THERE are more people with black and white television licences in Bournemouth than any other town in the south west, according to the latest figures.

TV Licensing records, released yesterday, reveal 37 black and white licences are held in Bournemouth and 15 in neighbouring Poole.

Iain Logie Baird, associate curator at the National Media Museum – and grandson of television inventor John Logie Baird – said: “Despite more than 25 million people opting for a colour TV licence in the UK, it may be some time before the black and white television disappears completely from our living rooms.”

At the turn of the millennium there were 212,000 black and white licences issued nationally, but that number has shrunk today to just 11,550.

The cost of a black and white television licence remains frozen at £49 until at least 2016.