A BUSINESSMAN has opened a new retail venture, completing the regeneration of Blackburn's historic Church Street pavilions.

Former Coloroll wallpaper guru John Wilman, who once employed 1,000 people in Nelson and Burnley, is behind the new Pavilion Interiors store.

In the 80s and 90s he was the man behind the Coloroll wallpaper brand and he is now involved in marketing the Shand-Kydd wallpaper marque.

The three pavilions had stood derelict for more than 20 years before a £1.3million project to restore the Georgian buildings began in 2004.

It took more than a year before the first pavilion was filled. Alan Rene Hair and Beauty Salon, and Cafe Bees, operate in the other buildings.