Heywood is a town located between Bury and Rochdale in the north-west of England. It can be reached via the M66 motorway and is also served by the East Lancashire Railway. Its main industry in the past has been cotton milling, although this has now declined. Heywood is now home to one of the largest distribution parks in the North-West, thanks to its excellent motorway links with Manchester and Liverpool.

Locally, Heywood is known as 'Monkey Town'. There are several explanations for this, one being that it includes a district called Heap Bridge, pronounced by some as 'Ape Bridge'.