![\"Goldthorpe\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/goldthorpe.png\")
<\/p>\nResidents with a street once hailed the “Best in Britain”, say they feel like they are living in a “forgotten world” that is “lost on the map” and now a shadow of its former self.<\/p>\n
The former mining village of Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire is now filled with empty shops and derelict homes and streets there have become besieged by rats and riddled with litter.<\/p>\n
Urban decay began there when the pits shut and some people here fear they have been left behind, with their area a far cry from the proud community it once was.<\/p>\n
GB News spoke to shoppers on Goldthorpe’s high street, where many stores have closed.<\/p>\n
Maria said: “It’s like we’re a forgotten world here in Goldthorpe. Nobody wants to invest anything or make it better, other than the people that live here – we want to make it better and go back to how it once was before the pits shut.<\/p>\n
“It’s just like were lost on the map and they just don’t want to help a little mining town. We aren’t asking for charity but we miss how it used to be – it’s derelict, there’s nothing for the locals, there’s no banks, there’s nothing for the kids to do.<\/p>\n
“When I first moved in, everything was thriving, shops were open, we had a market, and now it’s all just gone. It’s the heart of the community that we want back to how it was, and it’s just a shame.”<\/p>\n
Michaela added: “It’s like all these boarded up shops and houses and things like that – it’s really gone down hill and it’s sad for a lot of people.”<\/p>\n
Former miner Wayne Hagland said: “Well before miners strike it [Goldthorpe] was lovely and everybody knew everybody.<\/p>\n
“Nobody knows anybody now. The shops we’ve got are just nails, hairdressers, kebabs. We’ve got now’t, we’ve got now’t.”<\/p>\n
The former mining village of Goldthorpe in South Yorkshire is now filled with empty shops and derelict homes and streets there have become besieged by rats and riddled with litter<\/p>\n
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GB NEWS<\/p>\n
Shopper June Shaw said: “It’s not very nice – there’s dog poo just near the bin. Goldthorpe needs cleaning up and it needs more shops.”<\/p>\n
Thousands of men from Goldthorpe worked at the four nearby local collieries before they closed, with residents at the time mostly miners and their families.<\/p>\n
By the end of 1994, the pits closed and unemployment set in.<\/p>\n
But in 1971, the pit village of Goldthorpe was proud and thriving.<\/p>\n
In October of that year, Main Street was named Britain’s nicest street by the Daily Mirror, whose readers were impressed with its friendly spirit and orderly appearance.<\/p>\n
Fast forward in time to more than 50 years on, the once-bustling community near Barnsley has become blighted by litter, anti-social behaviour, rat infestations and boarded up houses ready for demolition.<\/p>\n
People living in the area are feeling apathetic, like Anita Miller, who has lived in Goldthorpe for the last 16 years.<\/p>\n
She told GB News: “It’s saddening really, because they could have done a lot more with it [Goldthorpe] than what they have. It’s like nobody’s bothered.<\/p>\n
“They’re forgetting about all the youngens, they’re not getting anything. It’s like my son – he has moved away from here to get a job – there’s now’t around here for him.”<\/p>\n
But even as businesses are closing, others in Goldthorpe are thriving.<\/p>\n
Regeneration has begun here and Barnsley Council say the authority’s long-term vision includes investing more than \u00a323.1m through the Towns Fund to revive the area.<\/p>\n
At the heart of this is a housing project to bring new homes and improved surroundings by next summer.<\/p>\n
![\"Goldthorpe](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/goldthorpe-residents.png\")
Goldthorpe residents are feeling apathetic<\/p>\n
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GB NEWS<\/p>\n
Councillor Robin Franklin, Cabinet spokesman for Regeneration and Culture at Barnsley Council said: “We have a long-term vision for Goldthorpe, and are investing more than \u00a323.1 million through the Towns Fund to regenerate, renew and revitalise the area.<\/p>\n
“This is welcome, however we must continue to push for more continued and sustained long term funding to tackle historic challenges in communities like Goldthorpe.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs part of the Towns Fund investment, the Goldthorpe Housing Project is ongoing and will deliver high-quality, affordable, and environmentally friendly homes that meet the needs of local people, now and for generations to come.<\/p>\n
“This has involved the council taking on deteriorating privately owned housing to tackle long-standing issues like empty homes, poor housing quality, fly-tipping, and anti-social behaviour.<\/p>\n
“This process is ongoing but it takes time and cannot be delivered overnight.<\/p>\n
“Phase one is underway, which we hope will be complete next summer, delivering new-build homes, new public realm and improvements to rear boundaries and alleyways.<\/p>\n
“Phase two includes proposals for the demolition of up to 60 properties to create space for developers to provide a more diverse and aspirational housing offer.”<\/p>\n
Barnsley Council has been striving to rejuvenate the area, including refurbishing the miners’ welfare hall and theatre, Dearne Playhouse, and constructing a new town square and marketplace.<\/p>\n
A new employment site as part of this plan will create more than 3,000 new full-time jobs which is crucial for the long-term future of the area.<\/p>\n
\u201cPolice and council neighbourhood resources are working together from the Police Station in the heart of Goldthorpe,” added Cllr Robin Franklin.<\/p>\n
“We’ve invested heavily in security measures in the area, including extensive CCTV and dedicated resources trying to address environmental crime and poor housing conditions.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Love Where You Live Housing and Environmental Task Force will be spending a full week in Goldthorpe to tackle the areas which require immediate work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of positive activity happening in Goldthorpe and we\u2019ll continue to work together to develop the thriving community everyone wants to see.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents with a street once hailed the “Best in Britain”, say they feel like they are living in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560853,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[113921,748,393,4884,12,1144,712,16,15,1764,2302],"class_list":{"0":"post-560852","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-across-the-uk","11":"tag-britain","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-news","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-scotland","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-wales","20":"tag-yorkshire"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115523911946399951","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}