Discover Stockport: Hat-Making History, Museums and Theatre

Stockport is surprisingly rich in history, with an unusual variety of stories to discover. Hat Works focuses entirely on the hat-making trade, while the historic Market Place, as the town centre, provides an important point of orientation for exploring the area. Added to this are listed architecture, underground air-raid shelters, museums and a restored Art Deco theatre. Those planning a trip filled with cultural discoveries will therefore find a range of themes in Stockport for varied days out.

Hat-making, distinctive buildings and historic districts

A striking starting point is Hat Works: it is the only hat museum in the United Kingdom. A guided tour through the factory floors provides insights into Stockport’s hat-making trade. A hat collection with global connections is also exhibited there. For visitors interested in local economic history, craftsmanship and unusual collections, this gives the town a particularly distinctive character.

Staircase House preserves one of only three surviving Jacobean cage-newel staircases in the country. The Underbanks area contains 42 listed buildings and 17 locally listed buildings. Because of its historic architecture and rich history, the Underbanks has been designated a Conservation Area. In addition, St Mary's in the Marketplace is a Grade I listed building. These different forms of architectural and local history make Stockport interesting for travellers who want to discover not only individual attractions but also historic structures.

Stockport Market Place is the historic centre of the town and an important part of the town centre. If you want to shape your trip around urban history and architecture, you can use this area as a point of reference and then choose the themes that appeal to you most. A holiday rental in Stockport can therefore be combined with an individual cultural programme without limiting the trip to a single museum.

Insights into the war years and the town’s history

The Stockport Air Raid Shelters are among the more impressive historical attractions in the area. Their tunnels were cut into natural sandstone cliffs, opened in 1939 and were intended to serve as shelters during the air raids of the Second World War. Today, the Stockport Air Raid Shelters provide insights into life in war-torn Britain in the 1940s. A visit therefore offers a different kind of historical experience from the architecture of the Underbanks or the craft tradition at Hat Works.

Stockport Museum takes visitors through Stockport’s history, from more than 10,000 years ago to the present day. For a travel group with different interests, this provides a broad perspective across time: early history can be followed by themes of industrialisation, everyday life and the more recent past. You can decide for yourself whether to focus on a single historical period or on the changes the area has undergone over many millennia.

Theatre, classic films and further discoveries

Stockport Plaza is a restored Art Deco super-cinema and variety theatre dating from 1932. Stage performances take place there and classic films are shown. The Plaza therefore complements the museums and historic buildings with a cultural programme focused on film and live performance. The Old Unicorn Brewery Visitors Centre, meanwhile, is a free-entry museum and offers another opportunity to add an independent museum experience to your trip.

When looking for accommodation, you can therefore first consider which combination you prefer: hat-making history and craftsmanship, historic architecture, insights into the war years, a long town history, or theatre and film. Those travelling with different interests can give their days the emphasis they prefer and choose a holiday rental in Stockport as the starting point for a personally tailored cultural trip. For another location to explore, you can also visit Bredbury.

Back to the higher-level travel overview: Stockport.