The 10 cities Portsmouth's competing against in the UK City of Culture.

Perth is a small place, with a population of less than 50,000, however the Kinross council area, from Pitlochry in the Highlands down to Kinross in the south are included in their bid to become the UK's City of Culture.

The City Hall has been reserved as a suitable resting place for the historic Stone of Scone, on which kings of Scotland were traditionally crowned at Scone Abbey, whose ruins lie just outside Perth. However Perth City hall has been closed for several years.

Perth Theatre and Perth's 10-year old concert hall are core parts of their bid, although currently the theatre is undergoing a £16.6m refurbishment.

Perth has also developed a Creative Communities Fund to support the work of communities and individuals in their bid. The funding panel are looking for projects that will deliver creative, inclusive activities and ideas that will demonstrate what Perth can do.
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Paisley is not technically a city, but the competition is open to large towns and urban areas.

The Renfrewshire town is bidding as part of wider plans to use its heritage to transform its future.

At the heart of Paisley’s bid will be the Paisley Pattern. the archotecture behind Paisley Abbey and Paisley town hall and Robertson's marmalade. As well as a multitude of claims to fame such as David Tennant (Doctor Who), Andrew Niel (Daily Politics), and Gerard Butler (Olympus Has Fallen)

Renfrewshire Council’s Culture, Events and Heritage Fund has been created to support Paisley’s bid by raising ambition, getting people involved in culture and unlocking the area’s creative potential, while building the capacity of the local creative scene.

Stoke-on-Trent has six towns, which came together as a county borough in 1910 and later as a city in 1925

The six cities each hold a piece of Stoke-on-Trent's cultural background. Burslem is architecturally interesting,and is known for its vibrant nightlife including the legendary Leopard pub.

Fenton became rapidly populated during the massive development of the potteries. It contains a Victorian town hall which is being used as an arts venue and Fenton Manor which hosts international events such as the annual beer festival.

Hanley is home to a number of great theatres and art venues, holding the world’s greatest collection of Staffordshire ceramics and the Staffordshire Hoard, a treasure trove of Anglo-Saxon gold.

Longton has a long history of working in the heart of the Pottery industry. with Gladstone Pottery Museum.

Stoke is a town famously known for its pottery history and is the birthplace of fine bone china.

Finally Tunstall is where historians found that iron was produced as far back as 1280. The town stands on a ridge surrounded by old tile making and brickmaking sites. It’s also where Robbie Williams was born.

During the 7th century, Sunderland created England’s first ever stained glass window in 647 AD. The work of Bede and his fellow monks gave the community an identity.

Sunderland was once the greatest shipbuilding town in the world and was a driving force of industrialisation.

Sunderland opened one of the first municipal museums outside of London in 1846. In 1907 the Sunderland Empire was opened which is a beautiful Edwardian theatre which continues to attract huge crowds.

In recent years Sunderland has attracted attention for it booming independent music scene.

Sunderland's visual arts, photography and glass have also built a national profile with Northern Gallery of Contemporary Art, The National Glass Centre and the opening of Grayson Perry’s Vanity of Small Differences at the Sunderland Museum and Winter Gardens.

Sunderland has an array of new developments across the city, from the renovation of the old Fire Station and the regeneration of the new Music, Arts and Culture Quarter, to the restoration of significant heritage sites like Hylton Castle and Roker Pier.

Coventry is well known for being one of the cities that was worst hit during the bombings in World War II but it also has a rich heritage and is full of hidden wonders. It was even the Capital of England twice.

It was in Coventry that a jet engine was invented, as well as ribbon weaving and watchmaking, and of course being the centre of the motor industry.

From Warwick Arts Centre and the Belgrade Theatre to the UK’s first Shop Front Theatre, the Tin Music and Arts, Coventry Cathedral and the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum there is already lots of culture in the city.

The city also holds the UK’s largest free family festival with the Coventry Godiva Festival.

Hereford is a small city of 58,000 people but with a tun of history behind it.

Edward Elgar, that most English of classical composers, lived in Hereford for eight years from 1904 and composed some of his greatest works there, including his two symphonies and his violin concerto.

