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

Market Gate Square, Warrington. Local leaders hope the town will benefit from more freedom under the government’s devolution agenda. Photograph: John Davidson Photos/Alamy

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.”