The north remembers: how once-proud Bolton became 'a nothing of a town'

The market town stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the north-west's mighty industrial cities - until a football stadium relocation and rival shopping centres gutted its historic centre. Is the fightback coming too late?

The final day of 2016 was a Saturday. In the centre of Bolton, Lancashire, the streets should have been crowded with shoppers at the sales. A few shops were doing decent trade, but it was hardly thronging. Those with Christmas money still in their pockets might have been attracted to the grand-looking jewellery shop with the large "sale" posters in the window. But this was no regular post-Christmas sale. After 145 years of business, Prestons of Bolton was closing for good.

As staff at "the diamond centre of the north" sold off the last few rings, five miles north Bolton Wanderers were preparing to face Scunthorpe United at the Macron Stadium, the club's gleaming, out-of-town base. They went on to win their top-of-the-table clash 2-1, in front of a crowd of 17,000 fans. Nearby, many thousands more people shopped at Middlebrook, the adjacent mall.

Somebody described Bolton to me as being a doughnut - the centre's gone

Decline is a polite word for what's happening in Bolton

The figures are showing positive things. The private sector is voting with its cheque book

Related: Bournville again: can a new Birmingham hospital recreate the Cadbury effect?