WE asked Bolton folk what they thought about the town's precious accent disappearing to be replaced by a single North-west voice.

Ken Heyes, aged 68, from Farnworth, said: "People don't speak as broad. We've still got very flat vowels, but it's starting to change.

"I hope it will never go away and I don't think it will. It's part of our identity and I think there's enough people who want to keep it the way it is. If you speak posh in Bolton, you get cast down."

Carly Fishwick, aged 19, from Deane, said Bolton's media stars were helping to keep the accent fashionable.

"It will never go away," she said. "I really like the way people speak round here and I hope it will never change. Why should it? I listen to people like Sara Cox and everybody watches Peter Kay. Their accent is part of their appeal."

Care worker John Wagstaff, aged 20, from Westhoughton, said: "If you took away our accents, you'd be taking away part of our heritage. If you look at other places like Liverpool, you think about the accent as soon as you hear the name and I think Bolton is the same.

"We've got an accent to be proud of and I don' think people will let it go away."

Eileen Wallace, aged 47, from Breightmet, said the accent had become softer and easier to understand since she moved to the town 20 years ago. "When I first came, I couldn't understand some people because they were so broad," she said. "It was 'up th'ill' and that sort of thing, but you don't hear it so much these days."

"I think people moving between Manchester and Bolton has really changed the accents, but if you look at someone like Peter Kay, he's got a really broad appeal and it's based on his accent, so the town needs to keep it."

Roy Taylor, aged 65, from Great Lever, felt the accent was already disappearing.

"When I was younger, the accent was very broad and if you went to a different part of Bolton you'd notice a big change in the way the people spoke," he said. "If you go to Leigh or Wigan, you'll find some of the older people quite hard to understand."