THIS wonderful photograph from the Telegraph archives shows Blackburn’s Boulevard in 1927.

Much is made these days of the need for ‘integrated transport systems’ but all that was in operation almost 100 years ago with trams, taxis, buses and trains all to be found in this small corner of the town.

On the left of the picture you can see the large charabancs - the forerunners of coaches - which perhaps signifies that this picture was taken during a holiday period.

The distinctive white building on the right of the photograph was a shelter for the taxi drivers. It was built in 1913, the gift of William Ward from Mellor and cost £950. Sadly it was pulled down in 1944 because it “impeded the flow of traffic”.

In the centre of the picture at the back you can see the imposing building of the Northern Daily Telegraph - as it was called then. The building opened in 1894 eight years after the newspaper began publication.

The building’s distinctive circular tower wasn’t just there for decorative purposes. The windows in the tower didn’t have any glass in them as it served as a pigeon loft.

Reporters covering football matches would leave for matches complete with a basket of homing pigeons and they would attach running reports to the pigeons legs at the ground and the birds would fly back to their loft and the copy would be typed up.

It sounds quaint but it was a very efficient system and allowed the Sports Pink publication to be out on the streets and available for sale to fans as they were leaving the match.

Dutton’s Brewery stood next to the newspaper building but both were to be demolished. The original Newspaper House made way for a Morrison’s supermarket and the brewery site became the new home for the Lancashire Evening Telegraph in 1982.

The wide open space of The Boulevard was created following improvement works in the town centre in 1884 as part of the building of the new railway station.

Before these works had been carried out, the River Blakewater had flowed along the edge of the cathedral grounds on the left.

The railed flowerbeds and fountain which you can just make out on the left disappeared as the Boulevard was once again redeveloped in 1955.