(Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)
Darlington is my home town.
I was educated here, and although I live away now, my family is still here.
Every time I return, the market hall – that great Victorian cathedral – reminds me of the civic pride and ambition this town was built on.
The closure of Blair's greengrocers, following the loss of Robin Blair, has understandably struck a chord.
Robin was part of the fabric of Darlington: hardworking, familiar, trusted.
And with no apparent succession plan in place, it appears the business was always going to close once he was no longer able to run it.
That is a family decision, not a political one.
Yet in recent times, Robin's story has been romanticised and repurposed to serve a political argument, in other words, used as a neat emotional hook used to claim that one party alone 'demised' the market.
It is powerful, nostalgic, and not supported by the facts.
Markets across the country have struggled due to online shopping, supermarket dominance, rising costs and changing habits.
Darlington has faced the same national pressures as everywhere else.
And our council's political history is mixed: mostly Labour through the late 20th Century, Labour again from 1997 to 2019, Conservative control from 2019 to 2023, and Labour today.
Market decline spans many administrations, not one.
It is true that the 2019-2023 Conservative period saw major redevelopment decisions including the food hall model, disruption to traders, changes to the outdoor market – all of which many locals feel accelerated decline.
But even then, national retail pressures were already biting.
What concerns me is the way Robin's story is being used as a Trojan horse to funnel public emotion into a political narrative.
It does a disservice to him, and to the truth.
Civic pride was busy on market days long before any recent political messaging tried to claim ownership of the story.
Blair's closure deserves dignity, not weaponisation.
Darlington market's challenges are the result of national trends, local decisions, and decades of change.
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Blame won't rebuild anything. Honesty might.
I hope we will move beyond slogans and towards a plan worthy of the market hall's past, and its potential future, one that would be an honourable legacy to Blair's greengrocers.
Yasmeen Jaleel, address supplied.