A vast 19th century Renaissance mansion has gone on the market for the price of a one-bedroom flat in Islington.
And in a graphic illustration of price disparity in the UK, no-one thinks the £500,000 price tag is a bargain and some locals even reckon it will end up being sold for a pound.
Hanley Town Hall in Stoke-on-Trent is a grade II listed building, which opened as a hotel in 1869 but was bought by the council just 15 years later.
For the next 131 years, it served the people of the Potteries in a variety of guises. It was the town hall, the courthouse, the register office, and a popular wedding venue.
But more than anything it was the place of remembrance. Sitting in front of a war memorial, unveiled in 1922 to honour those lost in the First World War , the walls of its hallway are covered in the names of locals who lost their lives.
Local Denise Kent, 70, said: ‘The truth is that it was best at doing what it was doing before they closed it.
‘The walls have all the names of the soldiers who died in WW1. People liked going in and having a look. It connected people to their past.
‘Now this town is really dying. The high street has more or less gone and the buses don’t drop you where you want to go so people without cars don’t use it very much.’
The doors closed during Covid when the council decided to sell it and move its facilities to Stoke, three miles away.
For the same price, buyers in Islington, East London would find themselves in a one bedroom flat instead of the historic former hotel.
The average house in the capital costs £733,000 but the average London salary is only £44,000 and most mortgages are capped at 4.5 times that, amounting to just £198,000.
It was previously revealed by MailOnlne that homeowners are leaving the high prices of the capital in favour of Britain’s Industrial Revolution cities, including Stoke-on-Trent.
The city, known for its pottery and ceramics, was the ninth most search placed for home hunters according to data released by Purplebricks earlier this year.
Despite the ‘bargain’ £500,000 asking price for the former town hall, nothing appears to have happened apart from greenery sprouting from windows and piles of litter collecting in its recesses.
Legal assistant Beth Mansell, 27, said: ‘I remember my mum and step-dad getting married here. It has gone from somewhere that was full of life with women dressed up and bridesmaids smiling to nothing. It’s really disappointing.
‘The building is not run down. It is not broke. It’s still decent and in tact.
‘I guess it will probably become more flats but it should have stayed as the register office. It was much simpler for people having it here.
‘But the council just seem to want to build car parks which don’t have many cars in them.’
Marie Brain, 48, a carer, said: ‘I registered all my three children in there and it’s really sad to see it doing nothing.
‘It’s all cost-cutting. Nobody really understands the council. They keep moving their things around. We joke that it’s so no-one knows where to find them.
‘In Fenton (another of Stoke’s six centres), the town hall became a coffee house.
‘This will probably become flats, maybe for asylum seekers, although it might not be good enough for them.’
Another local to express her disappointment was Cath Clunn, 75.
She said: ‘Our daughter got married in there. Every weekend there would be a wedding and the square would be filled with people making memories.
‘There is a great history around here and we have the Council closing down places like this. It should be a council building. The neglect is all over this country.
Among the plaques inside the now closed town hall is one dedicated to tragic local hero Edward Smith, the Captain of the Titanic.
The inscription to the son of Hanley reads: ‘Captain Smith having done all man could do for the safety of passengers and crew, remained at his post on the sinking ship until the end.’
A hundred years on and Hanley is a very different place, plagued by reports of homelessness, drug addiction and anti-social behaviour.
Only this week two homeless women were caught on camera brawling outside the local Wetherspoons.
Ellie Bidmead, 26, said: ‘It makes me mad seeing great buildings like this doing nothing. There is such a massive crisis around here with homelessness and people can’t get any support.
‘I moved here from Wakefield and I’ve never seen so many young vulnerable people on the streets.
‘They could turn it into a place for those homeless. They’d get funding for that.’
In recent years, the council have built a number of new buildings under the Smithfield Stoke regeneration scheme including a Hilton Garden hotel.
And in a move that no-one could properly explain, two giant eight foot yellow dogs, each with a chain and padlock, have been installed between the building and the solemn war memorial.
Barry Clunn , 73, said: ‘They look a bit tacky but I think they represent the old pottery industry.’
He was skeptical of the council plans.
‘We’ve heard that they want it as a hotel but they’ve just built a big hotel a stone’s throw away and the rumour is that the Council are having to subsidise it to the tune of £15,000-a-quarter,’ he said.
‘We don’t need more hotels or more car parks. The Council keep bringing in experts who don’t come from the city and don’t know the history.
‘This used to be a brilliant place with a great shopping centre. It’s terrible to see it now.’
Honor Fawcett, 24, a legal assistant, said: ‘It needs renovating and investment because it would require a lot of work.
‘I heard that someone was thinking of turning it into studio apartments.
‘I am quite sad about it. It’s a lovely place and it has just been left. It is a shame to lose such a building.’
Gary Turner, 63, a site manager, said: ‘It is part of our heritage and it is just tragic that it’s up for sale and no-one seems to want it. They’ll probably end up selling it for a pound just so someone else takes it on.
‘I don’t know what will happen to it. Everything seems run-down around here.’
John Aspely, 77, said: ‘This used to be the focal point of Hanley. There was the town hall and behind it was the Victoria Hall where there’d be wrestling every Sunday night.
‘Other than it being a hotel I don’t know what it could be used for. But they’ve just built one hotel and the council is subsidizing that.’
His wife Ann, 76, said: ‘Maybe we could buy it and take in lodgers. We’d make a fair bit. Maybe it will be taken over by Airbnb. That wouldn’t be a bad idea.’