CHILDREN were the guests of honour at a shop's birthday bash.

Staff at Wilkinson, in Darlington, spent Saturday blowing up red balloons and handing them out to children, along with masks, stickers and sweets as the shop celebrated its tenth birthday.

The store opened in 1995 and since then has seen more than 18,000 customers pass through its tills every week. Manager Shaun Wallis said: "We have had a great time serving shoppers in Darlington over the past years and we wanted local folk to join us in celebrating reaching our tenth anniversary of town centre trading."

Wilkinson has 250 stores nationwide and will be celebrating its 75th anniversary nationwide later this year.