Stark now-and-then photos show a once bustling West Midlands town - I can't believe how much it's changed

Dudley used to be a bustling market town in the heart of the Black Country with its 12th century market, castle and zoo attracting visitors from across the country.

It was once hailed as a glittering hotspot of the 1970s but most recently ranked as the third worst place to live in England in 2025.

According to locals, the high street has slowly been "completely decimated" with retailers deserting the high street in their droves since an out-of-town shopping centre opened up two miles away in 1985.

Black and white photos taken over the years show the busy town centre heaving with shoppers in comparison to depressing images of nearly empty streets taken this week.

Residents and business owners say the opening of Merry Hill Shopping Centre down the road four decades ago began the decline and currently at least 40 shopping units lie empty in the town.

And now many fear - with internet shopping and rising business rates- it could be the "final nail in the coffin" for the town and hard-working people's livelihoods.

Alison Wade, who has run the Cards and Gifts 4 You shop in the town for the past 30 years, remembers the first time she visited Dudley as a teenager on work experience in 1984.

She said: "When I first came I thought 'wow, this is lovely', it was all stone, high-street shops, really, really nice. It was still a thriving town.

"There was still a bustling market, you had got River Island and New Look, you had still got some high street stores here, but it's changed again since Covid, since Covid there's been a massive decline, the town's just looking scruffy in places.

"It's gone from being a nice town to getting dirtier and dirtier, and that is down to probably the council.

"Now, it's like a shanty town."

Chris Bradwick, 62, has run a stall at the town's historic open-air market for the last five years.Chris, of Tipton, said: "I have watched as Dudley has slowly gone to nothing day-by-day."

It hasn't been helped by constant broken promises by the council.

"They closed and demolished the bus station, the tram system remains unfinished and there's constant roadworks going on. OAPs can't access the town centre which is just full of college kids and they aren't going to support local businesses."

They have cut off the accessibility of the town - it takes me 45 minutes to do a 10 minute journey home.

"The only footfall is the college students, nobody comes here anymore and once people go away, they stay away." Parking as Merry Hill is free and I don't think internet shopping trends have helped any high street really."Back in 1984 the town had a large Marks & Spencer branch, a BHS, Woolworths and a three-floor Littlewoods.

The massive Merry Hill massive mall then opened offering 10 years' free rates, no land taxes and a relaxed planning regime. An independent study found that within the five years since Merry Hill opened, the number of visitors to Dudley town centre had fallen by 70 per cent.

Paul Heard, 54, and Julie Burford, 62, moved to Dudley from West Bromwich five years ago, and said it initially seemed to be a good move to open Scent from Dudley.

Paul said: "It was excellent when we first came here, we moved from West Brom, and we thought it was a really good move."It was really busy, there was a lot of shops when we moved here, Bon Marche was still here, New Look was still here, the first year was fantastic, we thought we had cracked it.

"As soon as the bus station closed, the Metro started, we noted footfall was declining month by month. Our Christmas sales have fallen considerably, and last year was our worst Christmas ever."

Yesterday was our worst trading day ever, we took just £60.