A LOCAL businesswoman is one of the bidders lining up to save Blackburn's Pavilion buildings from demolition.

Nancy Shaw, director of Shaw Corporation UK, is hoping to rent one, and eventually all three of the listed Church Street buildings.

She wrote to Manchester-based property agents Grimleys after reading about the Citizen's campaign to stop the buildings being demolished.

She expressed her interest in using the premises to produce her magazine Night Life.

This would mean refurbishment of one of the Pavilions - possibly all three if the magazine becomes more popular and is distributed nationwide.

Miss Shaw said: "I have been trading in Roe Lee, Blackburn, for the past twelve months and we have launched a new magazine promoting Lancashire nightlife.

"The Church Street buildings would be ideal for my offices and I could come to some arrangement with regards to the refurbishment of at least one of the Pavilions."

She added: "I can arrange for a building team to undertake the repairs and refurbishment at short notice, working to council specifications."

A spokeswoman for Blackburn with Darwen development services department said: "We will submit a formal planning application for the redevelopment of all three buildings and then invite bids from potential developers to carry out the improvements. There will be a level of flexibility in the proposed scheme."

Grimleys development surveyor Lisa Coultas, who is monitoring interest in the Pavilions for the council, said there was a lot of interest in them.

She said: "We are discussing renovation plans with the council and English Heritage for the buildings - to be submitted for planning permission in July.

"We are not necessarily looking for one buyer. We would be letting the buildings initially with the hope of turning them into a good investment."

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