Burslem (/ˈbɜːrzləm/ BURZ-ləm) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England.

The Domesday Book shows Burslem (listed as Bacardeslim) as a small farming hamlet, strategically sited above a ford at Longport, part of the major pack horse track out of the Peak District and Staffordshire Moorlands to the Liverpool/London road.

[4] As far back as the late 12th century, a thriving pottery industry existed, based on the fine and abundant local clays.

After the Black Death, Burslem emerges in the records as a medieval town – St John the Baptist's Church on Cross Hill, with a stone tower dating from 1536, was extended in the 18th century, and is still standing and in use.

A new town hall was built in the market place in 1854, designed by G. T. Robinson of Leamington in elaborate baroque style.

Many of the novels of Arnold Bennett evoke Victorian Burslem, with its many potteries, mines, and working canal barges.

""In the Doomsday Survey – for even in that early date Burslem was a place of some importance – the town appears, as "Burwardeslyn;" and frequent mention is made of it in ancient documents during the Middle Ages.

At the 2011 census the ethnic demographics of the Burslem Central ward were:[5] At the 2011 census the ethnic demographics of the Burslem Park ward were:[6] Industrial scale pottery production has drastically declined since the 1970s; but specialist makers (Steelite) and smaller producers of high-value ceramics (Burleigh, Wade, Moorcroft) are thriving.

Burslem is emerging as a centre for small, freelance creative businesses working in sectors such as fine art, animation and crafts as well as pottery.

However, the evening economy is still active with a wide range of bars and restaurants mainly serving English and Indian food.

The newspaper covered Burslem, as well as surrounding areas including Tunstall, Middleport and Cobridge, giving a voice to the people in the community.

[11][12] In 1765 it was the location of the first meeting between Josiah Wedgwood, Thomas Bentley, Erasmus Darwin and James Brindley to discuss the building of what became the Trent and Mersey Canal; as The Tiger, it appears in several of Arnold Bennett's "Five Towns" novels.

[11][14] In January 2021 it was sold to a development company who proposed redeveloping the rear into luxury apartments while retaining the pub; in February 2021 Stoke-on-Trent City Council declared it an Asset of Community Value.

[11][14] The following January, an illegal cannabis grow was discovered inside the vacant building,[15] and it was then badly damaged in a suspected arson fire.

[17] In June 2024, the owners submitted a proposal to convert the building to a shop and 17 one-bedroom assisted living flats.

Burslem has a variety of strong tourist attractions; Burleigh, Moorcroft, Festival Park, its many pubs, and the Trent & Mersey Canal.

It also has the legacy of novelist Arnold Bennett, who refers to the town and many of its streets with thinly disguised names: e.g. Burslem/"Bursley", Swan (Square and Pub)/"Duck".

Burslem's centre benefits from having an almost-intact medieval street-plan and countless fine old buildings, and a townscape which almost-totally escaped re-development during the 1960s and 1970s.

The free Public Library is currently based in the School of Art, after the Venetian Gothic Wedgwood Institute closed for safety reasons early in 2009.

Near to the town is Burslem Golf Club, a 9-hole course which once had singer Robbie Williams as a Junior Captain.

Longport railway station offers direct connections south into Stoke, east to Derby and Nottingham, and north to Crewe and Manchester.

Burslem's most famous sons include the potter Josiah Wedgwood, the watercolour painter James Holland (1800–1870), Ian "Lemmy" Kilmister, the founder, bassist and lead singer of Motörhead, and Robbie Williams, who was a major shareholder in Port Vale and whose family are still resident in the area.

William Frederick Horry owned the George Hotel in the 1860s before murdering his wife Jane at his father's house in Boston, Lincolnshire.

William Boulton's Providence Works and Foundry was based in Burslem, which designed and made the machinery that revolutionised the pottery industry in the second half of the 19th century.