"It's becoming an absolute scene' - Apprentice star lays into Andy Burnham as he closes Chorley store

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has come in for a tongue-lashing from Chorley Apprentice star and pie shop owner, Paul Bowen.

The 37-year-old, who starred on BBC’s Apprentice in 2024, has revealed that his Bowen’s Pies shop in Market Street will close permanently tomorrow (Saturday, September 26), despite taking £100,000 a year, because it is “unsustainable”.

The Harpers Lane shop and Adlington shop will remain open.

Explaining the decision, he posted a video on Facebook, where he took a swipe at the Government, pointing out all the empty shops in Chorley town centre.

In it he said: “Andy Burnham, this one’s for you if you’re listening. I’m closing my store here in Chorley - I can’t afford to keep it going.

“It’s a small store. Two years ago it was fine, ticking over, I simply can’t afford it. But it’s not just me, is it, Andy?”

Showing a range of empty shops, Paul says: “Empty shop, family butchers closed, another empty shop, would you believe it? Another vacant shop...well, well, well another ‘to let’ sign.”

Referring to Pound Bakery, which recently closed its Chorley outlet, Paul says: “Even one of the UK’s most popular bakeries that was value for money can’t sustain what they were doing.”

He adds: “This is becoming an absolute scene in our town, in your town, in everybody else’s town. Andy, you’re not listening, everybody’s closing. Businesses are closing. If you just took 10 of those empty stores and let survive and each of those stores employed four people, just on minimum wage, it would create £1million alone, just in Chorley.

“Have a really hard think - you need to change now to let businesses survive.”