Pear Mill, look out for the tower
Stockport Market
Stockport StationWhichever part of the town you care to explore, Stockport is steeped in history. Victorian buildings adorn the town centre and outer areas, while some of the most important buildings in the town are equally as eye-catching. As well as serving its political purposes, Stockport Town Hall is a beautiful venue for functions and is affectionately nicknamed 'The Wedding Cake' due to its unusual appearance. The conspicuously-fronted Stockport Plaza is one of the UK's only surviving 1930's cinemas and is the brightest light in the cultural realm of Stockport.
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Famed for its hat makers, Stockport Hat Museum is perhaps surprisingly the only museum in the UK dedicated to hats and the hatting industry. Stockport's famous railway viaduct runs right through the centre of the town, which is the site of the first shop owned by Marks - later made famous by his business dealings with Mr. Spencer. Stockport's trading history doesn't end there, with a great market which dates back to 1260 and by Victorian times it was a fine example of a modern trading centre.
Stockport is a town that places a great deal of value on its heritage and as such visitors are offered a good number of museums to visit celebrating the lineage of the area. The Stockport Museum of Hatting is the only museum in the UK solely committed to the hatting industry.
Inside visitors can learn about the great Stockport tradition of hat-making inside Wellington Mill, the very building in which a thriving hatting business once flourished.
Stockport Air Raid Shelters allow modern-day tourists to relive the darkness of the Blitz in a network of tunnels built under the town centre with guided tours and attractions in a unique museum setting. The tunnels have been restored to the conditions they were in back in the war-torn 1940s, complete with the unmissable 16-seater toilets!
Stockport's Industrial History Museum is a fantastic museum exploring the social history of canal workers and canal history. A must for canal lovers, this museum is located at the point where no less than three canals meet. Other Stockport museums include Vernon Park Museum, which exhibits the natural and social history of the area.
The Stockport Plaza Theatre underwent a 3,000,000 pound refurbishment in 2009, partly funded by a grant from the National Lottery heritage fund.
Dating back to 1932, the Plaza Theatre Stockport is one of the oldest cinemas in the country and remains at the heart of the Stockport theatre tradition. Stars of stage and screen alike have entertained the adoring Stockport public over the years, even Stockport pantomime actors call it home when the season rolls around - in fact Christmas in Stockport isn't complete without seeing a Plaza Stockport panto.
The Plaza Theatre Stockport also caters for live music and stand-up comedy. Visitors can book tickets for the Plaza in Stockport online in advance, with booking fees contributing toward the Lowry's charitable investment.
Pear Mill image contributed by Paul Johnston-Knight. Stockport Station image contributed by Gerald England. Market Hall image contributed by David Boydell. All images are copyrighted but licensed for further reuse under the Creative Commons License.
