I was born in an industrial town that made shoes, diesel engines, grinding wheels, huge transformers and switchgear for power stations, locomotives, chemical products and adhesives and other things.
Now it's famous for a newly built Morrisons Supermarket that was cancelled and stands empty, a failing hospital and any number of B&Q's, Lidl's and the like on the outskirts and a main street full of boarded up shops. The school I went to is yet another office building, all the working men's clubs long gone and the British Legion Club long held in esteem by my old man just closed. The coal mines in nearby towns all shut, and their power stations gone with them.
Ah well …. brave new world and all that.
