THIS derelict mill in Bolton is one of the town's worst grot spots -- and it is one of the sites a top Government minister did not see on a tour of the area.

Corporate bosses whose firms are just yards away from the decrepit building in Fletcher Street say it is one of Bolton's biggest eyesores.

And they claim its smashed windows, overgrown frontage and weathered brickwork could even affect the town's tourism trade.

Their fury was unleashed on the day that regeneration minister, Beverley Hughes MP, was in town to see how the area was developing its potential. She praised an imaginative jobs and regeneration scheme on the west side of the town.

Company director,Stephen Elster, who works at neighbouring office furniture firm GF Pennington and Sons Ltd, told how he has badgered council officials to insist the privately-owned building be given a facelift.

Mr Elster fumed: "If this was next to the town hall it would not be allowed to get into this state.

"This has got to be one of the worst grot spots in the town. It's an absolute disgrace."

His boss Ged Pennington added: "People talk about all the money being ploughed into Bolton, but that's a joke. If this was America that building would have been pulled down long ago." High-class clients of the furniture business have included the Orient Express company and top Football Association officials.

But bosses say they are concerned about what impression the derelict mill creates for anybody who walks past the decaying shell.

And directors from the nearby House of Raj spice shop, which has become a successful tourist attraction for visitors to Bolton, also launched an attack on the state of the mill.

Marketing director Sital Raja Arjan said: "This is an absolute mess. When we direct coaches to our headquarters they look at the building and carry on driving. We have to tell them we are opposite the derelict building."

Council planning bosses have threatened legal action against the mill's owner after their demands for the building to be spruced up were not carried out in time.

Last November town hall bosses demanded windows on the first and second floors be boarded up and vegetation growing on the mill's frontage be removed. But yesterday the windows -- the majority of which have had the panes of glass smashed -- were still not boarded up, large shrubs were growing from the brickwork and many of the downspouts were missing.

Planning boss Howard Barratt confirmed a Section 215 notice had been served in January on the mill's owner, Brian Walton, demanding the windows be shuttered and brickwork cleaned up.

But last month council chiefs threatened to take the matter to Bolton magistrates after the work had not been carried out.

Today the BEN was told that work to improve the site was due to start shortly.

There was no one available to comment on behalf of the mill's owner, Brian Walton.