Today
Wath-upon-Dearne is centred on Montgomery Square, where the town's main shops, library and bus station are located. Immediately west is the substantial Norman built All Saints Church, in a small leafy green with the Town Hall, the Montgomery Hall and a campus of the Dearne Valley College. There are several busy high-street pubs in the town centre, along with many local pubs dotted around the town.
Today Wath is still emerging from the hardship caused by the sudden collapse of its major industry. However over the past decade jobs and a certain albeit relatively low level of affluence have returned to the area. In very recent years, after a hiatus between the clearing of the former colliery land and the recent redevelopment when the area felt rather rural, the construction of large distribution centres to the north of the town is once again bringing an industrial feel to the area, although without the pollution issues that were connected with the coal industry. Recently several very large distribution warehouses for the clothing chain Next have opened. A significant amount of new housing is also being built on this reclaimed industrial land.
Held every May bank holiday, Wath Festival is the biggest folk festival of its kind in the region, with a growing national reputation. Some of the biggest names in the folk scene have appeared in recent years. It is also very much a community festival with traditional dancing, street performances, workshops, children's festival and the famous throwing of the bread buns from the Parish Church Tower.
The RSPB's Old Moor nature reserve lies a mile to the north-west of the town; it is a flash, where mining-induced subsidence of the land close to a river has created wetlands.
Wath-upon-Dearne serves as the principal exterior location for the webseries Shadazzle, doubling as the fictional city of Spittlegum.
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