I was there for a few months
Went to UCLAN before dropping out after the first year in 1996. Truly mediocre. My memories of Preston Town Centre in the mid-90s:

- Tokyo Joe's (Fucking awful place)
- A "busker" stood outside HMV with a 2L bottle of cheap cider in his hand, cap optimistically on the floor, drunkenly dancing and singing "Ice Ice Baby"
- The bloke outside the covered bit of the shopping centre selling lighters and strips of plaster.
( Mike Fishcake teamfishcake.co.uk - better than your mum's face, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 12:57, 1 reply)

Ah, Gaz Lighter!
You could use him as an economic indicator - judging how well things were going financially as a nation, by how many lighters he offered per pound. The "Plaster Fifty Pee" was a later addition; probably an attempt to diversify, on the advice of his accountant or something.

The student paper used to do cartoons of him. IIRC; one featured him winning the lottery, and using it to fulfill his deepest desire - ordering millions of gas lighters. Definitely a Preston Icon. Whatever became of him?
(The Incredible Sulk Finally remembered his password on, Fri 30 Oct 2009, 17:50, closed)