A YOUNG people’s charity says that labelling Bolton a ‘nothing of a town’ will damage the next generation.

Saeed Atcha, founding CEO of Xplode Magazine, has intervened to reassure its young cohort of volunteers, following criticism of the town in a Guardian article earlier this week.

Mr Atcha said: “First and foremost I am a proud Boltonian and for many of our volunteers this is the same story I hear.

“We’ve got a proud heritage, from our Town Hall, to the old Market Hall - now the amazing Market Place Shopping Centre — and the cotton mills that stand proudly on our skyline.

“We’re not perfect. Nobody’s perfect and this constant bemoaning of our town isn’t going to get the young people we work with the jobs of the future.”

In his article for the Guardian, Bolton-born journalist Andy Walton wrote that ‘the commercial heart of one of the largest towns in the UK is in nothing less than an existential struggle’.

But Mr Atcha, whose charity trains 16 to 25-year-olds in employability skills, is adamant that young people can carve out a positive future for themselves here in Bolton.

He added: “I am fortunate to call Bolton my home and my place of work.

“It is this same pride that my team and I try to convey to our volunteers every single day, that to stay in your hometown isn’t a step back, if the opportunities you’ve set your heart on are right on your doorstep.

“I read the article with utter shell shock, not because we deny the challenges Bolton faces, but because these words deny our next generation’s hope.”

Mr Walton said on Wednesday: “I am fiercely proud of Bolton. When I bring people to visit I am very proud of the history. I was there on the streets when Fred Dibnah died and turned out for the funeral.

“But I don’t think pride equates to pretending all is well when it isn’t. I can hold my head up high and say that I have written the truth.”