Living In PrestonT 01772 620 321

Preston, located on the River Ribble

Preston was granted the status of a city in in 2002, becoming Englands's 50th city in the 50th year of Queen Elizabeth II's reign. The Mayor of Preston from May 2008 to May 2009 is Councillor John Swindells. The population of the Preston City Council area is 130,000.

The 2001 census indicated 184,836 living in the Preston sub-area and c 335,000 living in the Central Lancashire sub-region, which also includes Leyland and Chorley.

Preston is a major centre of the British defence aerospace industry with BAE Systems, the UK's principle military aircraft design, development and manufacture supplier, having it's Military Aircraft Headquarters located nearby in Warton. The company has two of its major facilities located some miles on either side of the city.

BAE Warton is located to the western side of the city whilst BAE Samlesbury is located to the east, over the M6 motorway. BAE Systems also operate large office facilities at the Portway area within the city and at the Strand office complex.

Preston's main high streets are Fishergate and Friargate which offer shops, bars and restaurants with many more tucked away down the side streets. The first Kentucky Fried Chicken outlet in the UK was opened in Fishergate.

An £800 million regeneration project known as the Tithebarn Project is also planned for Preston. The project is being managed by property giants Grosvenor and Lend Lease Corporation and is dependent upon a number of requirements (such as the re-location of the current Bus Station). Plans are also being drawn up to open a new Bentley car showroom close to the M6, M65 and M61 motorways. The new facility will enable greater accessibility for Lancashire's Elite and should serve to meet growing demand for this type of product from within Preston.

Since city status was awarded in the Queen's Jubilee year, Preston has been targeted by a number of developers. Residential developments are particularly popular with new apartments planned in and around the city centre. Office and hotel space is also in demand and a new Central Business District is being planned as well as a number of new hotels.

Education in Preston

Three and Four Year Old settings
The County Council has 25 Nursery schools and a large number of nursery classes attached to primary schools across the county. The County Council's Early Years Development and Childcare Partnership works with a large number of private and voluntary providers to ensure high quality early education places all over Lancashire.

Primary schools
Lancashire has 484 primary schools. There is a mix of infant, junior and all-through primary schools (3-11 or 4-11 years) including Community, Voluntary Controlled, Voluntary-Aided and Foundation schools.

Secondary schools
There are 85 Secondary schools (of which 16 offer sixth form education). Most of these are comprehensive although there are three districts which offer selective grammar school education, ie Ribble Valley, Lancaster and Rossendale. Transfer to secondary education is at 11.

Special schools
There are 31 Special schools maintained by the Authority. Mainstream schools also have extra resources to allow them to make provision for certain types of special educational needs.

Download the School List here

Attractions in Preston

There are many interesting tourist attractions in Preston such as the Harris Museum, the National Football Museum, the Museum of Lancashire, the Lancashire Queen's Regiment Museum, the British Commercial Vehicle Museum, Broughton Cottage Museum, the Ribble Steam Railway Museum, Miller Park, Avenham Park, Moor Park, Grange Park, and Haslam Park.

If you are planning on staying in the city for a while, you will find a wide range of hotels, guesthouses, bed and breakfasts, hostels and self-catering holiday accommodation to choose from. The city also has a vibrant nightlife with bars, pubs, theatres, cinemas and live music venues.

Postcodes for Preston begin with the letters PR and as well as Preston itself the PR postcode includes Chorley and Southport.

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Places to Eat & Drink in Preston