With Corby making the regional television news regarding what looks like the closure of it's citizens advice bureau by December.  It's time to look at what has gone wrong with this town.  A case of Merry Christmas and a P45 new year for it's employees.

Lets face facts, Northamptonshire is a nice area, quaint villages and generally nice towns.  But amongst all this there is Corby, a town which can only can be called the thorns on the Northamptonshire's "Rose of the shire"!

Okay you could argue that the town has been in decline since the closure of the Steel Works, the major employer in Corby until around 20 years ago.  This may have been true, but not now.  The reason Corby is the way it is seems to be that the Council and Topps (The owners of the town centre) seem to know little or nothing about bringing trade into this town or at least about town planning.

If you were to go and visit Corby 15 years ago you would have found a lively and busy town centre that could compete with the neighbouring Kettering in terms of quality of retailers as well as atmosphere.

Today, the town is a mess with a newly built retail park on what was once a popular Woolworths car park while a neighbouring Queens Square and Bus station are a run-down 'slumsville'.  While the market, like many of the shops are full of cheap junk.  Not so much a shopping centre but a bricked up jumble sale.  The saddest fact must be the cinema.......Sorry I forget there is not one!

Okay I cannot blame the decline of Corby just on it's council, Topps did a good job of the naff blue "Corby Precinct" structures that litter the town.  I mean, Corby precinct, this is not America!

I have two words that could make a difference. WONDER WORLD.  The theme park that never was.  Had it been built it would have been a major source of employment not only for the park, but for all of the industries and retailers who would have been attracted to Corby on the back of it.

If Corby wants to play with the big boys it needs to change it's drab exterior and look to Kettering for ideas.  Okay, Corby may have a better residential layout, but Kettering beats it hands down in structuring and entertainment.