DARWEN town centre is even more depressing now than it was early in the new year, the last time I'd taken a careful look around and counted the empty shops and offices and the empty market stalls.

"Don't tell everyone how bad it really is," traders who've known me for years asked then.

Nobody bothers now. They haven't given up, but a lot of them are more than gloomy.

Bridge Street in particular has crumbled.

By 12 o'clock it was like one of those scenes in the old Western films where everyone hides behind the curtains while the two gunslingers close in for the showdown.

They could shoot a remake of High Noon here. Da-di-da-da da-di-da-daa-daa...

I remember the good old days of the town centre; the bustling market hall and the outside market with "Cousin Bob" and all the rest of the gang. I can't remember an empty shop or stall.

Hilda Wilson had a stall when "Cousin Bob" was entertaining the crowds.

And she's still there, more than 50 years later, helping her son Clive to make something of a living from his handful of stalls.

As she told a Telegraph colleague a few months ago: "Darwen market used to be one of the busiest in the North West.

"It's getting hard to make a living now but Darwen folk are still smashing.

"We've built up a wonderful friendship with them over the years."

Her son Clive showed me round the market. He counted 15 empty stalls out of about 66.

"I have to take hundreds of pounds a day to break even," he explained. "It's not easy."

Clive and his colleagues on the market have been asking the Council for practical support.

But so far they've been offered such things as training and budgeting packs.

"We know how it all works," he says. "We've been doing it for years."

The Market Hall, so bright, busy and warm when I used to wait there for the Pothouse bus 50 years ago, has lost its sparkle, while the once-bustling market annexe is a shell.

Shops and offices around the centre have been closed for years with little sign that someone will take up the challenge of opening a retail outlet.

The Ethel Austin chain is struggling.

Clive Wilson is remarkably philosophical.

"Trade is bad everywhere. We appreciate that.

"We need the continued support of local folk and we need some on-the-ground initiatives.

"What we seem to have is a top-heavy management structure."