Unemployment is now approaching 20 per cent and the total population has almost halved to 110,000.

The exodus - particularly of young people - coupled with the consequent collapse in property prices, has left street after street in sections of the city almost entirely abandoned.

I'd guess that they've gone where there's work. Especially the young, especially the graduates.  I spent my teens in an industrially devastated city.  When we went to university, we knew we weren't coming back.