Shattered dreams: Why the battle for Sunderland’s glass centre has turned into a political flashpoint

Custodian University of Sunderland says renovation costs of £45m are too high and building must be pulled down. Not without a fight, say locals, who believe they’re being taken for fools The “little pieces of Sunderland” produced by the city’s glassmaking factory for more than a century can be traced back to an even older story that began in the seventh century, when English glassmaking began at a monastery beside the River Wear, run by abbott and later saint Benedict Biscop. In 2007, the Pyrex factory that opened more than 100 years earlier and made glass that found its way into millions of homes closed down, with production moved to France. Continue reading...

By Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent