Historic port town to be returned to its former glory as £200MILLION revamp given go-ahead

While Barrow's Gothic town hall, built in 1886 as a symbol of prosperity, now stands as "a painful reminder" of its prosperous past.

The ambitious regeneration project, nicknamed "Team Barrow", is being led by former Cabinet secretary Simon Case - with £200million in Treasury funding to boot.

The scheme has drawn comparisons to Bournville, the model village built by the Cadbury family for their chocolate factory workers.

Case describes Barrow as "the living, breathing example of what happened to some industrial towns after the government cut defence spending following the fall of the Berlin Wall".

"Everything is closing down - all we've got left are barbers, takeaways and vape shops," said Trevor Vincent, who works in a local charity shop.

While former shipyard worker John Pringle, 71, asked The Telegraph: "Who's going to come into a town where there's nothing to do?"

And thanks to growing pressures for Britain to move away from the US and stand on its own two defensive feet, the town is set for a nine-figure funding boost.

"With the pressure that we've got on getting the Astute boats finished, then Dreadnought and then Aukus, we started to focus on this two years ago for almost Bournville-like reasons," case said.

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"The town is a strategic national asset, although it hasn’t always been viewed that way.

"Pretty quickly, we realised we needed Team Barrow to create an environment that would deliver that happy, skilled workforce we need to support the defence nuclear enterprise... Thanks to Mr Putin and Mr Xi, the business case makes itself!"

The initiative brings together the local council, Government and defence giants BAE Systems.

BAE's Devonshire Dock complex remains the town's largest employer, with one in three Barrovians working there.

The shipyard builds submarines which provide the UK's nuclear deterrent, operating under highly secretive conditions - and with new orders coming in for sub-sea vessels, the workforce is set to expand dramatically.

Over the next decade, Barrow's population is expected to grow from 60,000 to 90,000 as workers and their families move to the area.

The regeneration plans include a new 800-home waterfront development called Marina Village on a brownfield site near the dockyard.

The University of Cumbria has built a new campus, offering courses in engineering, project management, computer science and nursing.

BAE has converted a former WH Smith into an exhibition centre called "the Bridge" - and plans to transform the old Debenhams into a high-tech training centre which will accommodate 600 people daily who will need to venture into town for lunch.

But some are betting on Barrow's future - Ash Holroyd, 33, opened Coffee D'Ash in September last year.

"We need businesses to support the town," he says. "I hope this will spur people to come and socialise again."

The town already boasts natural advantages including proximity to the Lake District, beaches and bird-watching spots on Walney Island.

BAE apprentice Abbie Cocker, 21, said the Lake District "started my love of walking. I'd never move back home now."

And Simon Case is optimistic, too. He said: "If you go back to the Bournville example, that tells you of a time when prosperous towns had these partnerships between government and industry, and they produced magnificent structures like the town hall.

"We are now getting investors who are starting to say, 'Hey, this looks like a town with a future.'"