IT has been heartbreaking to see Bolton Market Hall becoming increasingly deserted as the stalls shut-up shop for good.

The shutters are going down on all those small businesses for the final time this week.

Some have traded there since early last century, some longer.

Thousands of local families have regularly shopped there, and the place is as much a part of all those personal family histories as it is a proud part of Bolton's.

All we can do now is hope the councillors and planners have got it right, and that bringing in high-street names and revamping the building will ultimately save it.

Unfortunately, it will never be the same again.

Most definitely, an important part of the story of Bolton has had an unhappy ending.