Spare a thought for the good folk of Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent. Last year, the former Potteries hotspot was named as Britain’s foremost ghost town, where a staggering third of the high street shops are either boarded up or plastered with “to let” signs.
For a town with a proud history, including the home of Josiah Wedgwood’s first factory in the 18th century, its inhabitants must find its fall from grace desperately hard to swallow.
Still, if it’s any consolation, there are towns just like it up and down the country. Dewsbury in West Yorkshire came a close second with a 29pc closure rate, followed by Newport, Wales, at 27pc.