English Idiom – A ghost town.
A place that is very empty and quiet, where there used to be lots of people.
It’s early on a Sunday morning on a British high street. Every shop has its shutters down, a few leaves blow along the road, and the only living thing in sight is a pigeon. Even the ghost looks a bit lonely. The high street is a ghost town.
The idiom comes from the real ghost towns of the American Wild West: mining towns that emptied almost overnight when the gold or silver ran out, leaving the buildings behind. Today Brits use it for anywhere that feels deserted: a town centre after the shops close, an office on a Friday afternoon, a seaside town in the middle of winter.
How to Use It
- be a ghost town: “After six o’clock the city centre is a ghost town.”
- become / turn into a ghost town: “The village turned into a ghost town when the factory closed.”
- like a ghost town: “The office is like a ghost town on Fridays.”
- You’ll often see it in the news, in stories about empty high streets and closed-down shops.
It isn’t really spooky at all. It’s an everyday way to say a place is empty, and it works in conversation and in writing.
Ghost Town: the Song
Ask most Brits of a certain age about this phrase and they’ll start humming. “Ghost Town” by The Specials, the Coventry ska band, went to number one in the UK in the summer of 1981. Written by Jerry Dammers, it’s a haunting, eerie song about British cities emptied by closed factories, unemployment and anger. It reached the top of the charts just as riots broke out in towns across the country, and it’s still one of the most famous British songs of the 1980s.
So when a Brit says their high street has become a ghost town, there’s often a little bit of The Specials in the background.
Example:
- “The beach is a ghost town in January.”
- “Since the big shops closed, our high street has become a ghost town.”
- “Where is everyone? It’s like a ghost town in here!”
- “During the World Cup final, the streets were a ghost town. Everyone was watching the match.”
More spooky English: see all 10 Halloween idioms, or try give someone the creeps, jump out of your skin and a skeleton in the cupboard.
Learn More
Look it upGhost town – Cambridge DictionaryCambridge DictionaryWhat is an idiom?
An idiom is a word or phrase that is not taken literally. An idiom is an expression that cannot be understood from the meanings of its individual words, but has a separate meaning of its own.
Frequently Asked Questions
It means a place that is very empty and quiet, usually somewhere that used to be busy, like a high street after the shops have closed.
It comes from the American Wild West, where mining towns were left empty when the gold or silver ran out. Only the buildings, and perhaps the ghosts, stayed behind.
Yes, informally. People often say “It’s like a ghost town in here” about an empty office, school or shop.
Test Yourself
🎃 More Halloween English: 10 Halloween idioms · Halloween vocabulary · dress up · a skeleton in the cupboard · give someone the creeps · jump out of your skin
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