How was your Saturday night? Did you watch a box set, go to the pub or have a few people round for drinks and nibbles.

Whatever you did, it was probably a little more exciting than mine.

I spent Saturday night ploughing my way through the 2020 version of ‘Warrington Means Business’, a document that has the snappy strapline: Warrington’s Economic Growth and Regeneration Programme.

Now I’ve got to confess, I didn’t read every word in the 50-page document (I did look at all the pictures though) but there were some little nuggets that got me thinking.

And several references to Bank Quay Station had me reaching for my laptop to look up a recent story from the Warrington Guardian.

The story I refer to is the proposed closure of the Crosfields factory at – you guessed it – Bank Quay.

Owners Unilever looks like it is going to end production, putting more than 100 jobs at risk.

The company says it is ‘undertaking a review of its future’ at the Crosfields site, where it manufactures its Persil and Surf washing powders.

It pointed to a ‘sustained and irreversible decline in demand’ for powder detergents, believing it will be ‘challenging to find a commercially sustainable alternative to the closure of the factory’.

Unilever’s vice president of supply chain Jon Strachan said: “As a result of a sustained and irreversible decline in consumer demand for washing power, our Warrington factory is currently running at less than half its capacity.”

For what it’s worth, those people whose jobs are at risk have my utmost sympathy. Believe me when I say I feel your pain.

Anyway, back to the council. When the news broke, Warrington Borough Council chief executive Steven Broomhead said the announcement was a dark day for the town, and added: “It is a very sad moment given the long history of Unilever in the town.”

So far, so good.

But it was the next quote that intrigued me: “We will also be having discussions about the future intention for that site.”

Keep that thought in mind.

Now anyone who has spent any length of time in Warrington sort of accepts the Crosfields site for what it is but the fact remains, it is an ugly industrial complex perched next to one of the major gateways to the town.

It doesn’t really give the impression of a modern, vibrant, thrusting ‘Northern Powerhouse’ town. Instead it screams Industrial Revolution. It’s more ‘dark satanic mills’ than 21st century entrepreneurialism.

And being brutally frank, that industrial site does not fit in with what ‘Warrington Means Business’ has in store for the Bank Quay Gateway (that’s what the council is calling it, not me).

My Saturday night reading revealed a major plan centred on the HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) projects.

These two new rail links and the existing West Coast Mainline intersect in Warrington and this is what Warrington Means Business has to say about it: “The ‘touch points’ of NPR with HS2 have been agreed with an NPR station in Warrington...and a TransNorth Rail Hub, possibly at Bank Quay, giving Warrington direct connection to HS2, NPR and the West Coast Mainline. Warrington Bank Quay Station will be rebuilt as a centre for travel, business, hospitality and retailing.

Let’s just pause there for a moment and let that sink in, shall we? Grotty Bank Quay with its industrial skyline and soapy smells ‘rebuilt for business, hospitality and retailing’.

No wonder Mr Broomhead and his chums at the council will ‘be having discussions about the future intention for that site’.

Suddenly the Bank Quay Gateway looks a whole lot more attractive. Pity about the 100 or so jobs.

While we’re talking about transport, Warrington Means Business also had another little gem that caught my eye. Apparently, the council wants 15 per cent of us to use public transport for our commute. And thinks a tram or light rail system could be the way to go.

Call me cynical but I’ll believe that one when I see it.