BOLTON today battled back in its War of the Roses clash with Leeds. A BEN team made the trek across the Pennines to confront the Yorkshire puddings who labelled parts of Bolton "Toy Town" and laughed at its efforts to boost tourism. Reporter Paul Broster and photographer Nigel Taggart braved Tyke jibes as they headed to the offices of the Yorkshire Post, the newspaper which printed an article by a freelance writer claiming there was little to offer in Bolton and Lancashire in general.

But the BEN claimed victory after the paper refused to answer our criticisms face-to-face - and some folk in Leeds said they'd much rather live in our terrific town.

We headed along the M62 after fury erupted in Bolton following an article by Stephen McClarence which questioned why Yorkshire residents would ever want to make the short journey to Bolton.

He scoffed at our resplendent town hall, claiming it was "noticeably smaller" than Leeds' virtually identical version.

And the freelance journalist, responding to Bolton's recent push to woo day trippers, also compared parts of the hugely popular Market Place to Noddy's Toy Town.

"If it's the post-industrial North you want, Yorkshire has more than enough to offer," wrote Mr McClarence.

But today we can say Leeds itself is far from perfect.

Broken down escalators covered with green slime greeted our pair as they visited the Merrion Centre - a Leeds equivalent to the Market Place.

The modern building wasn't a patch on our attractive, older version.

Inside, the set-up was no better or worse than in Bolton, and even centre cleaner Fred Quince, aged 63, admitted his home town of 38 years had its grot spots.

"Obviously I like living in Leeds, but there are some really rough parts," he said. "Chapeltown is full of drugs, crime and prostitution and Gipton's not much better either. Where I live in Little London some of the houses are that bad they're about to be pulled down."

Next stop was Leeds Town Hall.

Mr McClarence had claimed it was much larger than our civic base in Bolton, but the BEN uncovered a different story.

It was impossible to the naked eye to tell which building was actually the biggest.

But it took a full minute more to walk around Bolton Town Hall which also has an extra 10 steps leading to its impressive front doors.

We also found a broken window at the rear of the Victorian Leeds building which backs on to a road not nearly as grand as our impressive Le Mans Crescent.

Inside, folk were friendly and conference, as well as concert facilities, seemed similar to those back home.

But there was no tourist information centre as in Bolton, forcing our team to trek across town to get full details of the city's attractions.

Paul and Nigel were also denied the town hall guided tour they wanted to see which civic building really came out on top.

An attendant said: "Sorry, you can't go around the place because we've got a student conference on."

Back out on Leeds' streets, our team met with some light-hearted hostility when we dared suggest the red rose county had always had the edge over its historical white rose rival.

"Bolton should be dug out of Britain and dumped in the Irish Sea," said joiner Jim Sinton, who lives in north Leeds. "I've been there lots of time working and I've never liked the place. In fact, I'd pull the plug on the whole town."

Students Eric Wheater and Greg Fuller, both 17, said they'd rarely made the trip west because they thought all Lancashire lads wore cloth caps and raced whippets.

"Leeds is much livelier with some really good clubs," said Greg. "I also went to Bolton's Burnden Park once and it was a real dump."

But the BEN found two local lasses who deplored the criticism of Bolton and pledged to defect to the red rose cause.

Insurance workers Venetia Beba and Gaynor Bapty, both 19, said they would be more than happy to head to the bright lights of Lancashire.

"I wish I'd never been born in Leeds," said Gaynor. "The nightclubs are really boring and the whole city is just full of students and office workers."

Venetia, of Rothwell, added: "I went to Bolton once to see some friends and it was really good - just the sort of place I'd want to live. I don't think it's fair that we should knock it when it's got such a lot to offer."

Teacher Viv Forrest, aged 32, of Otley, near Leeds, also told the BEN she loved Lancashire.

"Its people and places are wonderful," she said.

Retired couple Frank and Eileen McClellan added they had fond memories of visiting Blackpool.

"Both counties are great," said Frank, aged 63.

Local complaints about Leeds included that it was always choked with traffic and could often feel overcrowded.

But, showing a typical Lancashire sense of fair play, the BEN found several plus points in a bustling, vibrant and cosmopolitan city.

Its centre - home to attractive buildings, tremendous shops, excellent bars, restaurants and museums - had much to offer.

Added to a thriving academic, sporting, arts and entertainment scene, Leeds is a city which has a lot to be proud of.

Of course it's easy to come across deprived areas out of town area like Chapeltown and Gipton.

And in the city centre there were examples of boarded-up buildings, vandalised roadworks and litter strewn on streets.

But it's a pity our ungracious counterparts at the Yorkshire Post couldn't have been as fair-minded as our objective pair.

And when our fearless team marched bravely into their Leeds HQ demanding answers from article author Stephen McClarence or editor Chris Bye, the white rose suddenly turned yellow.

A receptionist told the dynamic duo that neither man was available and added no one else from the paper was prepared to comment.

"Any questions will have to be put in writing to be dealt with at a later date," she said.

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