington Central Library. The town is also home to the Museum of Policing in Cheshire, located in part of the working police station, and the Warrington Museum of Freemasonry. A heritage centre for the village of Lymm was given planning permission in February 2016.

Events A number of festivals, carnivals and walking days are held annually in the Warrington area. Warrington Walking Day – originally a Sunday school festival – is held on the closest Friday to the last day of June, and the town centre is closed to traffic as churches walk together through the streets.

Other festivals, besides the many walking days, include: • Appleton Thorn Bawming of the Thorn • Birchwood Carnival and Safari Day • Croft Carnival • Culcheth Community Day • Glazebury Gala • Howley Carnival • Lymm May Queen • Lymm Dickensian Festival • Lymm Rushbearing • Penketh Carnival • Stockton Heath Arts Festival • Thelwall Rose Queen • Warrington Music Festival • Winwick Carnival • Westy Carnival.

Music A regular series of free classical music concerts take place in Bold Street Methodist Church, organised by WACIDOM. This charity is also responsible for the biennial Warrington Competition for Young Musicians, held at Arley Hall. Regular classical recitals also take place at Walton Hall and St Wilfrid's Church, Grappenhall. Warrington also has many musical groups, including Warrington Male Voice Choir, Gemini Musical Theatre Company (formerly Warrington Light Opera), Warrington Youth Orchestra, North Cheshire Wind Orchestra, Centenary Theatre Company and ladies a cappella choir, the Cheshire Chord Company.

Warrington has a purpose-built concert hall, the Parr Hall, which houses a large and internationally famous concert pipe-organ made by the great nineteenth-century French organ-builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.

A number of rock and pop musicians are associated with Warrington. Madchester pioneers The Stone Roses are closely associated with the town, particularly the native lead singer Ian Brown. Other artists include Spike Dawbarn from 90's music act band 911, Kerry Katona of Atomic Kitten, Ben Byrne and James Stelfox from Starsailor and Tim Bowness of No-Man.

The Hit Man and Her TV show featuring producer Pete Waterman (of Stock Aitken Waterman) and Michaela Strachan debuted and regularly returned to the Mr Smiths nightclub in Warrington.

Warrington is home to the Neighbourhood Weekender music festival which takes place on Victoria Park during the May bank holiday weekend. The event was first launched in 2018, over 50,000 attending the event over the two days. The event was repeated in 2019 and was scheduled to return in 2020. The event was also held in 2021.

Open spaces Warrington has an array of open spaces, including parks, trails, nature reserves and gardens rich in history and visual beauty. Many of these attractions are dog friendly, and free of charge to enter, usually with man-made paths created to ensure safety. The attractions include: • Culcheth Linear park- open 24hrs, with public toilets, parking, and staff based around the park • Lymm dam - open 24hrs, water features, wildlife and woodland walks. Also has angling opportunities and links to the Trans Pennine trail. • New Cut heritage and ecology trail- ongoing project including linear footpaths, Paddington meadows nature reserve, and links to several other parks in the area (listed below) • Risley Moss local nature reserve - works with schools and partakes in regular subjects to help aid the life of local wildlife. Includes car parking and toilets • Sankey valley park - open 24hrs, includes picnic benches, car parking, angling opportunities and play areas. • Trans Pennine Trail - open 24hrs, suitable for cycling, walking and running. Links to many other paths in the area. • Victoria park - includes sports facilities, changing facilities, training pitches, ASICS Stadium, play area and home to the annual Neighbourhood Weekender music festival • Walton gardens - includes gardens, Walton hall, petting zoo, play areas, mini golf and footpaths accessible to all. Warrington is also home to other small parks and open spaces such Woolston park, Birchwood forest park and Bank park. Most open areas are dog friendly and only require unfriendly dogs to be kept under proper control by owners.

Heritage The historic core of Warrington contains many significant listed buildings, including Warrington Town Hall, St Elphin's Church and Warrington Museum, situated within Conservation Areas.

Education The University of Chester has a campus at Padgate that was formerly part of Warrington Collegiate.