The former England footballer Paul Scholes and the actor Steve Coogan stare out from beside a fish and chip shop in Middleton, near Manchester.
asserted
footballer → stare → 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.
asserted
that → loom → economy
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.
Yet the old building may have life inside it yet: last month Rochdale council wrestled Warwick Mill out of the hands of its absentee owner, a millionaire Chinese businessman, under whom it had been derelict for years.
uncertain
it → deafen → years
Now the Grade II-listed site is at the centre of plans Andy Burnham believes could turn Middleton, where he was once a trainee journalist, into a blueprint for the future of Britain’s struggling towns.
uncertain
he → list → towns
“It used to be good,” said Dorothy Kersh, in the town square with her husband, Ernie, both 83.
asserted
83 → use → husband
“In the 70s we had a cinema, we had banks.
asserted
we → have → banks
It’s lost character and we’ve hardly got any shops.
asserted
we → lose → shops
We haven’t even got a bank now – I never thought NatWest would leave Middleton.
asserted
NatWest → get → Middleton
It’s just going downhill.”
asserted
It → go → ?
A few miles between Manchester and Rochdale, Middleton is typical of the existential crisis suffered by most British towns.
asserted
Middleton → suffer → towns
A decade or so ago, locals could find virtually everything they needed in its neat square of grocers, butchers and banks.
uncertain
they → find → grocers
But a giant Tesco has hoovered up the cash since it opened in 2013, compounding the rise of online and out-of-town shopping.
asserted
it → hoover → shopping
The town of about 50,000 people has lost all its banks and, days before Burnham became prime minister, the remains of its post office were closed by Modella Capital, the new private equity owner of WH Smith.
asserted
remains → lose → Smith
Now the shopping precinct offers little more than bookmakers, vape stores, pawnbrokers and fast-food outlets.
asserted
precinct → offer → bookmakers
Even its geographic identity feels muddled.
asserted
identity → feel → ?
Middleton was historically in Lancashire but the town has a Manchester postcode and dial code, although residents pay their council tax to Rochdale.
asserted
residents → have → Rochdale
The region’s lauded tram network does not stop here.
asserted
network → laud → ?
“It’s really a dying town,” said Tim King, outside a large post office branch that closed down years ago.
asserted
that → ’ → branch
“We’ve only got one cash machine and that’s at Tesco, and there’s never any money in it.
asserted
that → get → it
We’ve lost out on the trams.
asserted
We → lose → trams
We haven’t got anything down here, to be honest.
asserted
We → get → anything
Months before he departed for Downing Street, Burnham launched a mayoral development corporation for Middleton, giving local leaders power to set lower business rates, acquire underused land and property, and build 1,500 new homes.
asserted
Burnham → depart → homes
The body is led by Coogan, the Bafta-winning creator of Alan Partridge, and Rose Marley, the chief executive of Co-operatives UK.
asserted
body → lead → UK
Crucially, residents and business owners will have a seat at the table: a survey of 2,000 Middletonians is shaping the agenda of this new mayoral body – with Warwick Mill and other empty buildings identified by locals as an immediate priority.
asserted
Mill → have → priority
Wearing a hard hat and hi-vis vest during a tour of Warwick Mill last month, Coogan said the Middleton of his childhood was a “thriving” town but that “over the last 35 years there has been a kind of a bank ride” by firms registered in the British Virgin Islands, China and the US: “All that money has been extracted but very little has been put back into the infrastructure.”
Coogan said the project was about more than attempting to revitalise his home town.
asserted
project → wear → town
It was a chance to reverse the political and economic malaise that has seen former Labour voters shift to rightwing populist parties such as Reform UK in post-industrial areas across Britain.
asserted
voters → reverse → Britain
“There’s a problem in this country which is post-industrial neglect,” he told the Guardian.
asserted
he → ’ → Guardian
“The idea, the Blairite approach: it’s called multinationalism, there is nothing we can do, throw your hands up, you’ve just got to see what happens, we can’t help these people.
asserted
we → call → people
“Leaving that vacuum will mean that the extremists, populist extremists, will fill that gap.
asserted
extremists → leave → gap
That’s the problem with top-down, well-meaning, but disempowering, philanthropic, centralised socialism.
asserted
That → ’ → socialism
People don’t want to receive charity, they want to be empowered.”
asserted
they → want → charity
Coogan is part of a group called Middleton Co-operating, which aims to “rewire the whole of the economy locally” by taking infrastructure and everyday essentials into public control.
asserted
which → call → control
Its plans include using renewable energy, like solar panels and small wind turbines, to help power a secondary school and a hospice.
asserted
plans → include → school
A trial involving heat pumps and solar panels on a terrace of Edwardian homes is also being put together.
asserted
trial → involve → homes
Banks could soon return too, with plans for a banking hub where Lloyds, NatWest and others could open on different days of the week, alongside financial advisers.
uncertain
Lloyds → return → advisers
The group, which was backed by Burnham when he was mayor and in June won £4.5m funding from the national lottery’s solidarity fund, wants to expand into food production, early years support, mental health provision and adult social care.
asserted
he → back → production
“These are all things that have the biggest impact on people’s day-to-day lives and they’re generally all owned by big business and private equity – they cost too much and are a cause of a lot of stress in the community,” said Mark Fraser, a founder of Middleton Co-operating.
asserted
Fraser → have → operating
Earlier this year, an arts venue run by Middleton Co-operating was forced out of the town’s sprawling shopping centre – which was owned by two London-based real estate companies and incorporated in the British Virgin Islands – as it could not afford the £43,000-a-year rent and service charge demanded by the landlord.
uncertain
it → run → landlord
In its place a pawnbroker moved in on a 10-year lease.
asserted
pawnbroker → move → lease
“It was a bit of a sickener,” said Fraser.
asserted
Fraser → say → sickener
…and 13 more, not listed.
The Aporia
