The rise and fall of Crompton Place is echoed in towns and cities across Britain, but there is no one answer to the knotty problem of replacing them

In Bolton’s town centre, the gap-toothed brutalist facade of Crompton Place shopping centre faces off against the majestic Victorian town hall.

While the civic building’s sandstone edifice, complete with classical columns and stone lions, evokes the mill town’s heyday, time has not been kind to Crompton Place.