[Margaret Pilkington]

When I was a teen, I worked on the periphery of the market, in Slingers Cooked meat shop.
Each market day we( the three workers in the shop) would have a competition at guessing from accent where folk came from.
They came from all the close local towns and I could recognise the difference between those from Balckburn, Darwen, Butnley, Bolton, Preston....yes folk actually came from those places to shop on Accrington Market and in our shops.
Yes...I do know that we live in different time, with different shopping habits but this only affects poor markets, poor shopping centres. The ones that make the effort to deliver what the customer wants(good products, pleasant surroundings, personal service etc) are still busy.

The decline of the town is down to wanton disregard of what the town needs.
The personalities and inter party fighting within the council, with the desire to score petty political points, is what brought about these dire consequences.
The people who are implicated,know who they are and should be hanging their heads in shame.