Bury

Bury (pronounced "Berry") is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England, ten miles north of central Manchester. Bury is a former mill town known for manufacturing textiles. Now it is known for the open-air Bury Market and black pudding, the traditional local dish. In 2021 its population was 81,000.

Understand
Bury grew rapidly from the 18th century as a textile town, at first for wool but later chiefly for cotton. Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850) was born here to a wealthy textile family, and founded the modern police force and served as British prime minister. The lot of Bury's mill workers was less fortunate, as the 19th-century town became overcrowded, squalid and rife with disease. Still they made a living, until the mid 20th century when the cotton industry collapsed, and much of the town became derelict. Historically within Lancashire, in 1974 Bury became part of Greater Manchester, and is nowadays primarily a commuter town. The borough also includes the more affluent suburbs of Prestwich and Whitefield (with long-established Jewish populations), Radcliffe, and (the most scenic) Ramsbottom on the edge of the Pennines.

Bury is indelibly linked to the black pudding, produced and consumed here in industrial quantities, and hurled over record-breaking distances at an annual contest in Ramsbottom.

Get in
See Manchester for long-distance travel options. From Manchester Airport take the train or bus to Piccadilly then Bus 135 or tram to Bury.

By tram
Bury no longer has mainline trains, but it's a terminus of the Metrolink trams, green and yellow lines. These run downtown via Whitefield and Prestwich to Manchester Victoria station; the yellow line forks south to Piccadilly station, while the green line crosses city centre westwards and out to Old Trafford, Stretford, Sale and Altrincham. Change in city centre for the other lines to Salford Quays, Media City and Eccles, to Etihad Stadium and Ashton-under-Lyne, to Imperial War Museum and Trafford Centre (this line opened in Match 2020), to Wythenshawe and the airport, and to East Didsbury.

Trams normally run every 10 min or so between 6AM and 11:30PM. See TGM Metrolink website for fare deals, service updates and travel planner; you must buy your ticket before boarding.

, off Haymarket Street, is in Fare Zone 4, so a ride to city centre costs £4.60 single. The same ticket would actually take you all the way to the airport, 90 min.

By bus
First Manchester Bus 135 runs between Manchester Piccadilly and Bury every 10 min or so, taking 50 min. It also operates as a night bus late on Friday and Saturday. Bus 471 bus runs from Bolton, taking 30 min.

By car
Bury lies at the junction of the A56 and A58. From the M60, exit J17 to join the A56 (Manchester Road/Bury New Road). From the M66, exit J2 to join the A58 (Bolton Road).

There is plenty of parking available in and around Bury. Prices vary, according to the type of parking offered (e.g. private, council-run, multi-story, on-street) but they are pretty reasonable compared to city prices. Free parking is available for Metrolink users at most stops, so it may be an idea to leave the car and hop-on a tram for the day instead.

Get around
See Manchester for ticket deals and passes for the bus & tram network.

By foot
Being a small town, most places in Bury are within walking distance (i.e. it will take you less than 20 min to walk from one side of the town to the other). If you are planning on venturing a little further out of the centre, then a bus may be useful.

By bicycle
There are many cycle lanes throughout Bury. For cycling enthusiasts, the TFGM website provides information on a few scenic routes around the more 'rural' outskirts. The National Cycle Route 6 Passes through Bury, continuing along the old railway lines to Greenmount and Ramsbottom

By bus
Bus services in the Bury area:

To Bolton: 471 via Breightmet, 480 via Greenmount, 511 via Ainsworth, 524 via Radcliffe

To Rochdale: 467/468 via Fairfield Hospital, 471 via Heywood

To Ramsbottom: 472 via Walmersley & 474 via Holcombe Brook (Circular route), B1 via Summerseat

To Manchester: 97 via Unsworth, 98 via Radcliffe, 135 via Whitefield, 163 via Middleton

To Farnworth: 512 via Ainsworth, 513 via Radcliffe

Other Buses: 94 to NMGH, 95 to Salford, 469 to Tottington, 481 to Blackburn, 483 to Burnley, B2 to Nangreves, B3 to Norden, B4 to Hopwood

By taxi
Private-hire taxis and black cabs are available within and around Bury. Private hire taxis cannot be hailed, they must be booked either in person from a taxi rank, or over the phone, or else the car's insurance is void. Prices on private hire taxis are quite reasonable and if there is more than one person travelling short distances, they often end up being cheaper than the equivalent bus fares.

