I WAS on holiday recently in Jersey. We visited museums, gardens and bars and other attractions including a fantastic department store and other attractive shops.

Everywhere was clean, each morning the pavements were washed.

Coming back to Bishop Auckland, it’s incomprehensible why the heart of the town market place is dreadful.

Instead of closing all the bars and doing nothing with them, money needs investing on them and introducing coffee shops and eating places, inviting life back into the market and jobs for people.

It isn’t enough to have Spanish art and miners art galleries or the monstrous viewing tower where people can spend one or two hours, plant pots all over the place and trees.

The priority for visitors and locals alike is decent shops, paid jobs, and clean streets, instead of filthy litter everywhere and pigeon droppings.

All the closed shops are deteriorating every year.

The bus station is another disgrace.

It is time to improve the town and make it decent once more.

Mrs C Kerr, Bishop Auckland