Debate is still ongoing whether the opening of a new Co-op is good or bad news for Town Green, Aughton.

QLocal reporter Roger Blaxall took these pictures last night of the new look store which opens next Thursday with deputy mayor Noel Delaney doing the honours. Some 13 jobs have been created at the former Cockbeck which many locals agreed had passed its sell by date – it remains to be seen how long its rival over the road, Spar, lasts ... one rumour is that there are plans to close it and turn it into a wine bar.

In the meantime, an enthusiastic reader of QLocal Ormskirk’s come up trumps with a list of shops which thrived only fifteen years or so ago locally - our thanks to Helen Anderson for this trip down memory lane – how many of them do you remember?

Mitchells (where Spar is now), Parrots Greengrocers next door, Huyton's butchers
Post Office, across the road on the corner of Winifred Lane was a children’s clothes shop called Scallywags, and further down Bold Lane was Banks' newsagents and then Spar where the dentist is now.

Bottom photo: Copyright Francis Frith collection