Stockport

Stockport is a borough in the south east of Greater Manchester. It used to be famous as the centre of the hat-making industry. The River Mersey begins in Stockport just east of the Town Centre at the confluence of the Goyt and Tame.

River Mersey, Wear Mill and Stockport Viaduct

Understand

The borough contains the towns and suburbs of Marple, Cheadle, Brinnington, Bosden Farm, Cale Green, Cheadle Heath, Davenport, Davenport Park, Edgeley, Foggbrook, Great Moor, Heaviley, Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey, Heaton Moor, Heaton Norris, Little Moor, North Reddish, Offerton, Offerton Green, Portwood, Reddish, Reddish Green, Reddish Vale, Shaw Heath, South Reddish, Stepping Hill and Woodsmoor.

Get in

By train

🌍 Stockport railway station. Stockport station lies on the West Coast Main Line, and is served by 3 trains per hour to London Euston (around 2 hr) and Birmingham, as well as less frequent trains to Sheffield, Norwich, Shrewsbury, Cardiff and South Wales. Local trains link Stockport with Manchester (10 minutes), Macclesfield (12 minutes), Altrincham (15 minutes) and Chester (1 hr 15 min).  

By car

Stockport is on the A6 and it has 2 entry points to the M60, the Manchester orbital motorway.

By air

Stockport is within 7 miles of Manchester Airport (MAN ^IATA). A regular train service runs to Manchester Piccadilly from where trains to Stockport are frequent.

Get around

🌍 Stockport bus station. There is a good bus network. Useful services include the Skyline 199 service between Buxton, Chapel-en-le-Frith, Stockport and Manchester Airport and the 358 service to Hayfield in the Peak District.  

(An easily overlooked shortcut if you need to walk from the railway station to the bus station is as follows: turn left at the Station Road exit from the railway station, then as the road bends right, turn left onto a footpath opposite the swimming pool (well before you reach MacDonalds). Turn immediately right, down some steps signposted "Bus Station". Total walking time is around 5 minutes.)

See

Stockport Town Hall

• 🌍 Hat Works, Wellington Mill, Wellington Rd S, SK3 0EU, ☎ [phone]. 10AM–5PM. "The UK's only museum dedicated solely to the hatting industry, hats and headwear!" Free.  
• 🌍 Bramhall Park and Bramall Hall, Hall Rd, Bramhall, SK7 3NX, ☎ [phone].  
• 🌍 Lyme Park, Disley, SK12 2NR (at Disley, 6 miles southeast), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. A stately home and extensive grounds owned by the National Trust.  
• 🌍 Staircase House, 31 Market Place, SK1 1ES, ☎ [phone]. Includes Stockport Story Museum.  
• 🌍 Vernon Park and Museum, Turncroft Lane, Offerton, SK1 4AR, ☎ [phone]. 10AM–3.30PM (museum). Stockport's oldest public park. Free.  
• 🌍 Reddish Vale Country Park, Stockport, Greater Manchester, SK5 7HE. 
• 🌍 Stockport Town Hall, Edward Street, SK1 3XE, ☎ [phone]. Built 1904–08 in white Portland stone by architect Sir Alfred Brumwell Thomas, and opened by the then Prince and Princess of Wales. Wurlitzer organ concerts on Monday lunchtimes, tours available by arrangement for groups of 15 or more.  
• 🌍 Stockport Viaduct. Over eleven million bricks were used to build what was then the largest viaduct in the world. It is still hugely imposing and dominates the western edge of the town centre, and is a must for lovers of Victorian/railway architecture.  
• 🌍 Air raid shelters, 61 Chestergate, SK1 1NE, ☎ [phone]. During World War II, an extensive network of tunnels was excavated in the sandstone under Stockport town centre to provide protection from bombing raids. One section has been opened up for visitors as a museum. Adult £4.75, concessions £3.50, children free.  

Do

• 🌍 The Plaza (Stockport Plaza), Mersey Square, SK1 1SP, ☎ [phone] (bookings), e-mail: [e-mail]. This lovingly restored 1930s cinema shows films and hosts theatre productions. The Christmas pantomime is one of the best in the region. You are welcome to look around or visit the authentic 1930s tearoom on the first floor with views out onto Mersey Square. 
• 🌍 Stockport County Football Club, Edgeley Park, Hardcastle Road, SK3 9DD, ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. £15 (adult), £10 (concession), reduced rates for under-21s. 
• 🌍 A Laugh In Stockport comedy club, Seven Miles Out arts centre, 20 Market Place. 

