Local Information

Chester is the county town of Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider local government district of the City of Chester, which had a population of 118,210 according to the 2001 Census. Chester was granted city status in 1541.

Chester has the reputation of being the "English medieval city par excellence", but many of its buildings are from the Victorian era. It has the most complete city walls in Britain, and most sections of the walls are listed Grade I. The Industrial Revolution brought railways, canals and new roads to the city, which saw substantial expansion and development to the city - Chester Town Hall and the Grosvenor Museum are examples of Victorian architecture from this period.

Chester`s main industries are now the service industries, comprising retail, tourism and financial services. Chester`s main employer is Bank of America, formerly MBNA Europe. There is also a large Shell oil refinery (in Ellesmere Port), several large financial firms including HBOS plc and M&S Money. Just over the Welsh border to the west near the village of Broughton there is an Airbus UK factory (formerly British Aerospace), where the wings of Airbus aircraft, including the Airbus A380 are manufactured, and there are food processing plants to the north and west. The Iceland frozen food company is based in nearby Deeside.

Chester has its own university, the University of Chester, and a major hospital, the Countess of Chester Hospital, named after Diana, Princess of Wales and Countess of Chester.