BLACKBURN Market should shut on Tuesdays so customers could shop at its Darwen counterpart instead, a Conservative politician has suggested.

Cllr Julie Slater floated the idea on Thursday night. But it has been rejected by one trader as ‘nonsense’ and by markets boss Cllr Phil Riley as ‘daft’.

West Pennine ward’s Cllr Slater raised the issue at a meeting of Blackburn with Darwen Borough’s full Council Forum.

She told borough regeneration boss Cllr Riley: “I just want to mention the footfall in Darwen, especially around the market, as the traders are very concerned that the market is closed all day on Tuesday and very concerned they are not making the rent to pay their arrears off due to the Covid.

“Many are quite distressed and would like to increase the opening hours again back to normal and maybe open on Tuesday fully.

“What we were thinking was that maybe you could close Blackburn Market on a Tuesday and let the shoppers come to Darwen and increase their trade that way.

“The Darwen traders think that is quite a good idea because it would help them pay the rent.”

Malcolm Marsden, the owner of Whittakers Butchers on Blackburn Market, said: “Cllr Slater’s idea is a load of nonsense. I would imagine Blackburn Market traders would be very unhappy about it”

Cllr Riley said: “The idea of closing Blackburn Market on a Tuesday is daft. I thought that Tuesday was traditionally a half-day in Darwen and that the market has always been closed on that afternoon.

“As I understand it, the number of traders who were in on a Tuesday was very low.

“We can open Darwen market again on a Tuesday and are prepared to take that offer up from the traders if that is what they want.”

He added: “We made one major concession to both markets’ traders, which was to lose their rental charges for April, May and June.”