BOLTON folk have lost the pride of their alley - because town centre alleyways have been forgotten.

That's the claim of Bolton and District Civic Trust, who are campaigning for names to be restored to the many tiny alleys which run off the town's main streets.

The trust's Historic Buildings chairman Mrs Marie Mitchell says she suspects that many of the old name plates from alleys and ginnels have been stolen as collector's items.

"The oldest name plates, like Chapel Alley off Deansgate and Duke's Alley near Ridgeway Gates, were made of wood and simply disappeared a few years ago," said Mrs Mitchell.

The trust has already approached Bolton Council, who have promised that names will be replaced as money becomes available.

But Mrs Mitchell says she would also like the council to help revive some of the very old names that used to be given to the tiniest passageways between business premises in the town centre.

"One is off Bradshawgate," she said. "Dr Samuel Taylor Chadwick, whose statue stands in the town centre, used to have a surgery at the bottom of the passage and he did a lot of work with people with poor eyesight. So the passage became known as Squint Alley. It would be nice if that name could be restored."

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