How the ‘least civilized’ place in Britain reinvented itself

'Are you going to Macclesfield? Astonishing! So jealous!" Absolutely no one said. When I told friends where I was going, all I got was a questioning eyebrow: "Macclesfield? Why?"

Maybe that was to be expected. It is, after all, a post-industrial city that the Local Futures Group once labeled the 'least civilized' place in Britain. The group's 2004 report found that, in terms of facilities such as theaters and cinemas, the Cheshire borough had just 4 per cent of the national average.

But that was twenty years ago. Times have changed. "Before I went back I thought Macclesfield was a ...