WORK to revitalise one of the town centre's main streets will start in full following this month’s Bolton Food and Drink Festival.

The project will include replacing shop frontages along Newport Street to create a more uniform appearance — with a pilot scheme already under way on one of the units to show shoppers how the new units will look.

The street will be resurfaced with Bolton Council bringing in a new “high quality, bespoke paving scheme”.

There will also be new benches, LED street lights and trees planted in a bid to revamp an area seen as the gateway to the town centre.

The council had originally looked at painting the buildings above shop units on one side of the street in Bolton's "brand colours" — including orange, lilac, green, pink, blue and brown.

But that plan has since been shelved in favour of a more neutral colour scheme.

The authority is aiming to complete the project by the end of 2016 to coincide with the opening of the new £48 million transport interchange which is being created by Transport for Greater Manchester in Great Moor Street.

The council’s executive cabinet member for regeneration Cllr Ebrahim Adia said: “We’re investing a significant amount of money into Newport Street and one of the key things we will be looking to create with the design is a seamless, open route from the new interchange through Newport Street and into Victoria Square.

“The regeneration of Newport Street will help to draw more shoppers and new businesses into the town.”

Cllr Adia said the aim of the pilot scheme was to give a vision of how the wider plan for Newport Street will look.

He added: “We really wanted to show property owners, landlords and the public how the new shop frontages could look.

“The landlord of this property was happy to work with us on this unit. The shop is currently empty and once the work is finished it will be more attractive to prospective businesses.”

Work undertaken on the shop includes attaching a new bolt-on frame which incorporates space for new signage, a shutter and lighting.

The timber guttering has also been replaced and the shop repainted — with work on the shop due to finish in the next fortnight.

The council’s hope is to drive more visitors into the town centre as well as create an appealing environment for new businesses.

Bolton North East MP David Crausby, who has consistently called for more to be done to revitalise the town centre, believes the Newport Street scheme is a step in the right direction.

He said: “The street definitely needs tidying up and clearly we need investment in the town centre in order to save it.

“The council is taking action and I congratulate them for that — it is a lot of money so I really hope it works. I am pleased to see them trying something.”

Mr Crausby added that other factors are important in breathing new life into the town centre.

He added: “Parking is a major issue that needs to be looked at because there is massive competition from out of town shopping centres.”

Free weekend parking is currently available in the towns four multi-storey car parks.

Newport Street has already been stripped of old benches and trees in preparation for the main work to start following the end of the food and drink festival, which takes place over the August bank holiday weekend.

Jamal Mohammad, who runs the Newsbox shop in Newport Street, said: “I do think it is going to look good when it is finished — I’m just not sure whether it will bring more people in to the town centre.

“I think we need more big name shops in Bolton to attract shoppers.”

6 photographs of Newport Street through the years