A plea has been made to spruce up Helston's “ugly” empty shops.

It came from town councillor Gillian Geer, who said the “particularly ugliest” at the moment was around the corner from Bet Fred, at the start of Wendron Street, which was a “really grubby corner.”

“It's disgusting. Is there any hope you could cover that up?” she asked Shirley Moralee, development officer for Helston Business Improvement Partnership (HBIP).

Mrs Moralee told the town council that this shop had been raised at a meeting of HBIP's aesthetics group, but it had been felt that because there were only a certain amount of money to spend, and this was not in the main line of view to shoppers, there were other projects that should take priority.

However, she said the area could be added to the forthcoming Town Tidy.

Mayor Mike Thomas added that he would be “more than happy” to speak with the shop's owner if they could be found.