‘We didn’t get a single pound’: anger in Barnsley at broken Tory promises

‘There’s no good jobs here’. Students Mason Goldsworthy, 17, and Ruby Dobson, 18, in Barnsley. Photograph: Richard Saker/The Observer

Behind its imposing town hall lies a 19th-century stone building that many in Barnsley believe points the way to a brighter future.

Soon, it could be home for a youth choir that has beaten all the odds to become one of the best in the world. More broadly, the hope is that by delivering a permanent base for its 560 young performers it will serve as a catalyst for greater ambitions and inject confidence in a town struggling to transcend its post-industrial malaise. A third of Barnsley’s children live in poverty.