Backing Blackburn's City Bid in 2022

Why should Blackburn be a city?

Blackburn has a rich history of “thinking big” - from John Lewis to Alfred Wainwright to Jack Walker. Its citizens have long been “industry innovators” - from James Hargreaves to John Noel Nichols to Wayne Hemingway. It has produced countless “cultural ambassadors” for a global audience - from Kathleen Ferrier and Josephine Cox, to Carl Fogarty and Ian McShane, to Cat Simmons, Grace Davies and AJ Odudu - among many others.

Blackburn is the epitome of what it means to be cosmopolitan, and throughout its history it has welcomed people of all faiths and nationalities to live, work and contribute to the fabric of our community. As fourth and fifth generation Blackburnians - with my great-great-parents arriving from Ireland following its incorporation in 1851 - we have benefited greatly from the opportunities that the borough has to offer. We too seek to be cultural ambassadors using our platform to promote the features and characteristics that make our borough great.

Our website, which we set up in 2019, seeks to shine a light on the history, heritage, architecture, culture and community of Blackburn. While curating our content we have walked and cycled hundreds of miles, up hills and down Lanes, along Roads, Ranges and Brows, around Crescents and across Squares, and through the town centre, all within the borough boundary - and, wherever we have been, we have encountered friendly faces and interesting stories. In our experience, Blackburn is not just a place where inhabitants respect each others’ differences but rather it is a place where residents embrace each others’ similarities: all of us, Blackburn folk.

It would be easy to think only in terms of how our bid “measures up” to the traditional criteria to which a city should conform, such as a cathedral; a university; an internationally renowned sports team like Blackburn Rovers; and forward-thinking transport and infrastructure schemes. However, Blackburn sees these not as the final touches but as the foundations upon which to build, part of our proud industrial heritage, and of what all cities could aspire to be - a Capital of Community. 

Being granted city status is not the end of the journey for Blackburn, by any means, but simply another step in the evolution of a unique, enterprising and continuously developing place. A place that we call home.

Stuart and Caden Quinn (cottontowncat.com)