BOLTON and proud of it! Well, yes, I am. But, sadly, Bolton isn't the town it once was.

I suppose I could close my eyes and stick a pin into a map of Bolton, and start there, wherever it was, to tell the tale of Bolton's decline.

But let's take a look at the front page photo in the Bolton Evening News, with the headline "Bolton and Proud Of It".

This shows Churchgate as it is today - a conservation area, domineered by office blocks and an ugly ex-supermarket, now a bar, all built over the past two or three decades.

Before these buildings were built, this was a short street of fine buildings, full of character, steeped in history and unique to Bolton.

The schoolhouse, The Grand Theatre, The Theatre Royal, The Derby, The Legs O'Man, The Boar's Head The Capitol Cinema. Each one a building of unique character, irreplaceable, yet bulldozed in the name of progress.

Conservation area! Sadly, now there is little left to conserve, save for our beautiful Parish Church, The Man & Scythe, and The Swan - which only recently was hanging in the balance.

We do, of course, still have some fine old buildings in the town centre, far too numerous to mention here. The trouble is, if you walk with your head in the air, admiring their fine facades, chances are you will do yourself an injury, due to the terrible state of the pavements in our proud town.

There have been some improvements made to the town centre, I guess. The Market Place, definitely, and the - er - help!

Brian Derbyshire

Ribchester Grove

Bolton