Manchester

===Post-Second World War===
Cotton processing and trading continued to decline in peacetime, and the exchange closed in 1968.<ref name="Kidd"/> By 1963 the port of Manchester was the UK's third largest,<ref name="UK's 3rd largest">{{cite book |title=Manchester: an Architectural History |last=Parkinson-Bailey |first=John J |year=2000 |page=127 |publisher=Manchester University Press |location=Manchester |isbn=0-7190-5606-3}}<br />• {{cite book |title=Lancashire, The Industrial and Commercial South |last=Pevsner |first=Nikolaus |year=1969 |page=267 |publisher=Penguin Books |location=London |isbn=0-14-071036-1}}</ref> and employed over 3,000 men, but the canal was unable to handle the increasingly large [[Containerization|container]] ships. Traffic declined, and the port closed in 1982.<ref name="ship close">{{cite web|url=http://www.salford.gov.uk/milestones_v2.pdf |title=Salford Quays milestones: the story of Salford Quays |access-date=5 May 2009 |publisher=Salford City Council |year=2005 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327122642/http://www.salford.gov.uk/milestones_v2.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2009}}</ref> Heavy industry suffered a downturn from the 1960s and was greatly reduced under the economic policies followed by [[Margaret Thatcher]]'s government after 1979. Manchester lost 150,000 jobs in manufacturing between 1961 and 1983.<ref name="Kidd"/>

[[File:BBC picture Arndale centre after 1996 bomb.jpg|thumb|left|[[Corporation Street, Manchester|Corporation Street]] after the [[1996 Manchester bombing|Manchester bombing on 15 June 1996]]. There were no fatalities, but it was one of the most expensive man-made disasters.<ref>{{cite news |first=Kim |last=Sengupata |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/pounds-411m-cost-after-manchester-bomb-sets-record-pounds-411m-1275416.html |title=£411m cost after Manchester bomb sets record |work=[[The Independent]] |date=28 March 1997 |access-date=3 October 2009 |location=London |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100522031850/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pounds-411m-cost-after-manchester-bomb-sets-record-pounds-411m-1275416.html |archive-date=22 May 2010 |url-status=live}}</ref> A large rebuilding project of Manchester ensued.]]

Regeneration began in the late 1980s, with initiatives such as the [[Manchester Metrolink|Metrolink]], the [[Bridgewater Hall|Bridgewater Concert Hall]], the [[Manchester Arena]], and (in Salford) the rebranding of the port as [[Salford Quays]]. Two bids to host the Olympic Games were part of a process to raise the international profile of the city.<ref name="Regeneration"/>
[[File:Oxfordrd.jpg|thumb|[[Wilmslow Road|Oxford Road]], one of the main thoroughfares into [[Manchester city centre]]]]
Manchester has a history of attacks attributed to Irish Republicans, including the [[Manchester Martyrs]] of 1867, arson in 1920, a series of explosions in 1939, and two bombs in 1992. On Saturday 15 June 1996, the [[Provisional Irish Republican Army]] (IRA) carried out the [[1996 Manchester bombing]], the detonation of a large bomb next to a department store in the city centre. The largest to be detonated on British soil, the bomb injured over 200 people, heavily damaged nearby buildings, and broke windows {{convert|1/2|mi|m}} away. The cost of the immediate damage was initially estimated at £50&nbsp;million, but this was quickly revised upwards.<ref name="1996 IRA costs">{{cite book |title=A History of Manchester |first=Stuart |last=Hylton |year=2003 |pages=227–230 |publisher=Phillimore & Co |location=Chichester |isbn= 1-86077-240-4}}</ref> The final insurance payout was over £400&nbsp;million; many affected businesses never recovered from the loss of trade.<ref name="IRA business">{{cite news | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3704943.stm | title=Panorama – The cost of terrorism | access-date=5 May 2009 | publisher=BBC | date=15 May 2004 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100415021411/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/3704943.stm | archive-date=15 April 2010 | url-status=live }}</ref>