Britain's traditional industries included iron
and steel production, electronics, coal mining, food and textiles.
The main industries today are banking and finance, steel, transport
equipment, oil and gas, and tourism.
Machine tools, electric power equipment, automation equipment,
railroad equipment, shipbuilding, aircraft, motor vehicles
and parts, electronics and communications equipment, metals,
chemicals, coal, petroleum, paper and paper products, food
processing, textiles, clothing, and other consumer goods
The administrative and financial center and most important port
is Greater London, which also has various manufacturing industries.
London is Europe's foremost financial city.
Metal goods, vehicles, aircraft, synthetic fibers, and electronic
equipment are made in the West Midlands, which with the addition
of Coventry roughly corresponds to the former metropolitan
county of West Midlands.
The industrial Black Country and the city of Birmingham are
in the West Midlands.
Greater Manchester has cotton and synthetic textiles, coal,
and chemical industries and is a transportation and warehousing
center.
Liverpool, Britain's second port, along with Southport and
Saint Helens are part of the Merseyside conurbation.
Leeds, Bradford, and the neighboring metropolitan districts
are Britain's main center of woolen, worsted, and other textile
production.
The Tyneside-Wearside region, with Newcastle upon Tyne as
its center and Sunderland as a main city, has coal mines and
steel, electrical engineering, chemical, and shipbuilding
and repair industries.
The South Wales conurbation, with the ports of Swansea, Cardiff,
and Newport, was traditionally a center of coal mining and
steel manufacturing; coal mining has declined sharply, however,
in many parts of the region. Current important industries
also include oil refining, metals production (lead, zinc,
nickel, aluminum), synthetic fibers, and electronics.
The region around the River Clyde, including Glasgow, is noted
for shipbuilding, marine engineering, and printing as well
as textile, food, and chemicals production.
The Belfast area in Northern Ireland is a shipbuilding, textile,
and food products center.
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