[Tozzie]

I live near a town that used to be a bustling, busy, happy town where people would come by the coachload just to visit the towns market of which it was famous for. There were a large variety of shops, marks & spencer, woolworths, army and navy stores, freeman hardy willis shoe shop, music shop, pet shop, tea rooms, cinema, lots of different clothes shops, Caddys Ice Cream parlour, plenty of pubs, Jessops Tailors, John Collier, a theatre and much much more. The town was packed with people in days gone by but now sadly when I last visited the town all I saw were take aways, charity shops and pound shops. It is so sad to see how it has become so run down, litter strewn about, drug addicts hanging around on benches, almost a ghost town compared to its former self. The shops I mentioned above are all gone. The market is still there but it is full of cheap shoddy things, no one comes to visit on coaches anymore. It is so sad to see the decline of our once famous town of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire. I have so many happy memories from school days, teenage and young years working in the town. I can't imagine what memories the youth of today could muster from the now almost dead town. I realise of course that times change and the town has definately changed for the worst. I guess the introduction of the supermarket Asda was the beginning of the end of many shops, people preferring to shop all under one roof instead of supporting our local shopkeepers, it really is so sad. Where do you live and has the same thing happened or is your town thriving?