Inside UK town with rows of boarded up shops after one email 'cost millions'
A UK town has been left desolate with rows of boarded-up shops after one email mishap cost the local council millions.
The once-bustling centre of Bolton now presents a sad picture in places, with the high street dominated by pawnbrokers and bookies, while dozens of stores have been left shuttered. Urban explorer Wandering Turnip, known in real life as David Burnip, visited the former mill town as part of his YouTube series on the decline of the Great British High Street, reports the Daily Star.
He observed that while Bolton may not be as dilapidated as other former industrial centres, deserted shopping streets and abandoned office buildings have done little to boost civic pride.
Even the pound store has closed in Bolton's once-thriving town centre (Youtube.com)Mr Burnip explained how Bolton had received several handouts from the Government's levelling-up fund - but a multi-million pound application was missed because someone at the council forgot to send an email. He explained: "There was another bid, I think it was for about £16 or 17million, and they didn't get that. Not because it was refused, but because – and the council admitted this – there was an email mishap. It turned out that they just missed the deadline. They just hadn't got everything sorted by the deadline so they missed out on being able to get the funding."
Bolton has also had Levelling Up bids rejected by central government as recently as this year (Youtube.com)According to the Daily Star, various documents attached to the application back in 2021 exceeded the maximum size allowed by the council's email servers. David however emphasized that even if the email had been sent before the deadline, there was no guarantee that the government would have approved the application.
Levelling up bids 'snatched away at last minute' were 'complete waste', MP says
As he toured the town, David painted a picture of Bolton town centre's glory days and explained that the town thrived in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but its decline began post-World War I. He said: "It was in the 1920s that the cotton industry started to decline here, and then after a brief surge after World War II it kind of just went down and down and down and then the mines started to close as well".
Bolton has also had Levelling Up bids rejected by central government as recently as this year (Youtube.com)He continued: "All the mines were pretty much shut in the 1960s here. I think a few remained on the outskirts until the 1990s, but not many... By the end of the 20th Century, pretty much all that industry had just vanished from Bolton."
Bolton has also seen multiple bids for investment rejected by central government. Earlier this year, plans for a £20m investment in three new development projects in town centre were dashed after the Government’s Levelling Up Fund failed to approve them.
* This article was crafted with the help of an AI tool, which speeds up The Mirror's editorial research. An editor reviewed this content before it was published. You can report any errors to [email protected]
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