Sam Livesey is on the move. Early next year his butcher’s stall will leave ­Preston’s Market Hall, a 1970s concrete monstrosity in the city centre. It will be heading next door, where a giant modernist glass box has sprung up underneath a grade II-listed canopy dating from the city’s Victorian heyday

“This place has served its purpose,” he said, gesturing at the rundown building, earmarked for demolition once Livesey and his fellow traders have departed. “But over the years it’s decayed. It’s time for something new.”

The market’s new home is an eye-catching blend of old and new. But it is also the most visible symbol of an econom­ic experiment by the city council — which is being hailed as an unlikely blueprint for Brexit