Manchester is a city of around half a million people, situated in the North West of England. In the middle of the eighteenth century, it had a population of just 16,000, but it was about to become a globally dominant force in the manufacture of cotton. By 1841 there were around 250,000 people in the city – 18% of them working in the many cotton mills that had sprung up. You can still see these vast red brick buildings on the fringes of the city centre.
Manchester’s impressive neo-gothic town hall, completed in 1877, bears witness to the extraordinary wealth acquired by the city, thanks to cotton.
These days, the people of Manchester are more likely to work in high-tech manufacturing, the service sector or retail, and the city prospers thanks to wise investments in public infrastructure including Manchester Airport.
Come and see for yourself. Fly with Austrian Airlines via Vienna to Manchester.