The Courtyard is one of Hereford's main venues and would play a leading role in events in 2021. It has a 400-seat auditorium and was opened in the 1990s, largely paid for by the National Lottery.

It recently lost its entire £130,000 a year grant from Herefordshire District Council as the local authority struggles, like others round the country, to make cuts.

The city's other big venue is their 12th century Hereford Cathedral, home to the medieval Mappa Mundi, to a library where the books are still chained to the shelves and home to a hard-working cathedral choir, it's also one of the three cathedrals which mount the annual Three Choirs Festival.

The Three Choirs is one of the oldest arts festivals in Britain, dating back to the early 18th Century.

Warrington is the only North West area to have entered the competition to become the third UK City of Culture.

A blue plaque has been put up on a house on Fletcher Street to mark Warrington being one of the founding members of the Rugby Football League on its 120th birthday of founding.

Warrington is also about to launch its latest Contemporary Arts Festival in October.

The Manchester Ship Canal, Sankey Valley and Bridgewater Canal all flow through the town.

One of the oldest museums in the country, Warrington Museum, lives there and is celebrating its 160th birthday. It is home to thousands of items including an Egyptian mummy. Warrington also has the oldest public library in the UK

Burtonwood in Warringotn also played a key role in the Second World War as American forces stayed at the base in the 1990's. The Burtonwood Heritage Centre has many facinating items about it.

Even the Rolling Stones played at the Parr Hall in November 1963 while these days the venue still plays hosts to the stars like Sarah Millican and Frank Turner.

Wells is in fact England smallest city. It is a cathedral city and civil parish in Somerset, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills.

With a population of only 10,536, in 2011 and with a built-up area of just 3.245 square kilometres, Wells has had city status since medieval times, because they have Wells Cathedral.

Wells is named as three wells were dedicated to Saint Andrew there.

The cathedral and the associated religious and medieval architectural history provide much of the employment.

The city has a variety of sporting and cultural activities and houses the independent Wells Cathedral School that was founded possibly as early as 909 and is one of the five established musical schools for school-age children in the United Kingdom.

The historic architecture of the city has also been used as a location for filming an increasing number of movies and television programmes.

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. It is the second largest city in Wales after Cardiff, and the twenty-fifth largest city in the UK.

Swansea is thought to have developed as a Viking trading post. The port of Swansea initially traded in wine, hides, wool, cloth and later in coal. At the beginning of the Industrial Revolution,Swansea was the logical place to site copper smelting works. Smelters were operating by 1720 and producing. The city expanded rapidly in the 18th and 19th centuries, and was termed "Copperopolis".

In the Second World War, its industrial importance made Swansea the target of German bombing, and much of the town centre was destroyed during the Swansea Blitz 1941.

In 1969, Swansea was granted city status, to mark Prince Charles's investiture as the Prince of Wales.

Within the city centre are the ruins of the castle, the Marina, the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea Museum, the Dylan Thomas Centre, the Environment Centre, and the Market, which is the largest covered market in Wales.

After reaching the shortlist for the 2017 title, the council believes it now has the right partners and plans in place now and for the future to make an even stronger case for why Swansea should be the UK City of Culture in 2021.

St Davids is the smallest city in Britain in size and population. It is a city, parish and community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is also the final resting place of Saint David, Wales's patron saint.

St Davids was given city status in the 16th century due to the presence of St David's Cathedral.

In the 6th century, David founded a monastery and church at Rose Vale on the banks of the River Alun. The monastic brotherhood that David founded was strict. Besides praying and celebrating masses, they cultivated the land and carried out many crafts, including beekeeping, in order to feed themselves and the many people who needed lodgings. They also fed and clothed the poor and needy. The settlement that grew up around the monastery was called Tyddewi meaning "David's house".

In 519 the archbishopric of Caerleon in the county of Monmouth was transferred to Mynyw, which was renamed "St Davids" in honour of the archbishop and saint by whom the transfer was accomplished.

The original cathedral built on the site was often plundered by the Vikings and was finally burnt and destroyed in 1087. The present cathedral was built by the Normans and contained many relics, including the remains of St David.