Data are provided on the long-term average trace metal composition of aerosols collected at two urban (Liverpool and Preston) and one rural (Lancaster) site on the UK mainland coastal rim of the NE Irish Sea. There are variations in the trace metal composition of aerosols at the urban and rural sites, with evidence of local urban ‘hot spot’ sources of Ni, Zn and Cr. Data from the three sites are combined to give an average trace metal composition of the aerosol at the NE Irish Sea UK coastal sites. This aerosol has higher average concentrations and EFcrust values for some trace metals, e.g. Ni and Cr, than those at other Western European coastal sites but, relative to crustal material, there is general ‘uniformity of composition’ in the extent to which Ni, Cr, Cu, Zn and Pb are enriched in all the coastal aerosols. To estimate the composition of the aerosol transported to the NE Irish Sea across the UK mainland coast, the coastal strip is partitioned into urban and rural regions and an average trace metal composition for the ‘whole rim’ aerosol is given. This is used to make an ‘upper limit’ estimate of the trace metal composition of the aerosol transported to open-sea regions of the NE Irish Sea, which shows a generally similar enrichment of trace metals, relative to crustal material, as that of the North Sea aerosol.