Most town centres are rubbish these days so Middlesbrough isn't unique there. We don't need every town to have a town centre anymore. People can travel so they go to the cities or the shopping centres to do their town centre shopping. Just in the North the big cities like Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool still have thriving city centres. The small surrounding town centres are rubbish and getting worse but it makes sense for the business to just have big flagships instead of 100 tiny shops.
People don't travel for a night out as much as they do for shopping so people still want to go out in town centres. There's still a place for them but councils need to organise them better into pockets that share resources better (putting transport, police presence, restaurants, bars, takeaways) into walkable distances.
I've been out on towns and cities all over the country and Boro has always been edgier than others. Seems like there are just more people with the "who are you looking at" attitude that are hoping for a fight.