The affluent mill town now a ‘bum town’ full of boarded up shops and rough sleepers

A former mill town, once one of the most affluent in the north, is now a “bum town” where the debris of rough sleeping fills the outsides of shops no longer occupied by high-street brands.

The market town of in the city of was once a thriving mill town at the heart of Britain’s industrial revolution.

But the decline of the UK textile industry has hit the local economy as has been the case in many former Victorian centres of commerce, to the point where locals refer to it as a “bum town” plagued by crime and homelessness.

Geoff Higgins, 74, is the managing director of Pennine Plus and has strong links to his hometown, where he has worked since the 1960s.

He told the : “50 years ago it was the wealthiest town in the , it was the first to get electric lighting. It had the mills and the big houses whose inhabitants used to generate the wealth.

“But it all changed about 25 years ago. It is a poor town now.”

Akbar Sikander runs a local electronics shop in the heart of the town and agrees wholeheartedly with the view that the town is in decline.

He said: “It has become a bum town.

“It is a bum town in the sense that you’ve got your housing estates with people who don’t want to work, people who want to work but know they can get more on benefits who think why should we work?”

But there is hope for in the form of levelling up funding, which saw it selected as one of 75 places around the UK to share £1.1bn over the next 10 years as part of the Long-Term Plan for Towns scheme from the government’s Levelling Up programme.

The £20 million award is in addition to the £33.6m previously granted in 2021 through the Towns Fund and provides the area with crucial funding to halt its slide into decline.

In July, released a consultation with residents to gather feedback on how they would like to see the money spent to help it achieve its objectives of tackling crime, preserving heritage, and improving the high street.

Mr Sikander believes that the pledge to address the high street’s shortcomings could help address the decline of the local economy and entice bigger brands back to the town.

He said: “It’s the big stores that actually bring people into town. We used to have Debenhams, Woolworths, JD Sports, but they’re gone, and you’re left with non-branded shops that are there for a year and then gone.”

As a business owner, Mr Higgins would benefit from a thriving high street, but he believes there are other areas of focus that are just as important. He told the Express.co.uk: “: “We need to do something about the people sleeping rough. You walk down the street, and it’s full of debris from last night’s rough sleeping.

“We need to educate people on how to not throw rubbish in the street and lift the culture.”

A cursory glance around the town is enough to visualise the area’s decline. Grand Victorian buildings with the names of clubs engraved into the brickwork are now filled with budget school uniform stores or vape shops.

Countless windows are boarded up, and bins overflowing in the town. 

The allocation of the money has yet to be publicly announced, but Chair of the Keighley Town Board Tim Rogers hopes to use the money “to create an environment where the private sector can see a sustainable return on any investment—allowing Keighley to realise its potential in economy, skills, heritage, creativity and transport aspirations.”

He told the Express.co.uk: “We’ll be using the feedback from people in Keighley to shape its future over the next ten years and beyond. We’re excited about the impact of this transformational investment.”