TOWN centre shops have been slammed for staying open during Remembrance Day services.

James Stevens, Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Bolton West, attended the service with hundreds of others, but was distressed that stores around the war memorial continued to trade.

He said: "Surely it would not be too much to ask that, on Remembrance Day, all town centre shops should remain closed until after the service and parade have finished."

The Tory hopeful has written to Bolton Council and the town centre manager asking them to consider a bye-law or voluntary code of conduct for town centre businesses to remain closed until noon on Remembrance Day.

A spokesman for WH Smith said: "We observed the two minute silence on Saturday and Sunday and turned the music off the tannoy, but we wouldn't like to comment any further."

Peace campaigner Bertie Lewis was dismayed after the white poppy wreath he laid at the war memorial disappeared for at least the fifth time in recent years.

Mr Lewis is well known for his support of CND and always lays a white wreath during the Remembrance Day parade in Victoria Square.

The wreath is believed to have been taken from the war memorial late on Sunday night.

The 80-year-old man from Farnworth said: "It's a disgrace to take anything from a memorial.

"But it won't put me off next year because people need to be reminded of the danger of nuclear weapons."