United Kingdom: The home of the Industrial Revolution

With a long history dating back to before the Romans, the United Kingdom is perhaps most well-known for its global influence throughout the last three centuries. But it’s within the last century that the British have become famous for their musicians, footballers, the Royal Family and their love of tea. Despite this, the United Kingdom is a diverse country, with many distinct accents and cultures throughout each of the four nations that make up the UK: England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Take a trip across the UK and let us introduce four distinctive cities of the UK. You can listen along, too: scroll down for a playlist of classic British songs while you read.

London

The capital of both England and the United Kingdom, London is truly a global city, home to nine million residents (13.4 per cent of the UK’s population), the UK’s Royal Family and Parliament.

There are hundreds, probably thousands of symbols, buildings and people synonymous with London, but it is The London Underground’s ‘Tube’ system which arguably takes the biscuit as London’s most recognised icon. The Tube transports many of the city’s nine million residents, alongside countless tourists all year round. Opened in 1863, it was the world’s first underground passenger railway. The Tube system follows many of the city’s unique buildings, architecture and the River Thames, with stations near Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament.

Edinburgh

Famous for its cobbled streets and quaint cafés, Edinburgh is home to the iconic Edinburgh Castle, smooth whisky and the world’s largest arts festival,the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The streets of Edinburgh were where J.K. Rowling wrote some of her world-famous Harry Potter novels, taking inspiration from the idyllic streets of the hilly capital.

Cardiff

A relatively small capital, Cardiff is the eleventh largest city in the UK. Despite this, it is home to more castles than any other city in the world. Beyond castles, Cardiff and Wales itself boast their own language, which around 10 per cent of the population in Cardiff speak alongside English. The Welsh language was revived in the 1990s, and now all children attending school in Wales are taught the Welsh language.

Belfast

Northern Ireland’s capital is Belfast, the birthplace of the ill-fated RMS Titanic over 100 years ago. Located on the island of Ireland, Belfast’s colourful history, originally as a linen producer, has transformed in recent years and is now home to a booming TV and media industry. Belfast and other parts of Northern Ireland were home to the much of the filming of HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Logistics in the UK

With the word ‘Brexit’ still on everyone’s lips, and the English Channel and the Irish Sea acting as physical boundaries, one could be forgiven for thinking trade with the UK would be difficult. However, the UK remains a strong trading partner for countries across the world, with the EU in particular making up just over 50 per cent of all imports and exports to and from the UK.

Any goods coming in or out of the UK will now be subject to customs formalities, but the process isn’t as complicated as one may think at first glance. Since the 1 January 2021, a lot has changed, logistics companies like Rhenus have worked tirelessly to prepare its customs handling for these changes and to ensure that shipments continue to move smoothly between the UK and the EU. If you are unsure about the additional customs procedures in place since January 2021, Rhenus is on hand to help you understand what’s required.

Trading rules for the UK post-Brexit:

You can find out more about specific trading rules on the Rhenus Brexit webpage:

www.rhenus.group/brexit/uk

Sound of the UK

Beyond logistics, the UK is famous for producing some of the world’s best-selling and well-known pop artists. The UK music scene continues to thrive, with new genres like grime making their own impact on the music world.

Although it’s hard to choose between the best songs and artists of the last few decades, the ones below are among the best to come out of the UK:

  1. The Beatles - Hey Jude
  2. Elton John - Your Song
  3. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
  4. Oasis - Wonderwall
  5. The Rolling Stones - Beast of Burden
  6. The Spice Girls – Wannabe
  7. Florence + the Machine – Dog Days Are Over
  8. Dizzee Rascal - Bonkers 

And what can we do for you?

Rhenus Logistics offers dynamic international logistics solutions to meet the requirements of UK’s supply chain environment.

More


Comments

For this article there are 0 comments

What do you think?

Please log in to like and comment on this article.
Not signed up yet? Register now

Login

Please log in to like and comment on this article.
Not signed up yet? Sign in

arrow_upward