City status?

[VenalWinfrey]

Please can someone answer the following: Today at work we had a debate as to the proper definition of a city. Some people believe that in order to qualify, an area must alredy possess a cathedral. Others held that a university in the town conferred city status. Others still thought that both were necessary. I thought that it was merely for the area to apply for city status, and for the governing body of this (whatever that may be!) to decide whether or not to grant the request. Any answer/opinion would be greatly appreciated! Will

[j2buttonsw]

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/City_status_in_the_United_K ingdom

[nicola_red]

I believe it used to be that it needed either a cathedral or a uni, then when all the old polytechnics became unis that left loads of places that now had a uni but weren't classed as cities. So they brought in the thing where a town can apply for city status and they award some new ones every so often (every 4 yrs maybe?) My home town, Preston, was awarded city status last year. The local paper was very excited about it. But I live in a proper city, Manchester, and the difference in the feel of the places is marked. Preston definitely still has a 'town' mentality. I don't think it will ever achieve that elusive 'metropolitan' atmosphere.

[Jamie Lewis]

Guildford has both a Catherdral and a university but it's not actually a city. It has applied on a number of occassions but tends to get turned down because of it's small population. And the fact that it's full of posh southern w4nkers!

[fitsy]

I know in Ireland anyway, it used to be if you had two cathedrals - usually a catholic and a protestant, which made my home town Kilkenny a city for hundreds of years, but since joining the EU I think you have to have a population over a certain number to be conferred city status. Hence Kilkenny lost its city status which caused a huge outburst and protests and everything at the time. Its still called Kilkenny city by locals and is a very touchy subject. Anyway, to answer your question - its to do with population, but I'm not sure what the cut off is.

[jenstar]

Population is not necessarily a factor - St David's and Wells have very low populations (I think Wells' is under 10,000 - the village I live in has more residents than that!)

[tartanwiz]

I know of many pathetic little towns that call themselves cities - Elgin, Dunblane, Dunfermline, St Andrews, Inverness (Yes, Inverness! Ha ha ha!). I don't care about city status depending on having a university or a cathedral. A little one-high-street town possessing these things doesn't make it a city in my view. To me, a city is HUGE, it's a place you can get lost in, it has towering buildings and motorway junctions, it has outlying suburbs with streets bigger than any pokey little county town high street. It has all the newest shops, restaurants, theme bars and places of entertainment.

[bernardo]

If it has a royal charter, it's a city.
If it doesn't, it isn't.
If it has eight legs and is running round in the bath, it's a spider.