COMMENTING on the demise of the traditional pub, Mr J A Marsden (Letters, March 31) is right about the 1960s and that spending power shifted to the teenagers.

I remember the 'lads' in the vault at that time playing dominoes for a penny a game and a ha'penny a 'knock.' Then, the new young lads, who were now getting 'big' money (the small apprentice wage having been abandoned) could play for sixpence a game. Big time.

This made the older men with not much spending money resentful. Of course, the young lads, full of their new sense of independence, started to question parental authority, but the pubs did not alter at that time - not until the 1980s or at least the late 1970s.

About the anti-social gangs "marauding the town night and day," I think that is a bit of an exaggeration. But if the powers-that-be want the opinion of the people who are in town working at night, maybe they should come down some Friday or Saturday evening and see for themselves just how ridiculous the talk of a 24-hour leisure economy is.

This is Blackburn, not the centre of Manchester or London and what Blackburn needs is not quantity time, but quality time.

By the way, Mr Marsden, the discos are the dance halls of today. I don't think we have a nightclub in Blackburn, but I am glad that you replied to my remarks. It made me feel quite nostalgic. Thanks.

MARGO CARMICHAEL-GRIMSHAW, Toad Hall, Yew Tree, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.