Stories on the Road to Wigan Pier
A more in-depth look at the struggles people face from along the route – covering Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool, Barnsley, Sheffield, Wigan and places in-between
Birmingham is worse off than in the 1930s
We visit the city in England worst affected by local authority cuts
The heart is being 'ripped out' of the Black Country and Clent Hills
People forced to choose between libraries and basic care
The heartbreaking stories of people from Staffordshire
The vulnerable people who are struggling just to survive
Fighting fascism in Stoke
Is history repeating itself with the rise of the right?
Farmers are losing out to footballers in Macclesfield
They've been farmers for generation but they are now losing their livelihoods
Rats, cockroaches and mould in Manchester
The squalid slum-like conditions of the working poor
Memories of a Pit Brow Lass
We meet the people of Wigan who say Orwell made their town a byword for grotesque poverty
The other George
When Orwell reached Liverpool, his guide was George Garrett, an almost unknown working-class writer
A city of sanctuary
People came to Sheffield to escape Hitler and the city is carrying on that tradition of providing help to those in need
A childhood of dosshouses, boarding houses and slums
Born in Barnsley in 1923 Harry remembers the terrible experience of poverty as a child
Poverty dehumanises us all
Heartbreaking stories of poverty in Leeds and how people are fighting back with the 'humanifesto'
If you need help, you can contact these organisations
For housing advice
For general advice
For foodbank help
For help in work or out of work
The Wigan Pier Project created by
and the
