Big Al stands at the door of the Green Mill cocktail lounge, rapping a wad of dollars against his broad knuckles.

BBC: Chicago��s celluloid city

As well as the more well known mills using water wheels, such as the one that stands as an ornamental feature at Llangollen restaurant, the Corn Mill, and the historic Rossett Mill, there are clues that water power has been harnessed elsewhere.

BBC: Rossett Mill is an historic landmark in the town

The titanic red-brick mill built by Izrael Poznanski, Lodz's most flamboyant industrialist, still stands sentinel over the heart of the city, a cathedral to 19th-century capitalism.

ECONOMIST: Poland��s second city