'I think it's a waste of money': Locals slam 'weird' £2.5k chess tables erected in Lancashire parks

The 20 black and white square-topped tables and seats, worth £2,500 a piece, have been constructed after ministers agreed to give councils the outdoor furniture for free to help young people hone their skills in ‘patience and critical thinking”’.

But locals have branded the pricey new tables ‘weird’ and ‘a waste of money’, whilst also point out that no one was likely to actually use them to play chess owing to the fact that no pieces were provided.

The chess boards, some of which are located in parks in Blackburn, Darwen, Hyndburn, and Pendle, are part of a package of measures announced last August to ‘inspire the next generation’ of chess players.

Part of this included a commitment to give out 100 chess tables at £2,500 each - funded by The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities - to 85 local authorities in England so that they could be installed in public parks.

“I don’t really think the chess boards are helping level up the country as I wouldn’t go out in the park to play chess,” said University student Laiba Amjad, 20. “Obviously, you go out to get fresh air and walk and stuff - and there are no pieces.

“It’s funny that the government thinks young people are interested in chess because they are not,” added Laiba. “You are not going to see anyone playing chess there. So they’ve spent £2,500 on a very expensive table. I didn’t know how much they cost. I was actually shocked that it was so expensive.

“Chess boards aren’t relevant to us, we never noticed it until today,” said Laiba. “I don’t place chess, it’s really bad, but the younger generation is always on our phones, so I don’t think it’s useful.

“I think the government should be putting in more money to services and other things for the local people.”

Marwa Ahmed, 22, from Blackburn, agreed that the chess tables are not the best use of public cash. “I don’t think it’s a good use of public money because I don’t think most people are going to use that chess table,” she said. "I think it probably could have been spent in better ways.

“I think it’s a waste of money, in my opinion. I’ve never seen people playing chess in the park. It’s just an expensive seating arrangement. It’s a shock to learn that the government has spent £50,000. It’s a bit improved. It’s a good idea. But I think it’s not going to be useful.

“It’s also a bit weird. I don’t think I would ever use it. Nowadays, there are so many online games. It’s mostly old people that like those games [chess].”

Henri Murison, from the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, a thinktank advocating for business interests in the North of England, said the tables were not helpful, adding that the money should have been spent on what people ‘want and need the most’.

“It shows the misunderstanding the prime minister has about how local government works, because his job in central government is to give local government enough money to pick its own priorities, not to throw sweeties at the provinces,” Mr Murison told the BBC.

"If there's money to spend, it should be spent on what local people want and need the most. Now, nothing locally happens without some sort of top down initiative.”