and Manchester, such that their populations are not necessarily linked to the town. The socio-demographic characteristics of the town's population includes a mix of working and suburban middle classes, the layout of which are both linked to neighbouring towns. Radcliffe is within the Manchester larger urban zone, and within the Manchester travel to work area. Economy Radcliffe's first market was built by the Earl of Wilton and opened in 1851. The town was home to twelve Co-op stores, the largest of which was on Stand Lane. The four-storey structure, built in 1877, had shops and offices on the ground floor, and a large area for public meetings on the second floor. The building was truncated to two stories in June 1971, and eventually demolished. Two more Co-op stores were located on Bury Street and Cross Lane. The current market hall, built in 1937 on a different site to the old market, suffered a devastating fire in 1980 but was later restored. Radcliffe was once served by several banks including the Lancashire and Yorkshire Bank, the Manchester and Liverpool District Bank, the Union Bank of Manchester, and Parr's Bank ltd. As of 4 May 2019 the Royal Bank of Scotland and Halifax bank have closed or are in the process of closing in the town. The Halifax branch on Blackburn street is to close on 28 May 2019. These closures will leave only the TSB on the Market Place (M26 1PN) as the only bank in the town Radcliffe has two weekly newspapers, the Radcliffe Times, based at the Bury Times offices, in Bury, and the Salford-based The Advertiser, which also covers the neighbouring areas of Prestwich and Whitefield. The main gates to the East Lancashire Paper mill (mill closed in 2001) were, in May 2018, installed in the centre of Radcliffe's Festival Gardens off Church Street. The construction in the 1980s of the A665 Pilkington Way Bypass relieved traffic congestion along the traditional route through the town, Blackburn Street. A new bridge across the Irwell was constructed for the road, and part of Blackburn Street was pedestrianised. The road has attracted developments along former industrial land to the west of the town, including a large Asda superstore and petrol filling station which opened in May 1997, when Asda moved out of their town centre store in Green Street, although it has exacerbated the decline of the retail outlets in the