PEDESTRIANISING a main town centre route could save Blackburn's threatened Pavilion buildings.

Members of the area's chamber of trade and local civic society have backed calls to make Church Street a traffic-free zone in a bid to promote the listed buildings as prime commercial premises.

They believe that the move will attract out-of-town developers to transform the buildings as it would make them more accessible from the shopping precinct.

At a meeting to discuss traffic problems in the town centre, local organisations agreed pedestrianising the road could have many benefits - as first proposed in the Cathedral's Millenium bid.

Blackburn with Darwen Council said they would refrain from demolishing the Grade Two listed buildings if a developer could be found.

They appointed Manchester-based property agents Grimley to market the Pavilions but, as yet, no progress has been made.

For Chamber of Trade secretary Rita Wakeley, the buildings hold a special significance. The bottom Pavilion used to house Barclay's Bank in the '60s, where Rita took her first job.

"It would be a terrible shame to see them go," she said. "There is a lot of feeling that pedestrianisation of Church Street would solve a lot of problems in the centre.

"But, however it is done, we are still fighting to save these historical buildings."

A spokeswoman for Blackburn with Darwen Council said: "The marketing strategy is still being put together and we are expecting a planning application to be submitted for the Pavilions in the near future."

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