RE the letter "Bringing town to its knees" (Citizen, June 14), this claptrap is typical of the nonsense spouted by the "rose-tinted glasses" brigade.

Blackpool as envisaged by these idiots would be closed down like New Brighton in the Sixties. There is no way this town will ever be a major family resort and this is for many reasons.

Firstly, there is very little for families to do. People will slag me off here, pointing to the Tower, Pleasure Beach, Sandcastle and shows. But -- and it is a big but -- there is a cost to all of these and it is that cost compared to similar facilities abroad which counts. Take swimming -- it's £13 for a family for the afternoon at the Sandcastle in Blackpool. It's free at almost every hotel in Spain, Greece, Turkey Portugal etc.

I took my children to the Pleasure Beach when it was "cheap rides" and still spent £40 in one day.

When it comes to the evening, the parents have two choices -- curfew at their children's bedtime or dragging the children round the streets. This is because there are few, if any, hotels providing creche/child-minding facilities.

Add in the almost permanently inclement weather and there is very little reason for any family to come to Blackpool other than for the odd day out.

As for the old fairy story that Blackpool "used to be a family resort" -- not in my lifetime (and I'm only 46). Yes, there were more families until the early 70s but there were also mill girls and pit lads in large numbers.

There were also the Wakes Weeks when whole towns shut down for a week or fortnight and all hoilidayed at the same time. There were none of the proliferation of cheap foreign holidays with their guaranteed good weather.

In business terms, who is the idiot? The people who adapt and, no matter how distasteful, appeal to the available market i.e. stag/hen parties, or those who seek to pursue a non-existant and probably mythical market which they hope will start to exist some time?

I, too, have a recipe for success but it differs from that in the letter.

1. Clubs open for dancing and drinking until all hours, not just 2am, to bring us into line with most other major city centres. This will prevent most of the 2.30am trouble which is caused by too many drunken people seeking taxis and supper all at the same time.

2. Hotels providing child-minding facilities so that there is some chance of attracting those families which can afford to come for more than a day out.

3. Cleaner streets and cheaper basic facilities (like swimming). Make the town look nice and match at least the basic things supplied abroad.

4. A re-think over what is and isn't tolerable. If it sells and makes a profit, then it's tolerable (strip shows, nudity, drinking, dancing). If it is unpopular and does not, then no matter how tasteful it is, get rid. Get rid, too, of the beggars and homeless and clean up the town centre.

5. Jail automatically those who instigate violence. Concentrate on those who start fights and on those who instigate vandalism instead of, as so often happens now, punishing those who stand up to them.

I look forward to a safer town full of people enjoying themselves (and I don't care how loudly or boisterously). I personally find that preferable to the "name and address supplied's" view of a couple of years of emptiness while we chase a non-existant market.

P J Hayhurst, Haig Road, Blackpool.