TODAY we look through the lens at the Mitre area of Burnley - this photograph, from the seventies, was taken from Barracks station.

The road junction has always been a busy spot and the bridge over the canal here was widened in 1863 and again in 1935 to deal with increased traffic.

The problem during the roadworks 80 years ago, was keeping the traffic moving while putting in the foundations beneath the canal banking below. It was eventually widened from 42 ft to 57 ft, including footpaths.

On the right is the junction with Trafalgar Street, where you would have passed Trinity Conservative Club, beyond which was the Marshall library, Burnley’s first free library, which opened in 1914.

Beyond that was the Alhambra cinema, opened in 1912 and built to a design of contractor William Heap, of Padiham Road, which was described as the finest picture hall in the north of England at the time.

It's difficult to believe today, that a cinema, could have occupied such a small space. It closed in 1965 and the site became a petrol station.

Alongside canal in the foreground is a hotch potch of sheds and garage blocks.