A key part of Burslem is to get a £1.25m refurb. The £1.25m will fund Queen Street being dug up and re-laid with ‘anywhere’ paving, with trees planted. Not sure there’s really room for large trees, but they’re going to squeeze some in.

The new paving will also continue up the Brick House (aka Brickhouse or Cock’s Yard) pedestrian alleyway that goes through to the Town Hall, and there will be an unspecified “cleaning and refurbishment of Swan Square”, presumably the bit at the east end of Queen Street by the traffic lights.

It all looks horribly modern, forcing the place into being a naff ‘same as everywhere else’ retail plaza. That’s not what you should be doing with somewhere as historic as Burslem.