Royal Arcade

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Crewe has changed a lot in The Last few years, say, Ian Smyth, Mick Cartwright and Neil Jones

Crewe and Nantwich is one of the UK's most marginal constituencies with Labour under the seat from the Conservatives in 2017 of only 48 votes. With days until a General election, what the problems are, shoot the voters?

There was a time when you couldn't move for bikes outside of the city, is the famous Crewe Works. Series were cars parked on the sidewalk, their owners among the thousands of Workers within West street, huge warehouses, building locomotives for the British Railways.

As tools for employees at the end of The Day , employees in the city's many pubs along what was known as the "Golden Mile " of goods, ready to move in pints of food on The Bar for the teatime rush, prepared to down.

In Nantwich Road Working Men 's Club - built to serve, the city of the railway regulars are memories of The Good old time.

is Working At its peak, in Crewe , employing around 20,000 people. Today, transport manufacturer Bombardier employs around 320 on the same page. His future prospects may be enhanced if it secures a contract to service the rolling stock for the High Speed 2 (HS2). "If it happens," says a tired Mick Cartwright, a Stoke-on-Trent native, lived in Crewe for More Than 20 years.

Workers at Bombardier are the maintenance Crewe on the left of the UK s rail network in The Last year, Crewe celebrated 175 years of railway engineering. But the decline of the industries the city was, literally, a harsh reality that people had come up with, along with the changing landscape.

"you lost your heritage. All the old buildings are gone. You have knocked a lot of the wrong building down," says Neil Jones , a double-glazing company.

It is darts night, and the guys from the cheese Hall, a Victorian pub in The Heart of Crewe , arrived, Nantwich Road for The Competition .

As the competitors line up at the oche, meters away from an enthusiastic dominos game, one of the touchiest subjects in the city were discussed: the demolition of What Remains of the famous Crewe Works wall.

The redbrick structure marks the boundary of The Once -sprawling engineering Website. It is said that during the second World War , the black outlines of the houses were painted, thinking to deceive him German bombers, it is a residential area to help instead of a factory, The War .

Today, But it is the way, the Website behind crumbling ruins.

The Wall stood at West Street for generations, But most of it was demolished, "The Council has granted permission to you to tear down, to build houses," says Mr. Jones. "There are all these massive changes, But it is not the infrastructure to keep up with everything. "

It is not to be feared Crewe is ready for the growth to stimulate The Authorities hope so desperate in the city.

"It was built in the 1800s, the 1800s," he adds. "The only way in Crewe is over a bridge or under a bridge. The city can not cope. "

Crewe burgeoned as a result of the Victorian expansion of the Railways In many areas, Crewe is a success story. The luxury manufacturer Bentley has 4,000 to its Pyms Lane headquarters in the same place, where Rolls-Royce will be used, based.

muesli-producer Mornflake grows oats in Cheshire since 1675. Still from the same family, it has about 300 employees at its headquarters in the city.

home building is also on the rise. Cheshire East Council has decided that land around Crewe for up to 4,745 new apartments by 2030. Many of the projects are already completed, others under art.

The city s-Bahn connections, close proximity to Manchester, Liverpool and Birmingham, and the fact it is just a few miles from the M6 motorway, make Crewe a more attractive prospect for the commuter in search of affordable homes.

When talking with locals about the new residential settlements, the question of infrastructure comes back. To cope, there are enough doctors and schools to newcomers, you ask? "Crewe is to burst, it was," a Club regular comments.

Bentley leaves his luxury cars in Crewe , on The Site of Rolls-Royce, once occupied, It is HS2, which could really be assets to transform Crewe . If it Goes Ahead , the high-speed line would go via Crewe , with a "HS2 hub station" is planned on The Site of the city's main railway station. Stop in Crewe twice an hour, HS2 journey times in London by 90 minutes, would be cut to 55.

Crewe is already an important point on the West Coast Mainline, with More Than 3m passers-by through The Station every year.

