A LONE campaigner who is fighting to save a Booths store from closure, has admitted it will probably take a miracle to save it.

Trainee nurse, Mary Dawes, of Shaftesbury Avenue, took time off her studies to collect more than 1,600 signatures on a petition against the closure.

She even engaged the help of her local councillor Tony Pimblett, representative for Whitefield ward, who met up with the supermarket boss Edwin Booth.

Following the meeting Coun Pimblett said the Liverpool Road shop, Penwortham, is losing about £75,000 each year.

And supermarket chiefs claim the store is no longer "economically viable" and plan to make a decision on its fate before the end of February.

Despite her tireless campaign outside the store, which has been open for 67 years, Mrs Dawes said it is going to take a "miracle" to keep the store open. "I'm really disappointed," she said. "We really need this shop.

"It is worrying to think what might happen to the people around here who really rely on Booths."

On Monday more than 40 local people packed St Mary's Hall, Cop Lane, for the Higher Penwortham area committee meeting where Coun Pimblett discussed the talks with Mr Booth and other councillors earlier that day.

He said: "The store is currently being run as a supermarket and not as a convenience store when the principles of trading are different.

"I think the store could be viable if it were run along the lines of a convenience store. It is supported greatly by the local people and it's a service that we wouldn't like to lose."

A Booths spokesman said: "We are considering the closure of the store and we are committed to retaining and re-deploying these staff at other stores locally."