The people of Burnley give their views on plans to demolish the town's landmark Keirby Hotel and relocate the bus station as part of a massive redevelopment scheme

PLANS which could lead to Burnley's landmark Keirby Hotel being pulled down have been greeted with approval by many residents and traders, but people appear to be more concerned about the proposed relocation of the bus station!

Redevelopment proposals for the bus station site include building a new hotel, which it is understood the owners of the Comfort Inn, still known locally as the Keirby, are interested in developing. Councillors have suggested that if this goes ahead the Keirby could be demolished and a new bus station built where the hotel now stands.

The Keirby was built in 1960 by Eric Cookson, managing director of Howarth of Burnley. Mr Cookson died in November last year, leaving the hotel as a landmark legacy to the town.

Burnley and District Civic Trust secretary David Smith said: "I think the Keirby is a disgrace and I think it would be rather good if it was demolished. It has never been a very attractive building. I don't think many people will be disappointed if it is pulled down.

"Whether the bus station would be best for that site remains to be seen. Really we need to have the buses nearer the market square but that is not possible. "

Lindsey Dawson, of Hirst Street, Burnley Wood, was just six when the Keirby was built and she admitted: "I thought it was horrible when it first went up. "The only good thing is that it is a focal point and as a teenager it was somewhere you could arrange to meet your friends. I think a new hotel would be an asset to the town."

Pensioner Allan Holland uses Burnley bus station two or three times a week and described it as "shocking".

Mr Holland, 76, of Adamson Street, Padiham. said: "They need to do something with it, but I don't think it will make much difference if they move the bus station over the road.

"At the moment passengers are in the cold all the time and it is not a safe place for women on their own at night because of the hooligans.

"I have been to the hotel a few times but I am not carried away with it."

Gill Lamport, 43, who lives off Coal Clough Lane, Burnley, looked across to the hotel and said: "They do need to do something.

"It is an eyesore and very 1960s. It would not really bother me were they to pull it down, there was a bus station on this site before the hotel."

Jason Frost, a partner in East Village clothing and music shop in Yorkshire Street, said: "The Keirby could do with being bombed. In the '60s it might have been OK but it is a monstrosity.

"It would be better for us if the bus station was facing our shop but I find it more like a bizarre game of musical chairs and I fear it could bring this end of town to a complete stand-still. "Initially I say redevelopment is necessary, but the logistics might be difficult to work out and a lot of people will be upset by it."

Regular bus user Mary Tattersall believes the bus station should be rebuilt on the same site.

Mrs Tattersall, 59, of Peart Street, Burnley, can remember the town centre before the Keirby was build and said: "Even if they built a new hotel, modern buildings aren't that long standing. I have been to the hotel to dance and at lunchtimes but there is never anybody there.

"The bus station does need work on it but they should rebuild it on the same site."

Margaret Evans, 66, of Brunshaw Road, Burnley, said: "I think the hotel is very basic and not very attractive.

"I don't like the bus station because it is too open and exposed when you are waiting for a bus, it is also dangerous for people walking across from the shops to get to the bus stops."

But Kevin Slater, of the Auto Key Cutting Centre kiosk at the bus station said he feared moving the bus station would seriously affect the shops on Croft Street.

"I don't think it should be moved because all the roads would have to be diverted and people are used to it here," he said. "If they moved it a lot of jobs would be lost because of the affect on shops, cafes and take-aways on this stretch of road."

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