AN initiative has been launched to bring together businesses looking to promote Darlington town centre.

A meeting has been called following a serious of devastating blows to the high street with the proposed closure of the town's Marks and Spencer and Binns stores.

Prominent business owners are looking to come up with ideas for the 'I'm backing Darlington' campaign.

The event, taking place at the Bannatyne Hotel from 5.30pm until 7pm on Thursday, June 28, will include a Question Time style panel designed to generate at least ten workable ideas to generate more success for the Town Centre offering.

One of the people behind the idea, Graham Robb, who is the deputy chair of the Entrepreneurs’ Forum and a member of the Tees Valley LEP, said: “With creative thinking and the passionate application of new ideas, we can turn the situation around. This is a unique meeting from the grass roots of local business, it is designed to generate positive conversations that can feed into the council’s own turn-around initiatives.”

  • Free tickets are available from www.eventbrite.co.uk