THE last shopping study into Darwen took place in 2005.

Manchester-based firm Savills was appointed to investigate both Darwen and Blackburn centres.

Savills found that Darwen was strong in the food retail sector, but that non-food sales had been in decline since 1999.

To illustrate the poor performance in non-food, Savills discovered that Darwen takes just one per cent of the share for total sales of clothing and footwear in East Lancashire, down from seven per cent in 1999.

However a survey of shoppers painted a more positive picture.

Savills found that 52 per cent of visitors thought Darwen performed well in terms of choice of shops, but only adequate for pubs, restaurants, cleanliness, parking and access-ibility.

Latest figures suggest that 10.96 per cent of shops in Darwen are empty, down from 14.57 per cent in 2004.

This is a better performance than Blackburn where 14.7 per cent of shops are empty, compared to 16.16 per cent in 2004.

Along Market Street and Duckworth Street - the main shopping area - there are around five empty shops and another couple in nearby Bridge Street.

In conclusion Savills said that the retail role of Darwen town centre needed to be redefined to address the decline in its market share since 1999.

Investment needed to be encouraged into town to increase performance in the non-food retail sector, Savills said.