See

 * is a village two miles south of Bury, on the same tram route. It's post-industrial and run-down, but see the 14th- to 15th-century Church of St Mary (Anglican) and the crumbling remnants of 15th-century Radcliffe Tower.
 * is a well-preserved mill village six miles north of Bury, hemmed in by the steep Pennine slopes, where streams surged down to power the mills. Its 19th-century Grant family may have been the model for the Cheeryble brothers in Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby. They practised a rapaciously efficient "Truck System": employees were not paid in cash but in tokens that could only be spent on beer in the company-owned pub.
 * is a village two miles south of Bury, on the same tram route. It's post-industrial and run-down, but see the 14th- to 15th-century Church of St Mary (Anglican) and the crumbling remnants of 15th-century Radcliffe Tower.
 * is a well-preserved mill village six miles north of Bury, hemmed in by the steep Pennine slopes, where streams surged down to power the mills. Its 19th-century Grant family may have been the model for the Cheeryble brothers in Charles Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby. They practised a rapaciously efficient "Truck System": employees were not paid in cash but in tokens that could only be spent on beer in the company-owned pub.

Do

 * is a park and caravan site on the riverside two miles north of town. It has canoeing, kayaking, angling, other water activities, climbing, ropes, adventure playground and obstacle course. Steam trains of the East Lancashire Railway chuff through.
 * Irwell Sculpture Trail is a 30 mi in length footpath from The Quays to Bacup dotted with large sculptures. On the section around Bury find Trinity, Our Seats Are Almost Touching, the Outwood Colliery group, Nailing Home, the barge in the bulrushes, As if I Were a River, Seek and You Will Find, In the Picture, Remnant Kings, Whispering Wall, Gateway, Willow Tree, Bocholt Tree, and Logarhythms.
 * on Harcles (or Holcombe) Hill commemorates Sir Robert Peel (1788-1850); the tower has a viewing platform and you may be able to ascend further. Lots of footpaths with valley views all around. Don't call it the "Peel tower" as that refers to a type of stubby medieval fort common across northern England and lowland Scotland.
 * Hiking: lots of other hikes in the West Pennine Moors. Use OS Landranger map 109 Manchester and 103 Blackburn.
 * Watch football but alas not at Bury FC, you'll have to head into Manchester. In 2019 Bury won promotion to League One, the third tier of English soccer, but they collapsed financially and were thrown out of the League before they'd even kicked a ball in the 2019/20 season.
 * World Black Pudding Hurling Championships are held on the second Sunday of September outside The Oaks pub on Bridge St, Ramsbottom. The format is like a coconut-shy: a pile of Yorkshire puddings are mounted on a 20-foot plinth, and the aim is to knock over the maximum number in three underarm shots. The next event is on Sun 13 Sept 2020.
 * Watch football but alas not at Bury FC, you'll have to head into Manchester. In 2019 Bury won promotion to League One, the third tier of English soccer, but they collapsed financially and were thrown out of the League before they'd even kicked a ball in the 2019/20 season.
 * World Black Pudding Hurling Championships are held on the second Sunday of September outside The Oaks pub on Bridge St, Ramsbottom. The format is like a coconut-shy: a pile of Yorkshire puddings are mounted on a 20-foot plinth, and the aim is to knock over the maximum number in three underarm shots. The next event is on Sun 13 Sept 2020.

Eat

 * The restaurant at  The Village Hotel offers good food and friendly service.
 * The Rock incorporates apartments, a cinema, a 25-lane bowling complex and many high street stores, bars, cafes and restaurants.
 * The restaurant and cafe bar at the Bury Met Theatre is good and also popular, as a bar, in the evenings.
 * The restaurant at  The Village Hotel offers good food and friendly service.
 * The Rock incorporates apartments, a cinema, a 25-lane bowling complex and many high street stores, bars, cafes and restaurants.
 * The restaurant and cafe bar at the Bury Met Theatre is good and also popular, as a bar, in the evenings.
 * The restaurant at  The Village Hotel offers good food and friendly service.
 * The Rock incorporates apartments, a cinema, a 25-lane bowling complex and many high street stores, bars, cafes and restaurants.
 * The restaurant and cafe bar at the Bury Met Theatre is good and also popular, as a bar, in the evenings.
 * The restaurant and cafe bar at the Bury Met Theatre is good and also popular, as a bar, in the evenings.

Drink




Sleep

 * There are two Premier Inns. The Manchester Bury Premier Inn is 200 yards south of Bury town centre, off Duke St by the junction of A58 ring road and A56.
 * The Manchester Prestwich Premier Inn is on Bury New Road A56 just south of Junction 17 of M60, midway between Prestwich and Whitefield and next to TGI Fridays.
 * There are two Premier Inns. The Manchester Bury Premier Inn is 200 yards south of Bury town centre, off Duke St by the junction of A58 ring road and A56.
 * The Manchester Prestwich Premier Inn is on Bury New Road A56 just south of Junction 17 of M60, midway between Prestwich and Whitefield and next to TGI Fridays.

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

Go next
All the sights of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire are within an hour of Bury. Leeds, Bradford, Brontë Country and Liverpool are also under an hour away.