DARLINGTON Mayor Councillor Roderick Francis took a trip down memory lane yesterday when he returned to his former workplace.

Councillor Francis visited Lingfield Point in town to see progress on the £1m refurbishment of the Beehive Ballroom.

Coun Francis worked at Lingfield Point, in the dyers and dryers department of Paton and Baldwins, for seven years in the 1960s.

The 1950s dance hall, one of the town's most popular landmarks, is being transformed into six split-level offices.

The Beehive Ballroom hosted hundreds of functions in the 1950s and 1960s, but in recent years lay unused. Plans unveiled last year to revive the building as a live entertainment centre fell through