SIR: I hear from my friends in Bolton, that the Blue Boar and other timber frame buildings in Churchgate, are now on their way to the tip, and wonder at the views of Bolton's Director of Planning, who has so far remained very quiet about this latest Bolton massacre.

After writing to your newspaper last month, I got an interesting letter from Wolverhampton, and Dudley Breweries, explaining that when they bought the property in 1997 it already had planning consent for demolition. It seems strange that permission can be given before anyone has any idea what these buildings contain. Being at the heart of the mediaeval settlement of Bolton, between the church and market cross, there was a strong chance that these run-down exteriors hid past splendours. Perhaps the tidy minded planners knew this, and hence the haste to quickly be rid of the lot. Perhaps I am alone in caring, but the response in your paper, and the large number of Lancashire local history books and magazines in Bolton shops and libraries, makes me think otherwise. The message from the Planning Department to Bolton children about their town is clear, only affluent places with plush leafy suburbs have any history worth preserving.

David Brinson?

Plasturton Gardens, Cardiff?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.