🥨 A word from Helen, editor/writer at The Knot
Last year’s centenary celebrations were a real high point for the city, with the People’s Parade, a Guinness World Record for The Big Centenary Tea Party, which brought together more than 15,000 people.
A new report, Stoke on Trent Centenary, A Review, states that the programme generated more than £1 million in equivalent advertising value and helped position Stoke-on-Trent as a city of culture, creativity, heritage, and innovation.
For former mayor and fourth-generation Fentonian Lynn Sharpe, seeing her town receive its own ceremonial mace was one of her proudest moments. There were plenty of other big moments, too. Art on Your Doorstep, developed with the National Gallery, put masterpieces including Monet’s The Water-Lily Pond and Van Gogh’s A Wheatfield, with Cypresses in Bethesda Gardens for residents to enjoy.
Other cultural highlights included the 100 Years 100 Faces mural by Rob Fenton and Alistair Barnett, which featured 100 Stokies who’ve made a great impact on the city in the last century, from Sir Stanley Matthews to Robbie Williams, and the unveiling of the Lemmy statue in Burslem by local sculptor Andy Edwards.
Press coverage of the centenary, meanwhile, challenged long-standing assumptions about Stoke-on-Trent and presented a more balanced and positive picture of the city. A travel writer from Metro said she ‘fell in love’ with it, while Time Out listed Stoke as one of THE places in the world to visit in 2025.
Perhaps most importantly, the centenary helped tell a more complete story about Stoke-on-Trent, rather than just a city struggling with deprivation and battling industrial decline. As the report states, “It presented the city as a place of innovation, creativity, heritage, community and ambition. A city proud of its past, confident in its present, and optimistic about its future.”
On that cheery note, have a fab week! If you haven’t yet done so, please tell your friends and family about The Knot as we’d love to attract more subscribers for our unique brand of journalism that seeks to champion and challenge.
Good News 🎉
🏥📍 Putting Stoke on the map. A report has found that last year’s centenary not only brought the city together but has also left a lasting legacy. Stoke-on-Trent Centenary: a review’ concludes that the celebrations strengthened civic pride, showcased the city’s culture and heritage, and engaged young people. More than 70 major events and hundreds of community activities took place during 2025, including festivals, exhibitions, sporting events, and neighbourhood celebrations.
☺️ THE KNOT’S PERSON OF THE WEEK – Craig Lockett ☺️
Craig Lockett was left disabled after three strokes, but now he’s working for Stoke City Football Club and helping fellow stroke survivors. The 51-year-old, from Meir, is a football development and sports coach with Stoke City Foundation, where he set up a stroke peer support and stroke wellbeing groups after talking to The Stroke Association about the need for more support groups in the city. Craig shares his lived experience and leads conversations, games and physical activities for up to 20 stroke survivors at each session. He’s been nominated in the Carer of the Year category of the Your Heroes Awards, while the the groups he runs were nominated in the Community Group of the Year category. Fab stuff.
👷♀️ Former Barclays in Longton set for revamp. Longton continues to evolve, with the former Barclays Bank on The Strand set to get a new lease of life thanks to £53,633 of Pride in Place funding. Vacant since 2021, new tenants Wild Edge Arts will transform the space into a permanent home for its cultural and creative programmes, and the venue will support delivery of community projects like the Longton Carnival and Pig Walk Parade, youth programme Longton Town Forum, and December Winter Odyssey in Queen’s Park.
📚 Waterstone’s set to open at Trentham. It’s always great to hear of a book shop opening rather than closing, so we’re chuffed that the high street book retailer will be opening inside the shopping village in time for Christmas. Other recent additions to the shopping village include Coffee #1 and independent Staffordshire leather brand Kalating, which offers bespoke bags and accessories.
☺️ Lemmy’s Lounge in the Pink. To mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, IFK Legacy is offering pink Lemmy’s Lounge t-shirts for £35, with £10 from each purchase going to Breast Cancer Awareness. Get your t-shirt here or go pick one up in person in Burslem and have a drink at this ace space.
🎭 Our Top Five Don’t-Miss Events this Week. Can you believe that it’s nearly panto time? Us neither. This year, Jonathan Wilkes is back as Muddles with Kai Owen as The Man in the Mirror, with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs; tickets £17 or free for students and ages 16 & under.
Yep, we have Christmas events too, specifically Middleport Pottery’s Christmas Festival (14/11, 12pm-8pm) for live music, festive food, kids’ crafts, a market, and more; tickets from £6, under 10s free. Bringing back some of his most iconic characters like Kevin the Teenager and Loadsamoney to the stage, Harry Enfield and No Chums is at the Victoria Hall (13/11, 7.30pm) and the show includes a Q+A; tickets from £44.76.
Let’s end with a couple of spooky happenings, like the Trentham Halloween Festival (31/10 & 01/11; 5pm-9pm) for roaming Halloween characters, spooky face painting and the chance to make your own slime; tickets adult member £12, child member (3-15 years) £5, adult non-member £14.50, child non-member (3-15 years) £6.50. Over in Stafford, get some family-friendly chills at the Haunted High House (31/10) with decorated rooms and spooky characters across three historic floors. It’s bookable every half hour from 4.30pm till 8pm; tickets £6 adults, £4.
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🧛 Nosferatu comes to Keele: Catch this haunting organ performance on 28/10
Weekly Weather (Stoke-on-Trent):
Mon ⛅️ 20° (12°) Tue 🌧️ 17° (9°) Wed 🌧️ 14° (5°) Thu ☀️ 14° (8°) Fri 🌦️ 17° (9°)
Sat 🌧️ 15° (9°) Sun ⛅️ 14° (6°).
Sunrise 05/10: 07.16 ☀️ Sunset 05/10: 18.37 🌅