ONE of Darlington's oldest family businesses has added its voice for calls for the town to have a new bus station.

The depot in Feethams was closed to the public in November 1997, leading to a massive influx of extra buses in the town centre.

Local people and councillors have since called for a new bus station, possibly within the multi-million pound leisure complex to be developed at Feethams.

Frederick Stehr, who runs Crombies restaurant and guest house in Tubwell Row, in the town centre, believes the number of buses in the town centre is bad for business.

Crombies opened in 1933 and Mr Stehr said the guest house side of the business used to thrive because of ample on-street parking and spaces for vehicles in the Market Place.

But, in the early 1990s, with the opening of the Cornmill Shopping Centre, parking in Tubwell Row was eradicated. The Market Place is also no longer open to parking. This has led to him all but close the guest house and only taking the occasional overnight customer who does not mind the lack of parking.

Mr Stehr said it was also becoming very difficult to unload goods for his business, because of the queuing buses.

"The buses are taking over parts of the town centre, like Tubwell Row," he said.

"I can hardly park my car to unload. It is cramped, it is over-packed with buses. I don't mind the odd bus up to a point, but it's overdone now. It's definitely above the limit of tolerance."

A Darlington Borough Council spokesman said that although the possibility of a new bus station could be among the ideas considered in an ongoing town centre access plan, it would need to be backed by the bus operators.

Other issues, such as the availability and cost of land near enough to the town centre, would also have to be considered.