A SANDWICH shop has been transformed into a high-end dress agency, after the council decided to reverse the direction of the road outside.

Sisters-in-law Carol Kenyon, 59, and Brenda Buck, 58, ran Simply Snacks from 46 King Street, Blackburn, for 15 years before Blackburn with Darwen Council decided make traffic flows out of town rather than towards it.

Carol said: “In September last year everything changed, and because of the road our takings were down 60 per cent.

“We decided that we needed to be positive and reinvent ourselves, because we still had the lease on the shop and the rent to pay.

“We looked at what we could do at our age that didn’t require training, and decided on the dress agency, as Brenda has seamstress experience.

“The dress agency is also a destination shop that people specifically come to, as opposed to somewhere you pop in if you’re passing.”

The shop has been renamed the Number 46 Dress Agency, offering services such as clothing repairs, dry cleaning, clothing personalisation, haberdashery, and sales of top-name shoes, handbags and clothing for members of the public at a 50 per cent commission.

Carol said: “If we sell an item for £10, then we would get £5 and the owner would get £5. It’s good for ladies clearing out their wardrobes, and for those who are dieting and need to get rid of bigger sized clothes.”

Brenda, who has previously worked at women’s retailers Maureen Cookson and Gene Sutcliffe, said: “It was daunting to make the change at first, because you get into the routine of running a sandwich shop, but it’s what we had to do, and it’s been exciting.

“A dress agency is an old-fashioned concept, but now it’s quite unique – there’s nothing else like this open in Blackburn, where everything is together under one roof.”

The building in King Street has recently been renovated by the council, and keen to enhance it’s original art deco beauty, Carol appealed to Blackburn wallpaper manufacturer Graham and Brown for help.

They have now kitted out the shop with vintage-inspired wallpaper designed by Wayne Hemingway.

*The winners of today’s Lancashire Telegraph Twitter headline challenge was Charlotte Upton.