‘A southern economy in the north’: how Warrington has adapted to change

Good transport links and the quietly booming nuclear sector are helping the Cheshire town to thrive

• Incomes in 11 cities and towns have risen twice as fast as rest of UK

As the demolition excavator crashes its metal jaws through Warrington's former Unilever soap factory, Carl Oates says the town is good at handling change. Once contractors have finished, his company plans to open a datacentre, reinventing a site from the first Industrial Revolution for the next.

As one industry closes, Warrington has been quite good at opening new ones - and we hope datacentres is one of those new spaces."