Eat

• 🌍 Last Monsoon, 54 King Street West Stockport SK3 ODT, ☎ [phone]. If you're looking for a nice Indian takeaway meal, delivered to your door right in Stockport, this is for you! 

Drink

Robinson's Brewery

The local brewery, Robinsons, are the major supplier to most of the area's pubs, although other Manchester breweries and micro breweries are well represented. The brewery opened a visitor centre in 2013.

There are some 250 pubs and bars within the metropolitan borough of Stockport. The UK real ale organisation CAMRA (Campaign for Real Ales) features many Stockport pubs in its guide and lists a record number (5) of pubs on its National Inventory of Historic Pubs. Stockport is very appealing to fearless beer/pub architecture enthusiasts in the wider area, with far more pubs than most towns of its size. A few of the best appear below.

• 🌍 Bamford Arms, Buxton Road, Heaviley, SK2 6NB, ☎ [phone]. M–Sa noon–11PM; Su noon–10:30PM. A Beefeater pub/restaurant located in the leafy suburb of Heaviley, around a mile south of Stockport town centre. 
• 🌍 The Park Inn, 264 Newbridge Lane, ☎ [phone]. M–F 11:30AM-11PM, Sa 11:30AM-midnight, Su noon-midnight. A friendly local community pub that offers plenty of entertainment, food served lunchtimes and evenings, and a jukebox with music that spans seven decades which is free. 

Arden Arms

• 🌍 Arden Arms, 23 Millgate, SK1 2LX. A runner-up in the CAMRA 2005 national pub awards. Excellent food at lunchtimes and weekends, good beer and reasonable wines. 
• 🌍 The Olde Vic, 1 Chatham Street, Edgeley. Close to the rear entrance of Stockport Station, this rather decrepit-looking pub is one of the most successful free houses in the area, offering a minimum of 5 beers from small independent breweries around the UK. The owner, an ex-policeman, operates a no swearing and bad behaviour policy and offers a warm welcome to all in his eclectic and quirky pub. 
• 🌍 Porter's Railway, 1 Avenue Street, SK1 2BZ (Portwood, just east of town centre), ☎ [phone]. M-Sa noon-11PM; Sun noon-10:30PM. This pub is often threatened by demolition but has survived. Its character and sheer range of ales is rivalled by few. Local CAMRA Pub of the Year 2007 and Cider Pub of the Year for six seven years. Among the many cask ales, it showcases the ranges of Rossendale, Outstanding and Pictish breweries (including a mild); supplemented by three guest beers at weekends. (updated Feb 2018)
• 🌍 Crown, 154 Heaton La, SK4 1AR, ☎ [phone]. Nestled beneath the viaduct, this characterful little boozer has long attracted beer enthusiasts due to its wide range of ales, cosy interior and spectacular location. 
• 🌍 The Magnet, 51 Wellington Road North, SK4 1HJ, ☎ [phone]. CAMRA regional pub of the year 2011. This pub has been restored and offers a wide range of cask ales and bottled beer from around the world. 

Sleep

Davenport Park Hotel

Limited hotels in the centre of Stockport.

• 🌍 The Alma Lodge, Buxton Road, SK2 6EL (A6 1 mile south of the centre.), ☎ [phone], fax: [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. From £45 (single). 
• 🌍 Premier Inn Stockport Central, Churchgate, SK1 1YG (close to central Stockport), ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Premier Inn Stockport South, 73 Buxton Road, Heaviley, SK2 6NB (A6 1 mile south of the centre), ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Davenport Park Hotel, 175–177 Buxton Road, Heaviley, SK2 6EW (A6 1.5 miles south of centre), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. £30 (single). 
• 🌍 Britannia Hotel, Dialstone Lane, Offerton, SK2 6AG (off A626 or A6), ☎ [phone]. 
• 🌍 Bredbury Hall Hotel and Country Club, Osborne Street, Bredbury, SK6 2DH (Bredbury (2 miles east of town centre)), ☎ [phone], e-mail: [e-mail]. 

Go next

• Manchester
• Altrincham

Routes through Stockport

Oldham/Sheffield ← Hyde ←	anticlockwise  clockwise	→ Cheadle → Liverpool
Central Manchester ← South Manchester ←	NW  SE	→ New Mills → Buxton