Bury is a town in Greater Manchester. It lies on the River Irwell; 5.5 miles east of Bolton, 5.9 miles west-southwest of Rochdale, and 7.9 miles north-northwest of the city of Manchester. Bury is surrounded by several smaller settlements, which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, with Bury as the largest settlement and administrative centre.
Historically a part of Lancashire, Bury emerged during the Industrial Revolution as a mill town centred on textile manufacture.
Bury is regionally notable for its open-air market - Bury Market - and its popularity has been increased since the introduction of the Manchester Metrolink tram system, which terminates in the town. The market is known for its supply of a local traditional dish - black pudding, served hot or cold and can be eaten either as a takeaway snack, or more commonly as an accompaniment or main ingredient of a meal starter or main course.
One of Bury's most notable residents was Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and founder of the Metropolitan Police Service. A monument to Peel is outside Bury parish church and another, the austere Peel Monument, stands on a hill overlooking the locality.
Coronation Street regular cast members born in Bury are Julie Goodyear (1942), Jane Danson (1978), Vicky Binns (1982), Helen Flanagan (1989) and Elle Mulvaney (2002). Jennie McAlpine and Georgia May Foote were brought up in the town. Doris Speed spent her final years in a care home in the town after living for many years in Chorlton and died there on 16th November 1994. Peter Adamson began his acting career when he joined the town's Fortesque Players Company in 1949.
Within the narrative of Coronation Street, the first residents of No.11, the Makepiece family, moved to Bury in the 1920s. Back in 1914, Albert Tatlock had joined the Lancashire Fusiliers regiment on 4th August, the day that World War I broke out, and had trained at the regimental camp in the town. Albert moved to the town in June 1968 to be Assistant Curator at the Fusiliers' Museum, renting out his home at 1 Coronation Street to Effie Spicer but moved back there to be nursed after breaking his arm in the museum in July 1969. His wife, Bessie Vickery was born in Bury back in 1903.
In October 1970, a community of gypsies who had encamped on waste ground in Weatherfield went to Bury after being moved on by the police. Audrey Roberts lived in Bury for a short period at the start of the 1980s and it was the home town of Marion Willis who married Eddie Yeats in October 1983. Shortly afterwards, Marion's mother Winifred fell ill and the couple moved back there to look after her. Their daughter, Dawn, was born in Bury on 23rd May 1984. In June 1988, Jack Duckworth got so drunk on Don Brennan's stag night that he mistakenly told taxi driver Willy Murtough that he lived there, only remembering his true residence halfway through the journey. In September 2013, terminally-ill Hayley Cropper arranged to meet her estranged son Christian Gatley in a cafe in the town, but he failed to turn up.