BARROW Market made national news on Tuesday after a television and radio star featured it on his show.

After Barrow BID placed four pianos in the town centre, traders called them 'annoying' and asked for them to be removed.

Jeremy Vine covered the story on his Channel 5 show, asking his panel if the pianos should be removed or not.

Introducing the show, he said: "Should public pianos be banned? You often spot the instruments dotted around train stations and public places inviting people to have a go.

"But business owners in Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria are totally fed up with theirs. They've complained that tone-deaf children are using pianos and driving customers away.

"They've gone to the extreme of nailing the piano lids down to stop the public bashing the ivories."

Emily Carver, a conservative columnist, said: "I really love them - I really like them.

"In London stations, it's really nice. You see very very talented people sit down and play.

"It's funny how much trouble these pianos are causing in this particular town.

"I quite like listening to it, it cheers me up, even when it's quite bad, I think that's quite funny!"

Benjamin Butterworth, late editor at i newspaper, mostly disagreed: "I agree in some part with Emily, it can liven up a boring commute and bring people together.

"But there have been so many city centres where the buskers - let alone the piano players - really aren't up to scratch.

"I used to live with a piano player and I just felt the luckiest boy in the world to hear him playing away in the living room.

"But there are people that can't do it, there are people that should have a lot more self-awareness that go out there and do it.

"I think there has to be some kind of licensing or permission before you go and do it."

Mr Vine concluded: "Always such a spoil sport.

"That's why we have public pianos, for the likes of Emily to have a go.

"Let's have inspectors. Let's have piano inspectors."