WHILST visiting family in Darwen and thinking how much cleaner and tidier the centre was, I headed back to the car park with my sister.

What a shock we got as we passed the Ethel Austin store.

The pavement as littered with empty takeaway containers and as we progressed up the side of the shop there was more to come, in the form of a skip filled to overflowing with bags of rubbish and cooking oil cans.

We were appalled at this "Blot on the Landscape."

Surely the Environmental Health should think about closing premises as a lesson.

STELLA McLENNAN (Mrs), Croft Avenue, Shap, Cumbria.