Welcome to Bolton! We’re a welcoming place, with lots of great history, heritage and culture, ideally located to provide access to the rest of the UK. Read on for some great things you can do - all in all you’ll see it’s a greater place to work.
Bolton is one of the biggest towns in the UK with over 260,000 inhabitants, we’re also credited with being one of the UK’s friendliest. Ideally situated with coast, countryside and city life all within an hours’ drive, we sit right next to the M60 motorway and have a fantastic new rail and bus interchange at the heart of the town centre to create even faster links. Bolton is proud to be a university town and has development and regeneration firmly at the heart of its plans. It’s a town with a future and has a strong commitment to its many diverse communities.
Working in Bolton offers a great place to live and play - from history and heritage to breath-taking countryside, Bolton's got the lot. Museums jam-packed with ancient artefacts, fantastic countryside, award-winning attractions, town centre cinemas and theatres, fast-paced sport, vibrant new shopping centres, a thriving night life, and everything else in between, you’ll be sure to find something for you and your family to do here.
Famous Faces, Famous Places
They say we like a laugh in Bolton and its no wonder as we have a rich comedy history with Phoenix Nights favourites Peter Kay, Dave Spikey, Paddy McGuiness and “The Bolton Bullfrog” Bernard Wrigley all hailing from the town, along with comedy actresses, Sophie Nuttall & Diane Morgan. We’ve also got stars of stage and screen Maxine Peake, Amy Nuttall, Sammy Winward, Shirley Anne Field and Hylda Baker, not to mention playwrights Bill Naughton, Jim Cartwright and Chris Lunt. Radio and TV presenters Vernon Kay, Sara Cox, Mark Radcliffe, gardening’s Roy Lancaster and Crackerjack’s Stu Francis were all born here and continue to share the humour and warmth of their roots with their audiences.
With all this home-grown acting talent it’s no wonder that numerous TV series have been filmed in and around the town too, including Bancroft, Coronation Street, Life on Mars, Shameless, Last Tango in Halifax, Peaky Blinders, Traces, Its a Sin, Power of Parker, A Gentleman in Moscow and Alma's Not Normal, to name but a few. It just goes to show what a fantastic location the town sits in.
And its not just the small screen that we grace – Bill Naughton’s 1960’s classic films Spring & Port Wine and The Family Way were filmed in and around Bolton Town Centre, McFly singer Danny Jones hails from here as did best-selling author, Ruth Hamilton so we’ve got all cultural bases covered.
Heritage plays an important part in our town too and not just as a great backdrop for TV crews! Samuel Crompton the spinning pioneer was born here in 1753 and went on to revolutionise the industry in the North whilst William Hesketh Lever, Lord Leverhulme, (born 1851) was the founder of Lever Brothers and Sunlight Soap - later to become the Unilever business empire. Other well-known high street brands born in Bolton are Warburton’s, Pataks, and baby products manufacturer, Cosatto. You may not know that Dragon’s Den star and CEO of Pall-Ex Hilary Devey was born in Bolton along with the late Fred Dibnah, steeplejack, steam engine buff and TV personality, whose statue looks proudly out from Newport Street. Or that the captain of the Carpathia, the boat sent to rescue survivors of the Titanic, Arthur Henry Rostron was born here in 1869.
The Mass Observation documentary investigation into the lives of the working class began in Bolton in the 1930s and is the first study of its kind in Britain; Humphrey Spender’s photographs provide a unique insight into life in the town at this time.
You may spot the odd elephant around the place too - there are many stories as to the significance of the mammal to our town but its symbolic use dates back to 1799 when it was adopted for our coat of arms. Whatever the real reason for our adoption of this iconic animal it’s an important image in our heritage.
And it doesn’t stop there – we are famed for our sporting achievements too which is not surprising when you learn that Joe Foster invented the running spike here in 1895 and 60 years later his company became the global brand we know today as Reebok. This legacy endures with home-grown Olympic long-distance runners Stuart Stokes and Tom Lancashire representing the town. Football is important to us too, as Bolton Wanderers were one of the 12 founder members of the Football League in 1888, the legend that is Sir Nat Lofthouse was born here along with the youngest member of the 1966 World Cup winning squad, Alan Ball. Our sporting excellence continues with Lisa Ashton, the British Darts Organisation Ladies World Champion and Chair of the Paralympic Committee Sir Philip Craven MBE being Boltonians along with Olympic silver medallist and now pro-boxer Amir Khan and 7 times gold medallist cycling’s Jason Kenny. Special Olympian cyclist Kiera Byland is also flying the flag for Bolton - not many towns can boast 13 Olympic medals! It must be something in the air around here!
The unique setting of the town gives us a place steeped in history, heritage, sporting achievement and forward-thinking innovation. So, come and join us and be part of something greater.
