Skelmersdale, United Kingdom

The miners, many of whom were Welsh migrants, brought with them their own brand of Nonconformist Christianity. By the start of the 20th century there were at least six dissenting chapels in the town: two Wesleyan (Berry Street, closed in the 1920s, and Liverpool Road, closed 1969), an independent Methodist, a Primitive Methodist, a Congregational and a Welsh Chapel (closed in 1963).

Today, there is little to remind people that the town was part of the once great Lancashire Coalfield, although a Skelmersdale Heritage Society was re-established in 2019.

There were also numerous brickworks in the area, and in the early-20th century Victoria County History, Skelmersdale was described as "a particularly bare, unpleasing district" owing to its coal mines and brickworks.

In 1961 Skelmersdale was designated a new town, designed to house overspill population from the north Liverpool conurbation. The town was the first in the second wave of designations.

Skelmersdale endured mixed economic fortunes during the last three decades of the 20th century. With the economic downturn in the late 1970s, large industrial employers left the town en masse, resulting in an increase in crime, drug abuse and poverty. Today, West Lancashire has a crime rate below the national average. 2006 saw a regeneration drive for the town coordinated through English Partnerships and the Northwest Regional Development Agency and publicly headed by the designer Wayne Hemingway. Among the proposals was a new central focus for the entertainment and commerce for the town in the evening.

In 2012, a £20m vision to create a regenerated town centre for Skelmersdale was revealed. It is expected to create as many as 500 permanent jobs, and current projections seem to satisfy that target. Although Skelmersdale faces a looming employment crisis, the regeneration of the town centre is a step towards recovery, and up to 100 extra jobs would be generated during the scheme's construction phase alone.

Proposals included a new food store as well as a number of bars, shops and restaurants, and a five-screen cinema. A new promenade would be fronted by these establishments to overlook the Tawd Valley Park, and a new civic square would also be created between the Concourse Shopping Centre and the town library. Regeneration specialists St Modwen have been working on the proposals with West Lancashire Council and the Homes and Communities Agency.

In January 2020, work began on a new Lidl supermarket and a B&M store, along with an additional vacant retail unit, which would later be leased out to Poundstretcher, and work began on a new two-screen cinema operated by US company Star Cinemas in May 2020, which opened in May 2021 under the name Ultra Star Cinema; however it was re-branded to "Capitol Cinema" in June 2021. In June 2020, Lancashire County Council acquired the site of the former Glenburn Sports College, and approved £2 million of funding to demolish the site and prepare the location for development as a railway station.

The new Lidl store opened on 9 June 2022, and the B&M store opened on 6 July 2022. In addition to this, the third vacant retail unit was taken up by Poundstretcher, which opened on 1 November 2022. In addition to this, the pathway between West Lancashire College and the Concourse Shopping Centre opened in June, however, the high street linking the two sites has not yet been constructed. In addition to this, the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Park was constructed in the area, linking in with the new town centre developments. The park opened in June but was closed again in August due to vandalism and health and safety concerns due to missing safety equipment and fires caused by local teenagers.

There are plans to redevelop the land behind the new Lidl store to build a new health and wellbeing centre, featuring a gym, swimming pool, café, and children's play park. This will also result in the demolition of the existing Nye Bevan site. Plans have also been submitted by EG Group and approved by West Lancashire Borough Council to build a Starbucks café in the car park of the town's Asda store, the Starbucks café officially opened on 19 June 2025.