Darwen folk were shocked at the thought of their town hall flowers were being used to spruce up Blackburn for the Royal visit.

Blooms from the centre were taken away just days before The Queen arrived in East Lancashire.

And they suspected they had been borrowed by Big Brother Blackburn.

But today council officials insisted the floral displays did not make the journey down the A666 and were to be returned next week.

Witnesses claimed that diggers had been seen carrying away the tubs full of summer blooms in the run up the Queen's visit to Blackburn on Thursday.

They feared they had been taken to spruce up the town centre to impress Her Majesty when she arrived at Blackburn Railway Station and toured the Boulevard and Church Street.

But Blackburn with Darwen Council bosses said that the flowers had simply been moved as part of the planned work on the town centre.

Liberal Democrat councillor Roy Davies said: "It is all about appearances with this council and I wouldn't have been surprised if they had moved the flowers to Blackburn for the Queen.

"Having said that, they were dying anyway because we seem to be neglected compared to Blackburn and it doesn't take a Royal visit to highlight that."

One Darwen resident said the town had always been Blackburn's poor relation and said he wouldn't be at all surprised if the council had taken their flowers to give to Blackburn.

He said: "We were all a bit puzzled when diggers began taking the big tubs of flowers from outside our town hall.

"And people started saying that they had been moved so Her Majesty could admire them as she arrived in Blackburn.

"We do not know if they have been returned yet but it reminded us of the Queen's first visit to Darwen over 50 years ago.

"They painted just one half of Darwen train station the one she got off at!"

Today planters resembling some of those which had been moved from the town hall had been spotted adorning the slipway off the motorway at junction four at Earcroft.

Council executive member for leisure and culture Coun John Milburn said: "The plants outside Darwen Town Hall have been removed to accommodate Darwen Music Live and will be put back in place by Tuesday.

"They are, and will remain, in Darwen."

In Blackburn, the landlord of the Flying Haggis in Church Street said he was annoyed that the council had told him his pub must be covered from the Royal gaze.

The pub adjoins the part of the Mall that is to be demolished first in a £45million re-vamp of the shopping centre and was covered in a pink mesh which despite the Royal visit only lasting 20 minutes was still in place today.

Chris Langhorn, landlord of the pub, said: "We are annoyed about it from a business point of view but it was for the Queen."

He added that he had not been told how long it would remain covering his pub but he expected the council to remove it as soon as possible.