Look local: Life in a northern town

Built on the banks of the River Don in the 1st century, Doncaster became a settlement town because of its Roman fort. It later served as a key strategic site during the English Civil War and subsequently developed into a prosperous trading town. Since then, and with waves of deindustrialisation in the 1980s, the town has seen much of its industry move abroad.

Antony Rigby, general manager at Bell Brothers Opticians, says ‘Doncaster is a typical Northern town, very nice but with a few problems. There are a lot of stores, but many are also boarded up and there is also a problem with rough sleepers unfortunately.’