Bolton

Bolton is a large town in Greater Manchester in the North-West of England, 17 miles north of Manchester city centre. It celebrates its industrial heritage of canals, coal, cotton, and railways. The borough includes several small towns, notably Blackrod, Farnworth, Heaton, Horwich, Little Lever and Westhoughton.

Understand


Bolton grew rapidly as a textile and metal-bashing town during the 18th & 19th centuries. The Spinning Mule was invented here: it spun yarn into cotton thread faster and more efficiently than earlier processes, to feed the great hungry looms, and in its heyday there were 50 million Mules in Lancashire alone. A few were still in use for specialist fine yarns until the 1980s, but the Lancashire cotton trade collapsed in the 1950s, unable to compete with cheap imports. Bolton and similar towns slumped.

In 1974 Manchester and its surrounding towns, including Bolton, were separated from Lancashire and became Greater Manchester. Bolton is nowadays mainly a commuter town for the big city. With a population in 2011 of 194,189 Bolton may well be "the biggest town in Britain" but its bids to be recognised as a city itself continue to be rebuffed.

The town's traditional dialect is more "Lanky" (Lancashire) than Mancunian. You're unlikely nowadays to hear "thee / tha / thi" for "you / your" unless ironically, but you might hear "owt" (anything), "nowt" (nothing), "summat" (something) and "reeght" (right). Thus, a trivial matter is dismissed as "summat 'n nowt." Residents of Westhoughton are dubbed Keawyeds - cow heads; there's a bovine legend about this but it's probably from their victory banquet after Waterloo in 1815, when they roasted an ox and paraded the skull as "Old Boney".


 * Visit Bolton tourist information.

Get in
By plane: Manchester Airport has a huge range of flights. An hourly direct train from the airport takes 40 min to Bolton, otherwise change at Manchester Oxford Road.



Trains run to Bolton frequently from Manchester Victoria and Manchester Piccadilly, 20 min, with a walk-up single costing less than £5. The train from the airport continues north from Bolton to Horwich Parkway, Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle and Glasgow or Edinburgh. Bolton has two trains per hour from Blackpool via Preston, and two per hour from Wigan.

is central, 5mins walk from the Town Hall.

is next to Bolton Wanderers football ground and Middlebrook retail park.

There are also small station halts at Lostock, Westhoughton, Hindley, Daisy Hill, Blackrod (for Horwich town) and Hall i' th' Wood.

By bus: National Express runs three times a day direct from London Victoria, taking six hours.

From Manchester, Bus 8 runs from Shudehill Interchange every ten min, taking 50 min (don't use Bus 37, which takes 90 min). There are also frequent but slow buses to Bolton from Salford, Bury, Rochdale, Blackburn, Preston, Chorley and Wigan.

The bus station is attached to the north side of the railway station.

By car for town centre exit M60 / M61 onto A666. For the football stadium stay on M61 to jcn 6.

Get around
Bolton is not on the Greater Manchester tram network, so use the bus for outlying places. Bus 525 runs to Hall i' th' Wood. Buses passing near Bolton Wanderers football ground are the 505, 575, 915, 918 and 996, or you can take the train to Horwich Parkway.

See

 * , opened in 1873, is a confident statement of municipal pride, in neoclassical style with a baroque clock tower. Leeds and Portsmouth city halls were built to the same pattern. The elegant Le Mans Crescent behind was added in the 1930s.
 * The famous Fish and Veg Market, the newly developed Market Hall and Churchgate are worth visiting.
 * Bolton Parish Church is Victorian. Samuel Crompton lies in the graveyard.
 * is a four-arched stone aqueduct built in 1793 to carry the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal over the River Irwell. The canal climbed from Manchester over Pendleton to Prestolee where it branched, to Bolton and to Bury. This section is still in water and you can walk along the towpath but it's not navigable: work is under way to partly restore it.
 * is a four-arched stone aqueduct built in 1793 to carry the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal over the River Irwell. The canal climbed from Manchester over Pendleton to Prestolee where it branched, to Bolton and to Bury. This section is still in water and you can walk along the towpath but it's not navigable: work is under way to partly restore it.
 * is a four-arched stone aqueduct built in 1793 to carry the Manchester, Bolton & Bury Canal over the River Irwell. The canal climbed from Manchester over Pendleton to Prestolee where it branched, to Bolton and to Bury. This section is still in water and you can walk along the towpath but it's not navigable: work is under way to partly restore it.
 * (Anglican) is in Horwich. Consecrated in 1831, it's an example of a "Commissioners' church" (aka a "Waterloo" or "Million Act" church). These were an initiative following the end of the Napoleonic wars to revive the decrepit Church of England, to be a national thank-offering for victory, and by Christian moral teaching to prevent a Jacobin-style revolution in Britain.
 * (Anglican) is in Horwich. Consecrated in 1831, it's an example of a "Commissioners' church" (aka a "Waterloo" or "Million Act" church). These were an initiative following the end of the Napoleonic wars to revive the decrepit Church of England, to be a national thank-offering for victory, and by Christian moral teaching to prevent a Jacobin-style revolution in Britain.

