The Second City

[beale]

I say it's Birmingham, my North-Westerly girlfriend says it is Manchester. Can anyone say conclusively what the second city is?

 

Ta

[luckystrike]

It looks to be Manchester.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2253035.stm

[Ducati]

If you mean in size of population, then the top seven are;

 

London

Birmingham

Leeds

Sheffield

Liverpool

Manchester

Newcastle

[Dudley]

That BBC article says Manchester is by popular conception England's second city but I am pretty sure Birmingham is the official one.

[rod]

On the news some time ago I remember Birmingham was referred to as the second city. I think the news item was about redevelopment.

[silly moo]

I always thought Birmingham - and no I'm not a brummie but a yorkshire tyke!

[Octavius]

Birmingham has a population of 977,000 and is England's second largest city.

Manchester was hailed as Englands 2nd city because of the Commonwealth Games, nothing else.  Population in Manchester is about 400,000

I presume this is what you meant by 2nd city.  Leeds and Liverpool are also higher than Manchester according to the National Statistics Office. 

[Artemis]

All depends on what parameters you are using.  Commerce wise I would say Manchester.

[cockneyexile]

my thoughts historicaly would be york as it used to be the capital of england

[spudqueen]

I would have thought Birmingham (and I'm from the North West). I always think of the old STD numbers:

01 London
021 Birmingham
031 Glasgow
041 Edinburgh
051 Liverpool
061 Manchester
091 Newcastle

[rod]

cockneyexile the first capital of England was Winchester and they have a nice table for Sunday lunch!

[bernardo]

If you mean "what is the second largest city in terms of population?" then the answer is definitely Birmingham.  Birmingham has 10 parliamentary constituencies, and Manchester has 5.

[greenday]

In the days of the British Empire, Glasgow was referred to as the second city of the Empire.