OUR town centre has been changing this year with the closure of well known and much loved stores but the addition of colour and atmosphere to the Market Place with the new cinema and uncovering of the Vaults.

This got us thinking about the other major shopping centre in Bolton — the Crompton Place.

Many of our readers will remember it when it was the Arndale Centre but how many of you can remember when there were parrots in the middle of the complex?

This was in the 1970s and they were replaced by budgies when the parrots had to be destroyed as one of them was found to be diseased.

The budgies were placed in the large cage watched by a huge crowd in the mall.

Mr Joe Howarth was in charge of taking care of the birds and he said, at the time: “They look chirpy enough.”

As well as the bird cage there used to be a fountain the centre.

One of the popular stores was C&A with a main entrance in Hotel Street.