This is a list of cities in the United Kingdom that are officially designated as such . It lists those places that have been granted city status by letters patent or royal charter.
There are currently 76 such cities in the United Kingdom: 55 in England, eight in Scotland, seven in Wales, and six in Northern Ireland. Of these, 24 in England, two in Wales, and two in Northern Ireland have Lord Mayors; four in Scotland have Lord Provosts. In some cases, the area holding city status does not coincide with the built up area or conurbation of which it forms part. In Greater London, for example, the Cities of London and Westminster hold city status separately, but no other local authority in the London Region has been granted city status, nor has the Greater London Authority.
In other cases, such as the cities of Canterbury and Lancaster, the status applies to a local government district which extends over a number of towns and rural areas outside the main settlement proper. In England, city status sometimes applies to civil parishes, such as with Ripon; though the status may not apply to the local government district which share their name. For example, the civil parishes of Lichfield and Chichester each hold city status, but Lichfield District and Chichester District in which they are situated do not.
As of 2022, there are currently five ceremonial counties which contain three cities – Cambridgeshire (Ely, Cambridge and Peterborough), Essex, Hampshire, West Midlands and West Yorkshire. Outside the UK within British overseas cities of the British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, there are currently five. The number increased as part of the Platinum Jubilee celebrations by the addition of Stanley in the Falkland Islands and Douglas in the Isle of Man.
History
The earliest cities () in Britain were the fortified settlements organised by the Romans as capitals of the Celtic tribes under Roman rule. The British clerics of the early Middle Ages later preserved a traditional list of the "28 Cities" () which was mentioned in De Excidio Britanniae and Historia Brittonum.
The title of city was initially informal and, into the 20th century, royal charters were considered to recognise city status rather than grant it. The usual criterion in early modern Britain was the presence of a cathedral, particularly after King Henry VIII granted letters patent establishing six new cities when he established a series of new dioceses of the Church of England in the 1540s as part of the English Reformation. No new cities were created between the 16th and 19th centuries, but following the Industrial Revolution and the accompanying population boom and growth in urbanisation, new sees were established at Ripon (1836) and Manchester (1847); their councils began to style them cities immediately. Inverness in Scotland was refused a charter at the time of the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria honours of 1897, in part because it would have drawn more attention to the other traditional "cities" still not formally chartered as such.
Beginning in the mid-19th century, however, the process became more formal. After a visit by Queen Victoria in 1851, Manchester petitioned Parliament for recognition of its status. Ripon followed in the 1860s, and a series of hitherto informal "cities" were formally recognised in the 1880s and 1890s. On the basis of its size, importance, and regular government, Belfast was elevated in spite of its lack of a cathedral in 1888; other large municipalities followed, while smaller applicants began to be rejected. King Edward VII and the Home Office established three criteria for future applicants in 1907: a minimum population of 300,000, a good record of local government, and a "local metropolitan character". These criteria were not made public, however, and following Leicester's successful elevation in 1919, a series of exceptions were made. The Local Government Act 1972 effectively eliminated all authorities holding city status outside Greater London on 1 April 1974; most of their replacements were confirmed in their predecessor's status even in cases such as the 1974–2023 Carlisle district, where much of the local authority area was undeveloped countryside but the Borough of Medway was not permitted to continue Rochester's title. In recent times there have been competitions for new grants of city status. Towns or councils that claim city status or add "city" to their name have been rebuked by the Advertising Standards Authority.
The cities of the Kingdom of Scotland and Kingdom of Ireland were treated separately. Scottish towns irregularly applied the description to themselves, but were formally organised as royal burghs; the special rights of these were preserved by Article XXI of the Treaty of Union which established the single state of the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707.. 16 January 1707. Edinburgh and Glasgow were confirmed as cities "by ancient usage" in the 18th century, as was Aberdeen, and this was later reconfirmed in the Act enlarging the burgh in 1891. Dundee was granted letters patent in 1889 and Elgin and Perth were recognised as cities by the Home Office in 1972, before the privilege was removed by the Scottish Local Government Act of 1973.Clark, M. Lynda & al. "Committee on Privileges Second Report", Appendix 3, ss58. Parliament of the United Kingdom (London), 1999. In Northern Ireland, only the seat of the Primate of All Ireland at Armagh was accorded city status by ancient usage, and this status was abolished by the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840. All other cities have been those explicitly recognised as such.
Thirty-two cities have a Lord Provost (in Scotland) or a Lord Mayor (in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland), see List of lord mayoralties and lord provostships in the United Kingdom. The six cities where the Lord Mayor or Lord Provost has the right to the style The Right Honourable are York, the City of London, Edinburgh, Glasgow (since 1912), Belfast (since 1923), and Cardiff (since 1956).
