T he former England footballer Paul Scholes and the actor Steve Coogan stare out from beside a fish and chip shop in Middleton, near Manchester . Looming over a mural of the pair – and the whole town – is an enormous former cotton mill that powered its economy a century ago.

The deafening looms and spindles of Warwick Mill fell silent decades ago, replaced in recent years by TikTok “urban explorers” who share videos of themselves crawling through its abandoned shell.

Yet the old building may have life inside it yet: last month Rochdale council wrestled Warwick Mill out of the hands of its absentee owner, a millionaire Chinese businessman, under whom it had been derelict for years.

The dilapidated Warwick Mill in Middleton town centre.…