REGARDING A-boards, the name of Shumart has been associated with Blackburn for more than 40 years - 30 of them spent on High Cockcroft off Northgate.

It is essential for the continuation of trading that we display our A-board at the end of our street.

Otherwise, the business will cease as trade has dropped dramatically since we have had to take ours in.

We have nothing else to rely on other than the board or word of mouth, as we have no outlook or windows to display our goods.

People are already thinking we have closed down, and have told their friends that we are no longer here because the sign has gone.

When you think of all the money that has gone into putting the horrible gates on Northgate - which is another black mark against trading - our A-board is small-fry by comparison.

We can understand the rules about keeping the walkways free of clutter, but are they not meant for stalls encroaching from the front of shops on the pavements rather than one A-board?

It is all right for people to make these rules when they are sitting in offices, but they want to try working under these conditions for their livelihood.

MISS WILD and MRS ASTLEY, Shumart, Higher Cockcroft, Blackburn.

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