'Come back in five years and you will see a big transformation'
Not so long ago it was a beloved shopping destination for people from across Greater Manchester, but in recent years the increasing number of boarded-up shops risk it earning the unenviable label of 'ghost town.'
Under its ambitious £1bn masterplan, Bolton council wants to redevelop the dilapidated Crompton Place shopping centre, and build hundreds of homes, a hotel, and green spaces on various sites around the existing town centre. The recent announcement that the much-loved Marks & Spencer store, in Deansgate, was set to close was only the latest in a series of bitter blows. It prompted outcry from angry and disappointed Boltonians, who bemoaned a perceived decline in the town's fortunes.
"The town hall's reaction could have been quicker," he said. "They were slow to see the winds of change." "Some got it right and some struggled with it," he explained. "There is a future for town centres, there's a big future for Bolton town centre but it's not as it was in the 70s and 80s when retail was booming."
"That's what you've got to work out. What you're seeing is people wanting to come to a town centre for an experience. They want to live in town centres. "People will still want to go out and have a drink and have a meal," said Coun Cox. "You've got to get that mix right and that's a new challenge for town halls.
Work to build more than 200 homes, green spaces and shops on the old bus station site, in Moor Lane, is already under way while a scheme to build 167 homes on a former car park in Central Street, off Deansgate, is due to begin this month. However, less progress has been made on the most high-profile site - Crompton Place shopping centre. The council purchased the site in 2018 and plans to demolish it to make way for 46 new retail units and a 110-room hotel, along with a 300 space car park, offices and more than 150 homes.
While the council is yet to find a new backer for the Crompton Place scheme, Coun Cox vowed that the development would 'definitely happen'. He said: "People have such fond memories of Bolton when it was a retail destination that they think 'bring that back'. There is no way we can bring that back. "Manchester is a classic example. It was not a place you could imagine going living in and bringing up a family. Now, people don't give it a second thought.""It's fundamental because the change has been so rapid and the transformation needs to be significant," Coun Cox explained. "You are going to need a level of government intervention to pump-prime that."
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