Preston, Lancashire after 1948, Preston became home to a significant number of Asian and Caribbean Commonwealth immigrants, who mostly worked in the manufacturing industry. However, an economic decline hit the town once again in the 1970s, capped by the closure of the Courtaulds factory in 1979 (nearly 3,000 job losses) and the decline of the docks on the River Ribble, which finally closed in 1981. Mass unemployment was firmly back in Preston by the early 1980s, although it was now very much a national crisis due to the recession of that time. The rehousing of families from town centre slums to new
Preston Brook used by Capita, Marks & Spencer, O2, First Group and Tesco Mobile. The Bridgewater Canal runs from Manchester through Preston Brook where it divides into two branches. One branch leads to Runcorn where it used to join the Manchester Ship Canal, and before that the River Mersey, while the other branch joins the Trent and Mersey Canal at the Preston Brook canal tunnel. The community has a website and a bi-monthly newsletter. Preston Brook Preston Brook is a civil parish in the borough of Halton, a unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Cheshire. It is located to the south-east