I AM writing with reference to your report on the possible change to store opening hours in Bolton Town Centre.

What is the matter with everyone? Are the great British public really so disorganised that they are unable to do their shopping during normal shopping hours? Do they honestly believe they, or their families, will suffer if they can't spend their money after 6pm? Don't they realise that shopworkers also work long hours, have home lives, and have families who would like to see them once in a while?

Maybe the people of Bolton, these people who can't bear to go straight home to their families after work, but feel the need to go shopping, would like shopworkers to move their beds into the storeroom, and forget about their own families altogether.

It cannot be denied that many people do have a round-the-clock "shop till you drop" mentality, and, indeed, shoppers are shopping. Unfortunately, it's the shopworkers who are dropping, and it is high time that more thought was given to the vital role they play in our society.

Lynda Breakwell

King Street, Westhoughton

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.