Second city of the United Kingdom

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The second city of the United Kingdom is typically held to be either Birmingham or Manchester, between which the title is disputed.^{[1][2][3][4][5]} The title is unofficial and cultural and is often debated in the popular press between Birmingham, Manchester, and other candidates.

The United Kingdom has a primate city structure where London significantly surpasses other cities in size and importance and all other cities have much more in common with one another than with the capital,^[6] but various cities have held some claim to the title of second city through history. Eboracum (York), the northern capital of Britannia Inferior, would have been considered the second city by virtue of its prominence in Roman times.^[7] In medieval England, the second-largest city was Norwich. It was surpassed by Bristol in the seventeenth century. By the nineteenth century, the label "second city of the British Empire" had emerged and was widely applied to Dublin, the capital of Ireland.^{[8][9][10][11][12]} Dublin was eclipsed over the coming decades by several rapidly industrialising cities in Britain.^[13] Glasgow was sometimes described as the second city of the Empire during the Victorian era. Currently, Birmingham is commonly referred to as the UK's second city, although Manchester has also emerged as a contender.^{[14][1][15][4]} Edinburgh, Cardiff, and Belfast also have alternative claims due to their status as capital cities of the other home nations.^[16][17][18]