CURVIER brides in Darwen no longer need to panic about squeezing into that size 14 wedding dress.

A new bridal shop specialising in dresses for larger brides has opened in the former George pub in Bolton Road.

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Areles Bridal, owned by mum and daughter team Gill Powers and Michelle Faux, both of Hoddlesden, opened last month.

And brides of all shapes, from sizes six to 32, can now enjoy their dream wedding in comfort without having to travel to Essex to find a specialist wedding dress shop.

Mrs Faux, who is married to Adam, said: “I worked at weddings and saw some brides who were not well fitted into their dresses and I thought it just wasn’t fair.

“Every bride deserves to look beautiful on their wedding day and sometimes they just need someone to look after them.

“I did a lot of research into it and along with my mum, we set up our own business.” Mrs Faux said there were few companies out there offering dresses for larger brides and she hoped the business would attract people into the town.

She said: “A lot of the women we have had in have said it is really difficult to find somewhere where the dresses are big enough.

“When we looked into it we realised it was a niche market. There are only a couple of designers who do the bigger dresses.

“And rather than just taking the smaller dresses we offer and making them bigger, these are dresses specifically designed for the larger woman. But having said that, we do still cater for all brides.”

Mrs Faux added: “Business has been really good so far and it has been really busy.

“We have a larger mannequin in the window to show off the larger range and that has brought people in.”

The former George pub was converted after a planning application to turn the front part into shops with office space upstairs, and the rear section became a taxi rank.