New history centre 'to be stuffed with stories'

A history centre that is under construction will "attract new audiences" to Crewe and be part of the town's ongoing regeneration, a council has said.

Two new sites in Chester and Crewe are set to open next summer, as the county's archives relocate to purpose-built sites.

Cheshire East Council's deputy leader said the new building was going to be "stuffed with stories" about families and the region.

He added it was part of the town's ongoing regeneration as the authority wanted to "make Crewe fit for the 21st Century".

Cheshire Archives is a shared service between Cheshire East, Cheshire West and Chester, Halton, and Warrington councils.

The archives have been based in Chester, but are now being divided between the two new sites.

Michael Gorman, the deputy leader of Cheshire East Council, told BBC Radio Stoke there was a "real appetite" for local history in the area.

"Think of the success of programmes like Who Do You Think You Are?

"People love stories, they love stories about their family, stories about their town, city, region and this building is going to be stuffed with stories."

But he added that it was also one of a number of regeneration projects in Crewe including the development of a new youth centre and a "meanwhile use" for a site that had been earmarked for a leisure development but was scaled back in recent years.

"There's a lot going on in Crewe, there's a lot of regeneration projects," said Mr Gorman.

"Our aim is to make Crewe fit for the 21st Century.

"We're talking to the government about really developing Crewe as a new small city by the year 2050, so we've got a lot of ambition and we've got developers that we're talking to and we want those developers and those investors to match our ambitions for Crewe."

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