I AGREE wholeheartedly with your correspondent that Darweners can blame themselves.

I am a Darwener and have been guilty of shopping out of town. But I woke up to the fact that if people didn't start supporting our businesses, soon we would have no town centre and would be merely a suburb of Blackburn. Once the town centre has gone, it will be too late and no use in moaning.

Last Christmas, I decided to do the majority of my shopping in Darwen and got everything I needed without the hassle of the crowds and sweltering in the shops in Blackburn precinct. I also saved a fortune.

There are some lovely little shops in Darwen and some nice unusual gifts on the markets if you can be bothered to look.

Yes, there is a lack of big name stores, particularly for clothes and you cannot always get the more exotic cooking ingredients. But is that really an excuse for doing all your shopping out of town? Why not make a monthly trip for items not available in Darwen and save yourself time and money by buying everything you can from local shops.

Traders too must look at what compels people to go out of town.

For mothers with young babies one-stop shopping is tempting so why not organise a carry-to-car scheme and baby changing facilities.

So come on Darweners - don't do all your shopping out of town or soon Darwen centre will die, and as they say 'you don't know what you've got until it's gone'.

Name and address

supplied.

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