Statistical role
City status has little statistical significance in UK because it is not a measure of a city's size and only holds a ceremonial status. Historic cities, such as St Davids (a cathedral city in Wales) can be quite small, but newer cities, such as those conferred in 2022, can range in size from 50,000 to more than 200,000. Populous towns, such as Luton, Northampton and Reading, do not have city status.
Conurbations The term "city" is sometimes loosely applied to conurbations in the UK. The government tends to recognise these as primary urban areas for statistical and economic purposes, though greater urban areas are what most people determine to be a city region. Large cities other than London, such as Manchester or Birmingham, are often confused with these conurbations. Manchester has a significantly lower population than Birmingham, though the Greater Manchester Built-up Area is more populous than the West Midlands conurbation. This question of definition has provoked a second city debate in the United Kingdom.
Conversely, many official cities in the UK contain a substantial rural area encompassing settlements which are physically separated from the core urban area. The City of Milton Keynes (a unitary authority) and City of Colchester (non-metropolitan district) received letters patent which covered an area substantially larger than that of their respective core urban areas; this meant that extra-urban settlements such as the towns of Olney and West Mersea fall within de jure cities.
List of cities
De factoDe jure CityStatistical regionYear grantedor confirmed City City council statusPopulation LondonLondon City of London Sui generis and ceremonial county (2023) Westminster London City of Westminster London borough (2023) Birmingham West Midlands From the London Gazette, 18 January 1889, The Times, 19 January 1889 City of Birmingham Metropolitan borough (2023) Leeds Yorkshire and the Humber City of Leeds Metropolitan borough (2023) Glasgow()() Scotland mid-18th century(Burgh: 1492) City of Glasgow Council area (2023) Manchester North West England City of Manchester Metropolitan borough (2023) Sheffield Yorkshire and the Humber City of Sheffield Metropolitan borough (2023) Bradford Yorkshire and the Humber City of Bradford Metropolitan borough (2023) Edinburgh() Scotland mid-18th century(Burgh: 1329) City of Edinburgh Council area (2023) Liverpool North West England City of Liverpool Metropolitan borough (2023) Bristol South West England City of Bristol Unitary authority and ceremonial county (2023) Cardiff() Wales Cardiff Principal area (2023) Leicester East Midlands City of Leicester Unitary authority (2023) Coventry West Midlands () City of Coventry Metropolitan borough (2023) Wakefield Yorkshire and the Humber City of Wakefield Metropolitan borough (2023) Belfast()(Ulster-Scots dialect: Bilfawst) Northern Ireland Belfast (2021) Nottingham East Midlands City of Nottingham Unitary authority (2023) Newcastle upon Tyne North East England City of Newcastle upon Tyne Metropolitan borough (2023) Doncaster Yorkshire and the Humber City of Doncaster Metropolitan borough (2023) Milton Keynes South East England City of Milton Keynes Unitary authority (2023) Salford North West England City of Salford Metropolitan borough (2023) Sunderland North East England City of Sunderland Metropolitan borough (2023) Brighton and Hove South East England Brighton and Hove Unitary authority (2023) Wolverhampton West Midlands City of Wolverhampton Metropolitan borough (2023) Kingston upon Hull Yorkshire and the Humber City of Kingston upon Hull Unitary authority (2023) Plymouth South West England City of Plymouth Unitary authority (2023) Derby East Midlands City of Derby Unitary authority (2023) Stoke-on-Trent West Midlands City of Stoke-on-Trent Unitary authority (2023) Southampton South East England City of Southampton Unitary authority (2023) Swansea() Wales Swansea Principal area (2023) Aberdeen()() Scotland (Burgh: 1179) City of Aberdeen Council area (2023) Peterborough East of England City of Peterborough Unitary authority (2023) Portsmouth South East England City of Portsmouth Unitary authority (2023) York Yorkshire and the Humber City of York Unitary authority (2023) Colchester East of England City of ColchesterNon-metropolitan borough (2023) Chelmsford East of England City of Chelmsford Non-metropolitan borough (2023) East of England Unitary authority (2023) Oxford South East England City of Oxford Non-metropolitan borough (2023) Newport() Wales Newport Principal area (2023) Canterbury South East England City of Canterbury Non-metropolitan borough (2023) Preston North West England City of Preston Non-metropolitan borough (2023) Dundee() Scotland (Burgh: 1191) City of Dundee Council area (2023) Cambridge East of England City of Cambridge Non-metropolitan borough (2023) St Albans East of England St Albans City and District Non-metropolitan borough (2023) Lancaster North West, England City of Lancaster Non-metropolitan borough (2023) Norwich East of England