The political wrangling over The Project , which has, of course, has many left uncertain, it will happen.

"If HS2 comes in Here , you can say just as well say: 'Happy Days '", Ian Smyth, who worked for the British Rail Engineering Ltd. "But I think that many of The Authorities put all of your eggs in one basket with HS2. If it doesn't work, what then?"

unemployment in Crewe is below The National average. "If you want to work in Crewe , you can get it. There is a lot of work," Neil Jones says.

Among the major employers in the electrical appliances firm AO, distribution, Brightstar, and global insurers are Assurant.

Iraqi Rozghar Ahmed agrees, to find that the work hard. The 35-year-old, who has lived in Crewe for two months, has found a job in a shop in the centre of the city. He sought asylum in England years ago, living in Eastbourne and Manchester, before moving to Crewe .

He hopes that His Family join him Here . He likes to Crewe , But says he has met very few people English, since the arrival. "Romania, The Czech Republic, Hungary. But not English," he says.

Rozghar Ahmed, originally from Iraq, found work soon after arrival in Geneva two months ago, The Number of Polish and Romanian shops that have emerged in The Last few years, witnesses from The Town of the demographic changes. Many of these shops line West Street, home to The Once -guarded wall.

- A resident tells a story of a relative to come back in Crewe for A Family funeral, several years after his last visit. "He couldn't believe how much had changed," he says. "He was shocked. "

A marginal seat for much of its history, Crewe and Nantwich, a Central political field of battle. The next competition was in The Last election, at work, Laura Smith defeated the incumbent Conservative MP, Edward Timpson 48 votes.

The main parties have to work hard to the voters of the traditional working-class cities like Geneva and its neighbours in the leafier Nantwich clubs. But while the major themes of the HS2 and Brexit - Crewe voted - large Loom , a lot of people say, you are simply in search of a representative, the fight for positive change closer to home.

capital Investment in the city centre, is urgently needed, say Friends Maureen Tomkinson and Beryl Davis .

lifelong Crewe residents - although they prefer to say, a village, three miles from the centre of the city life in Sydney - they say the shopping center has gone downhill fast. The Grand Junction retail park on the outskirts of the city centre emerged in The Last few years, But the Investment in the city centre was virtually non-existent, to turn as a plan, broke it in 2008 during the global financial Crisis .

Friends Maureen Tomkinson and Beryl Davis would like to see more shops in Crewe and a new bus stop "years ago, Crewe was a very nice little town, But now so much of it is boarded up," says Mrs Davis. "There are just so many shops, and Bonmarché is so good now. "

The crumbling bus station, which is a sore point. "It's embarrassing," she says. "People come in Crewe must ask, where on earth you come. "

There is hope, though is. The mid-19th Century market-hall is being renovated, and Cheshire East Council has a £100m Masterplan for the Transformation of the Royal Arcade area with a new bus interchange, an eight-screen cinema and shops. There is no date for demolition yet.

It is urgently needed, says Tilly Hulme, 36. "We need more shops. There is no way you could do your Christmas shopping Here . "

Tilly Hulme and partner Sapphire Smith would like to see more selection for the buyer It is a bit of a different story in Nantwich, a medieval market town, the hotel is less than five miles, it makes the rest of the constituency. It could go where The Members of the Nantwich Road Club , if you wanted a good meal. "It is the upper class, it is vibrant," Mr Jones says.

Certainly, characterful cobbled streets, pretty Tudor buildings and independent shops to show the prosperity that people feel, it is The Road missing down in Crewe .

For the Mrs Tomkinson and Mrs Davis, it is The Restoration of pride in Crewe , which is just as important as the investments - the need for the creation of a city where Young People want to be old, to lose instead of to Manchester and Liverpool.

construction revival in parts of Crewe town centre is not, nevertheless, start to "you have a lot, But they were happy," says Mrs Tomkinson.

nantwich, cheshire, hs2, rail travel, crewe

Source of news: bbc.com