Central Main Line from Nottingham Victoria to Sheffield Victoria. The station closed in the 1960s and the site has been cleared. Although the old station masters house is still in situ. This was the only mainline station in the entire Ashfield and Mansfield District area. With the other being at Annesley and Hollinwell. The town rapidly expanded during the Victorian era. However the closure of the coal mines in the 1980s and early 1990s led to a major slump in the local economy, and the area then suffered a high level of socio-economic depression. Regeneration In 2013, plans were introduced to create a new civic square from what was a car park. Nearby permanent market stalls were removed in October 2014. The town centre underwent further upgrading, starting in late 2014 and 2015 to include the demolition of the old Co-Operative foodstore and county library with surrounding pedestrian plaza, to be rebuilt with a Morrisons store. A new indoor market – named Moor Market – was created in 2021 by internally joining adjacent small retail shops into a larger space. In 2021, a new leisure centre was developed including a swimming pool for the first time in Kirkby, partially on land originally purchased in 1935 by Kirkby Urban District Council, to replace the old Festival Hall. Education The town has two large secondary schools, Ashfield School and Outwood Academy Kirkby. Politics Local politics have been dominated by the Labour Party for much of the 20th century; however, Ashfield attracted media attention in the late 1970s with a shock by-election win for the Conservatives. From the 2010 General Election until her stepping down in 2019, the MP was Gloria De Piero, best known for her work with GMTV. She took over from Geoff Hoon, one-time Secretary of State for Defence during the premiership of Tony Blair. She was elected with a very slim majority of 192 votes from the Liberal Democrats' Jason Zadrozny. In 2019, Conservative Lee Anderson won the seat. The town's most famous historical resident is Harold Larwood; the England cricketer who was born in Nuncargate in 1904, best known for his bodyline bowling in the Ashes Test series of 1932–33. The area around St Wilfrid's Church is designated a conservation area, and consists of former farm buildings built from local stone, some of which are listed. In the conservation area, at the junction of Church Street, Chapel Street