THESE photographs show a very important and much loved part of our town.

Here we have the centre of Bolton seen from two very different angles.

The top picture shows a view of the magnificent Bolton Town Hall back in May 1962 — Thursday May 3 to be exact.

As we can see at this time people sat on benches facing the town hall, possibly waiting for buses as, of course,this was before pedestrianisation and buses would pass in front of the building. And the “No Waiting” sign where the elderly folk are sitting tickled us.

We are very lucky to have such an incredible building in our town.

The buildings to the right are very different today and some of them appear to be houses rather than commercial premises.

The other photograph was taken in 1971 and we are looking from the Bolton Town Hall steps into Newport Street.

How things have changed here too, as we can see people using the pedestrian crossing.