Do

 * Parks and countryside: central in town are Queen's Park and Moss Bank Park.
 * , also known as Crompton Lodges, is on the Farnworth & Little Lever road.
 * in Westhoughton is a small wooded nature reserve on "The Hoskers", a reclaimed colliery site. Also nearby is Cunningham Clough, a bosky gully with lots of scrubs for the dog to fossick in.
 * in Westhoughton is a small wooded nature reserve on "The Hoskers", a reclaimed colliery site. Also nearby is Cunningham Clough, a bosky gully with lots of scrubs for the dog to fossick in.


 * Watch football at . They were promoted in 2021 so they now play soccer in League One, the game's third tier. Their home ground, capacity 28,800, is called the "University of Bolton Stadium" but is better known as the Macron or Reebok. It's on Burnden Way BL6 6JW, next to Middlebrook retail park five miles west of town centre. In 2022 the stadium hosted games in the Rugby League World Cup, postponed from 2021.
 * Walk in the West Pennine Moors. Their most prominent features Rivington Pike and Winter Hill TV mast are across the boundary with Chorley. Great views across the North West - on a clear day you can make out Blackpool Tower and the mountains of Wales.
 * Bolton Food & Drink Festival is held over the August bank holiday weekend. The next is expected to be in Aug 2023.
 * Bolton Food & Drink Festival is held over the August bank holiday weekend. The next is expected to be in Aug 2023.
 * Bolton Food & Drink Festival is held over the August bank holiday weekend. The next is expected to be in Aug 2023.

Buy

 * Town centre retail areas are the Market Place (the former market hall) and Crompton Place (formerly the Arndale Centre). There's also a large Marks & Spencer on Deansgate.
 * The edge-of-town retail park is Middlebrook, near the football stadium towards Horwich.

Bolton

 * A strip of places on Bridge St include Nadii's Diner, Viva La Salsa, Jo's Grill House and Sake Sushi.
 * A strip of places on Bridge St include Nadii's Diner, Viva La Salsa, Jo's Grill House and Sake Sushi.

Horwich

 * Middlebrook retail park by the football stadium has a range of budget chain eateries, including Abacus Chinese, ASK Italian, Frankie & Benny's, and Nando's.
 * Middlebrook retail park by the football stadium has a range of budget chain eateries, including Abacus Chinese, ASK Italian, Frankie & Benny's, and Nando's.
 * Middlebrook retail park by the football stadium has a range of budget chain eateries, including Abacus Chinese, ASK Italian, Frankie & Benny's, and Nando's.
 * Middlebrook retail park by the football stadium has a range of budget chain eateries, including Abacus Chinese, ASK Italian, Frankie & Benny's, and Nando's.
 * Middlebrook retail park by the football stadium has a range of budget chain eateries, including Abacus Chinese, ASK Italian, Frankie & Benny's, and Nando's.

Bolton

 * Bolton is home to an independent brewery, Bank Top. Their ales can be found in many local pubs and off-licences.
 * Other ales from the area include Lees (Middleton), Holts (Manchester), Hydes (Manchester) and Robinsons (Stockport).

Elsewhere

 * Farnworth has the Railway (aka Moses Gate) and Shakespeare.
 * Westhoughton has the White Lion, The Victoria, Wheatsheaf, The Robert Shaw (Weatherspoons), Rose & Crown (formerly Howfener) and White Horse.
 * Wingates has Waggon & Horses and The Royal Oak.
 * Daisy Hill has Rosehill Tavern and Grey Man; and Over Hulton has Red Lion and Hulton Arms.
 * Lostock has Beehive Carvery.
 * Lostock has Beehive Carvery.

Learn
Bolton is home to the University of Bolton (formerly Bolton Institute).

Horwich

 * These are clustered around Bolton Wanderers football ground and Middlebrook retail park, with nothing in Horwich:


 * Premier Inn Bolton West is quarter of a mile east of the stadium on A673 Chorley New Road, with similar prices and quality.
 * Rivington Pike M61 service area west of Horwich has accommodation, but there's no direct access to town.
 * Premier Inn Bolton West is quarter of a mile east of the stadium on A673 Chorley New Road, with similar prices and quality.
 * Rivington Pike M61 service area west of Horwich has accommodation, but there's no direct access to town.
 * Rivington Pike M61 service area west of Horwich has accommodation, but there's no direct access to town.

Connect
As of June 2021, Bolton has 4G from O2 and Three, and 5G from EE and Vodafone.

Stay safe
In an emergency call 999 or 112 for Police, Ambulance, Fire Service or Coastguard. Call 101 to report concerns to the Police that do not require an emergency response.

Go next

 * Manchester is an unmissable lively city, an easy day trip from Bolton.