BURNLEY town centre is number one in Lancashire and one of the top 50 places to be for retailing in the country.

The town has jumped from 74th to 45th in the 1999 retail demand study list out of 1,126 towns and cities nationwide.

Nearly 50 retail companies have expressed a requirement to locate in Burnley.

The timing could not be better for Initiative Burnley who came up with the slogan 'Burnley THE place to be,' as the town centre management team have just launched a marketing campaign aimed at attracting more investment.

The inward investment strategy will promote the attractiveness of the central area, improve its trading performance and encourage new retail and leisure companies into the town.

A silver marketing document promoting the town is being distributed to key retailers and property agents with particular emphasis on attracting quality fashion, food and leisure operators.

A wider campaign involving attending property and trade exhibitions, a PR campaign and trade press advertising all at national level, starts today at a property exhibition at Manchester Town Hall.

Assistant town centre manager Lisa Durkin who is managing the campaign said: "The concept behind this marketing document and its overall design certainly challenges people's perceptions of Burnley.

"I believe it will make a major contribution to further improving Burnley town centre and attracting new investment.'' The document highlights that Burnley is ranked number one out of 23 major towns in Lancashire for overall vitality and viability.

Its other benefits include:

A 15-minute catchment area of 317,00

A 30-minute catchment area of more than one1 million

A £20million programme creating an attractive extensively pedestrianised area

Over 450 high street and specialist niche trading outlets

Over £50million of major retail and leisure investment currently being developed

A new £20million public and private investment for 1999-2001

A national award winning CCTV

Easy accessibility

Excellent recreation and leisure facilities.

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