In which of the six towns of the city of Stoke-on-Trent would you find its city hall?

Stoke-on-Trent in North Staffordshire is a somewhat unusual city. Situated on the River Trent in the English midlands, it actually consists of six separate towns that were once the focus of the pottery industry. In 1910 the six towns of “The Potteries” federated to form a borough, which now has city status.

Several of these six towns have a claim to seniority. Burslem is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke-on-Trent; Hanley is the town that contains the business centre of the city. But it is the town of Stoke-upon-Trent where the city hall is located. The three other towns are Fenton, Longton and Tunstall.

Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly shortened to Stoke, takes its name from an ancient place of meeting and worship – a “stoc” – on the Trent. A town grew up around this site and the first church in the area, now known as Stoke Minster, was built there (see picture). Confusion can arise over the similarity of this town's name (Stoke-upon-Trent) to that of the larger city (Stoke-on-Trent). If the new borough had to be named after one of the original towns, the main reason for using "Stoke" is that this was where the new entity's administration was sited, which in turn was because Stoke had the main transport links: the River Trent, the canal, the mainline railway, and the trunk road passed through the centre of Stoke. It made sense to name the city after the oldest and most commonly recognised name, even though it was not the most significant town commercially.