WE are all guilty of dwelling on times gone by when looking at old photos on Facebook of our once booming town centre and wondering what happened to all those shops.

So many of the big-name stores and smaller independent shops have deserted the town centres.

And plenty of us are equally guilty of buying our stuff off the internet and in retail parks.

Our two retail parks – the St Helens Retail Park and Ravenhead Retail Park – have plenty of big shops but when I listen to some folk talking, these places may as well be on the moon as far as they are concerned.

Widnes is lucky – their out-of-town retail park is literally tagged on to the old town centre. Ours are either across a lot of busy roads or just a little too far to walk for older shoppers.

This is where we really need some of the free buses, like the ones they have in Manchester, to join the town with the retail park.

Or maybe they should start sending more of the Sutton, Sutton Manor, Widnes and Clock Face buses through the Ravenhead Retail Park.

We need to connect people with the shops.

Mike Crawford, Dentons Green