DAVID Cottam believes the good times are coming back to Blackburn and that the new-look town centre has everything to offer local shoppers.

The new president of Blackburn Chamber of Trade has put attracting shoppers back into the town top of his priority list now that the multi-million pound facelift nears completion.

And Mr Cottam, owner of Counsell and Woan carpet retailers on Ainsworth Street, with a stall on the three day market, believes he has an easy job.

He said: "My job is a lot easier than my predecessors simply because I believe Blackburn Town Centre is in better shape than it has been in years. In the past year or so we have seen the railway station refurbished, a new bus station on the Boulevard and the shopping centre modernised. Everything is so accessible it is a shopper's dream."

"We were one of the first towns in the country to have a shopping centre but over the years we have been overtaken - but now we are right back up there. There is no reason for people to go out of the town to do their shopping because we have everything they need here."

Mr Cottam, who steps up from vice president, takes over from Joan Cook who has been president for the past two years.

He said: "Joan has done a marvellous job over the past two years and I hope I can carry on from where she left off."

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