Following the fire at the House of Lords and the closure of Abbey Road, many people now think Barrow Citizens Advice is closed. We need to tell your readers it's business as usual at our Barrow office!

Thanks to the Cumbria Fire Service our building is safely intact.

January and February are when people need most help dealing with money problems, paying bills, sorting out debts, managing tightening budgets etc. We know the problems only get worse if someone doesn’t get the help they need.

So, even if a reader doesn’t need our help it would be tremendously helpful if they could tell others that we are open for business so anyone who needs expert advice knows we're here to help.

Our door is open Monday to Friday, from 9am to 4pm with drop in advice sessions on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. Our phone advice is available throughout these hours (call 0344 488 9624).

We’d also like to remind your readers that there definitely is a Citizens Advice service in Ulverston serving South Lakes residents.

To get advice or an appointment at the Ulverston office (Ulverston Business Centre, 25 New Market Street Ulverston ) or any of the other offices across the South Lakes district call 03444 111 444.

Christine McKinlay

Chief Officer, Barrow Citizens Advice