I FEEL I must respond to the article (Bury Times, June 26) about Ramsbottom traders wanting to get rid of the Sunday car boot sales.

I can say quite categorically that not all traders, or the public for that matter, share the views of Mr Arnott.

How can he say that people are put off coming into the town because of the car boot sales. For the past few years - other than the ELR - car boot sales have been the only things that have attracted people in great numbers each week.

That is why there may sometimes be a little congestion.

Perhaps Mr Arnott would like to see Ramsbottom go back to the days of the 1960s and 70s, before the East Lancs Railway, when it was a ghost town at weekends.

Or maybe he just wants to be selective about the type of clientele who shop in Ramsbottom.

Customers are customers. All types of people enjoy car boot sales. Just give them value for money and the tourists, and local folk alike, will buy the goods.

Get rid of the Sunday car boot sales and you get rid of all the customers it attracts. It may even be the only thing that people get off the train for!

Car boot sales are now part of the national shopping bonanza which people enjoy on Sundays as a leisure activity.

Many traders in Ramsbottom, stuck in their old-fashioned ruts, close their doors on Sunday and open up again on Monday when all the tourists have gone.

They should wake up, move into the 1990s and change their opening hours to attract more people. Let's make Ramsbottom a healthy tourist town.

MICK HEYES,

The Carriage Catering Co.

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