BOXES of unsold ‘I Love Darwen’ memorabilia have been put into storage because the town hall has no way of selling it.

Gifts including T-shirts, tea towels and other small souvenirs were removed by Blackburn with Darwen Council from the Croft Street building because the town hall is now ‘cash-free’.

Talks are under way to put the gifts back on sale in the town after concerns were raised.

Darwen Town Council is looking to strike a deal with the borough to bring them back and put them on sale.

Town councillor John East said he had met borough representatives and talks were ongoing.

He said: “We are exploring new ways to bring them back to town using the library and leisure centre. We are also looking to commission new gifts to produce new souvenirs.

“We will be approaching metal fabrication firm WEC for discussions about those in the near future.”

Coun East called the decision to remove the items from the town ‘short-sighted’. He added: “It was disappointing that things were taken away and nobody thought of an alternative. The town hall is now cashless, so there was no way they could sell them in there.

“The items have gone into storage in Blackburn but hopefully they will be coming back and everything will be fine.

“We want to celebrate our town and support business and this is a great way to do that.” Coun East promised negotiations on setting up a partnership between the two councils to sell the items.

Details, such as how much the items would cost and where the cash made from the sales would be spent, were still to be worked out.

Damian Talbot, Blackburn with Darwen executive member for leisure said: “If we can find a suitable space for these things then I would be happy to support them being sold in the library.”