A once bustling town with a thriving high street now appears desolate with its once-vibrant shops reduced to boarded-up storefronts, dominated by pawnbrokers and bookies. 

But just one email could have changed everything.

A so-called Urban explorer called “Wandering Turnip”, who posts videos of derelict locations on YouTube, recently ventured into the former mill town of Bolton, shedding light on the deterioration of the Great British High Street.

Wandering Turnip, real name David Burnip, described Bolton as a shadow of its former self, acknowledging that while it may not have deteriorated to the extent of other industrial centres like Barrow and Stoke, the decline is palpable.

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In his exploration of the town, he captured haunting images of empty shopping streets and abandoned office buildings – a testament to its decline.

The town has received several handouts from the Government’s levelling-up fund, but they missed the application deadline for a multi-million handout — all because someone at the council forgot to send an important email, Wandering Turnip claimed.

He said: “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.”

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The Manchester Evening News reported that the application email exceeded the maximum size allowed on the council’s servers due to the numerous documents attached.

In the end, Bolton missed out on the funding, potentially hampering the town’s chances of rejuvenation.

David added: “And you wonder why the high streets look like they do – look who’s bloody running it…”

David suggested that even if the email had been sent on time, there was no guarantee the application would have been approved at the Government level, the Daily Star reported.

Looking back at Bolton’s history, David noted its heyday during the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the cotton industry thrived.

The town began to decline after the First World War, with the cotton industry’s subsequent downturn and the closure of mines in the 1960s further exacerbating its economic woes.

Nowadays, Bolton’s streets retain a semblance of activity compared to some other northern towns, but the reality is bleak beneath the surface.

“There’s a lot of pawnbrokers,” David said.

“It’s never great when the main stuff is pawnbrokers and bookies on your high street.”

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