and populous mill town. The Grant Arms Hotel in Market Place was the home of William and Daniel Grant, 19th century industrialists closely associated with the rise of the town and reputed to be the inspiration for the Cheeryble brothers in Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens. The Grants' employees were paid in tokens that had to be redeemed at a public house owned by the company. The landlord converted the tokens into cash, but only after deducting threepence per person, which had to be spent on beer, a variation on the truck system. The Grant Arms Hotel closed in 2018 and is currently being developed as offices, this has now been completed to a high standard that compliments the area. A network of roads and railways routed through Ramsbottom allowed for a series of diverse industries, including calico-printing, cotton spinning, machine-making, rope-making and iron and brass founding. Imports of foreign goods during the mid-20th century precipitated the decline of these sectors. Governance From the Middle Ages Ramsbottom was an area in the township of Lower Tottington, in the parish of Bury, and Salford hundred in Lancashire. It was part of the Bury Poor Law Union formed in February 1837, overseen by a Board of 25 Guardians including three from Tottington Lower End using the old workhouses at Bury, Radcliffe, Pilkington and Heywood until a new workhouse at Jericho opened in 1857. In 1864 the Ramsbottom Local Board of Health was formed for the Ramsbottom area in Tottington Lower End township. In 1883 parts of Elton, Tottington Higher End and Walmersley with Shuttleworth townships were added to the area of the Local Board. In 1894 the area of the Local Board became Ramsbottom Urban District. Parts of Bury Borough and Walmersley with Shuttleworth civil parish were added to the urban district in 1933. The urban district was dissolved in 1974 and the Central, East, South and West wards were included in Bury Metropolitan Borough and the remainder in the Rossendale District of Lancashire. Ramsbottom is part of the Bury North constituency which was created in 1983 from parts of the former seats of the former Rossendale and Bury and Radcliffe constituencies. The area was Conservative from 1983 to 1997 when it was gained by Labour who lost in 2010 back to the Conservatives. The seat was regained by Labour in the 2017 general election. In addition, the 2018 local council elections