WE are hoping these two photographs of a familiar part of Bolton town centre will bring some memories for our Looking Back readers.

They were both taken in the Mealhouse Lane area of town and show the scene at a time when things were very different.

We know many of you will recognise the Empress Hall but how many of you can tell us something about the place?

We would love to hear about the Empress.

Bolton town centre has changed so much over the years some parts of the town are virtually unrecognisable.

This was a time when Christmas would involve spending all day at the office desk before heading to one of the dance halls for the evening — but they would need to be ready to run across to Bolton’s Moor Lane bus station in order to catch the last bus home. Although,if you were dancing at the Palais,buses would apparently pull up to collect evellers as they exited.