Penzance might be at the end of the line but it is quite something when you eventually reach it. Situated more than 300 miles from London and near the farthest point of the UK’s south-west peninsula – an area reliant on agriculture and tourism for income – this is a small town gem, out on a limb.

Yet, until recently, Penzance was like a dinosaur facing extinction, wallowing in nostalgia for its 19th-century role as a great port. A decade ago, its 20,000-strong population was falling as young people fled to livelier cities; a train link to London was under threat of closure; traffic flow on the main road from Cornwall to neighbouring – and more affluent – Devon was often brutally slow; and there was an air of neglect hanging over the town.