Tithe Barn

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lep.co.uk

Evening Post, Thursday, February 12, 2009

NEWSBRIEF FACTFILE

Police seek a raid witness

POLICE are probing a terrifying armed robbery at a Lancashire building society. Officers investigating the raid last Thursday at Garstang’s Nationwide Building Society hope witnesses will come forward. Securicor staff taking money to a cash machine on site at 6.25pm were threatened by three raiders with a crowbar and a baseball bat. Call police on 01524 63333 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555111.

Driver denies role in collision

A DRIVER accused of a hit-and-run accident involving a 13-year-old boy on a pavement in Kirkham has appeared in court. Darren Clarke, 36, of Hastings Road, Freckleton, pleaded not guilty to driving a Peugeot 306 without care and attention in Old Row on November 20 last year. He also denied failing to stop after an accident and failing to report the accident to police. The case was adjourned until May 14 for trial by Blackpool magistrates.

Dirty chimney led to incident

A DIRTY chimney left a home in New Longton filled with smoke after it caught fire. Firefighters from Penwortham were called to South Avenue at 7.45pm on Tuesday and used a ventilation unit to clear the smoke.

Bedroom is hit by blaze

FIREFIGHTERS were called to house in Preston after a fire broke out in a bedroom. The incident happened at Ratten Lane, Hutton, at 3.50pm on Tuesday. No-one was in at the time. The fire caused severe smoke damage to the bedroom. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Woman hurt in car crash

A WOMAN was taken to hospital with head and neck injuries after a car accident which blocked a busy road. Firefighters had to cut the roof off the vehicle which was in a front-end smash with another car on Westminster Road, Morecambe, shortly after 10.20am on Tuesday. The woman was taken to Royal Lancaster Infirmary with minor injuries. The other driver was unhurt.

A tale of two towns, one city and civil war

A CIVIL war is raging in Lancashire over Preston’s £700m Tithebarn revamp plans. Blackburn and Blackpool are opposing it – but what do the people of those towns think? In the first of a two-day special report, CHRIS VISSER crossed the battle-lines to Blackburn to find out more

SORT out our own backyard first.

Blackburnshopmanagers, market stall holders and shoppers issued a resounding riposte to their local leaders, who have vowed to try and block Preston’s expansion plans.

Blackburn MP Jack Straw waded into the row this week saying Preston’s £700m rebirth could damage East Lancashire – echoing sentiments from down the M55 in Blackpool about the impact Preston’s scheme could have on the seaside resort. Many traders told the Evening Post during our two hours in the town that they have greater concerns about Blackburn’s development – including a new Primark – than the impact of a neighbouring plan 10 miles away. But Blackburn with Darwen Council leader Coun Michael Lee said: “I’m amazed they are complaining the Primark store will take away more from them than a £750m development in Preston. “That’s bigger than projects in Blackburn and Blackpool

THE VIEW FROM BLACKBURN... SHOPPERS and traders told the Evening Post their views about Preston’s £700m expansion. Shopper Nahida Mahmood, 38, of Blackburn, who also works on a market stall, said: “I think shoppers go out of Blackburn anyway – I go to Preston. “They (Preston leaders) have every right to expand and if Blackburn was a city, it would do the same. I think Blackburn should start sorting its own town centre out before we look at Preston.” Blackburn market trader Eileen Hargreaves, manager of Granny Buns, said of Preston’s regeneration: “I think it’s great as Preston’s been a more shocking place to shop than Blackburn. “I can’t see anything wrong with having a Lewis and expanding. “The row is all silly and political – unfortunately our council don’t do the best for our town. “To be honest, when I first came to Blackburn I loved it, we had a diversity of shops but now we have nothing apart from the market really.” Basat Rauf, manager of independent store Sibby’s

put together. We are concentrating on trying to get Blackburn up and running and we are redeveloping the mall and TJ Hughes. There’s a lot going on at the moment – there’s a

CLOSE TO HOME: The redevelopment of Blackburn’s Mall shopping centre is worrying the town’s traders more than Preston’s Tithebarn scheme Fashions said he is closing down due to pressures from the credit crunch and the council wanting him to relocate to the town’s new mall. Mr Rauf said: “If a Primark goes in the new mall, that’s going to affect us more and the shoppers won’t go to Preston anyway. “The authorities should be worrying about the new Primark and advertising, as it is rubbish. You hear of all the other markets in the

smaller towns and people have never heard of Blackburn. How many people know where Blackburn is? Preston is a city, Blackburn is nothing.” Shopper and unemployed nurse Christiane Bode, 37, of Blackburn, said of Preston’s plans: “I wouldn’t be very supportive because Preston has everything already and the smaller towns like Blackburn, Burnley and Colne need better funding

lot of redevelopment which is going to raise the profile of Blackburn. He said he did not think Tithebarn would happen anyway due to the credit crunch.

The mall in Blackburn is undergoing a £66m redevelopment to create a new building which will house the current indoor market. The revamped centre, due

for regeneration. I miss quality shops here – everything is just pound shops and budget stores.” Colin Jackson, who runs a meat stall on Blackburn Market, said of Tithebarn: “It won’t be good as I think shoppers will all go there (to Preston) and not stay in Blackburn. Trade in Blackburn is awful anyway – it’s no good at all. When they move the market, I’m not going as it would cost too much.”

to open next year, will also feature a 50,000 sq ft Primark store as well as larger versions of current town centre stores including W H Smith, New Look and others.

‘The vibrancy has gone from the shopping centre’ HAVING grown up in Blackburn, I remember it for its busy market, the bustling King William Street with its large Marks and Spencer and a crowded shopping precinct. But that vibrancy has long gone and been replaced by an uneasy pessimism coupled with uncertainty for the future. The council is promising a revamped shopping centre with a new market but today

‘Pessimistic and uncertain’ – Blackburnbred reporter Chris Visser gives his personal view on the town and its attitude to a resurgent Preston’s ambitious plans for the £700m Tithebarn scheme all shoppers see is a building site surrounded by struggling stores advertising closing down sales. In Blackburn Market, stalls have even been re-

placed with a wall featuring paintings of shop doors and shelves full of goods in a desperate bid to fight the growing gloom. But with the town’s oldest

shop Mercer’s, which has been around for 170 years, set to go to the wall, it is obvious something much more than a few paint strokes are needed to fight the downturn. Council bosses say things are being done and a new Primark will help boost trade but stall holders, some of whom have been around for more than 35 years, are not so confident. I was told many traders in

the indoor market have gone to try their luck in Manchester and shop manager Basat Rauf said he was thinking of doing the same. In the mall, men in suits stand around with leaflets offering stores six months free rent if they enter a competition. But it is unknown if it will have an impact in a shopping centre half-empty, mainly filled with elderly shoppers.