A once-thriving industrial town, now marked by decay and economic decline, is being revived through a high-profile regeneration effort led by a former footballer and an actor. The project centers on repurposing a massive, long-abandoned cotton mill that once defined the local economy, now a haunting symbol of its past. Proposals to boost struggling high streets include taxing online sales at a higher rate, aiming to shift consumer spending back to physical stores. The initiative could serve as a model for other struggling areas facing similar challenges of depopulation and economic stagnation.
Turnaround initiated by Andy Burnham and led by Steve Coogan could provide blueprint for other neglected areasSave high street by taxing online sales at higher rate, Burnham urgedThe former England footballer Paul Scholes and the actor Steve Coogan stare out from beside a fish and chip shop in Middleton, near Manchester. Looming over a mural of the pair – and the whole town – is an enormous former cotton mill that powered its economy a century ago.The deafening looms and spindles of Warwick Mill fell silent decades ago, replaced in recent years by TikTok “urban explorers” who share videos of themselves crawling through its abandoned shell. Continue reading...
