ARE not the complaints by church bosses about Blackburn Cathedral being surrounded by 'unsuitable' pubs and clubs a touch on the toffee-nosed side?

It may be that the character of today's town-centre bars appeals more to oafish, choirboy-baiting youths rather than tweedy church-going couples seeking a drop of sherry after evensong.

But, intriguingly, history is cited by the Dean of the Cathedral, the Very Rev David Frayne, as he calls on the council to work closer with the church over nearby developments as an application is made for premises on the very brink of the Cathedral Grounds to become a bar.

With the four pubs already close to the Cathedral already deemed by Dean Frayne to be part of the town's 'noisy leisure industry,' we have leading church members claiming that they detract from its historic character.

History? Have they ever considered how many pubs the Cathedral once lived alongside, even in relatively recent years - without suffering much harm?

At least ten, by my reckoning - with some notoriously rough ones among them at that.

Dean Frayne and his anti-bar protesters need to remember that their Cathedral is in the middle of down-to-earth Blackburn, not some idyllic, cloistered Barchester - and that they have to live and let live.