Horwich is going on-line in a bid to attract tourists and new businesses to the town.

The new website, which is due to go live in less than two weeks, will be crammed with facts on the town's history, industrial heritage, businesses, leisure facilities, transport services, public amenities, town council and plenty of contacts for community and voluntary organisations.

For anyone who does not have access to the internet, Horwich's updated Official Town Guide has just become available and includes all the above information and more.

Members of the town council hope to promote Horwich in every way possible over the coming months and are also aiming to capitalise on the arrival of the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002.

Australian representatives from the Commonwealth Organisational Body are believed to have been extremely impressed when they visited Horwich earlier this year and were taken with the scenery around the town which will prove photogenic on television and provide a suitable backdrop to the cycle races.

Commonwealth Badminton events are already planned for the new Bolton Arena at Middlebrook and Rivington and Blackrod High School has been chosen as a base for mountain biking, cycle road race and time trail events. The town council also hopes to rejuvenate Horwich Chamber of Commerce and possibly link-up to companies in Westhoughton and Blackrod for a three town business link.

Cllr Barbara Ronson said: "We are really trying to promote Horwich in a number of ways and need to seize the opportunity of getting businesses involved in reaping the benefits of the Commonwealth Games.

"The website and the town guide need to be used to promote Horwich as much as possible.

"This is an initiative across the whole town council and is not political at all.

"There are doom and gloom merchants who think the arrival of Middlebrook will kill everything in Horwich, but that's not the case.''

Pete Bradshaw, who is Bolton Council's Commonwealth Games liasion officer, said: "The possibilities for the Horwich area are hugely exciting.

"Businesses will benefit from the many visitors and the area will look great on the television because it is so green and scenic, which is exactly what we want to portray to the rest of the world."

Horwich town guides are available at the public hall in Lee Lane, the library, resource centre in Beaumont Road and town councillors will also be distributing them throughout the town.

The website address will be horwich.gov.uk