IN the days of digital, 3D televisions and hi-tech flexible screens, it may come as a surprise that some traditionalists in Swindon favour their trusted back and white telly.

They may be a dying breed but TV Licensing says 26 black and white sets are still being faithfully used in the town.

Nearly 48 years since colour transmissions began, digital switchover and the recent Christmas seasonal surge of television, laptop, tablet and smartphone sales, some nostalgics firmly attached to their black and white TV are nowhere near making the change to Technicolor.

Across the country, nearly 12,000 black and white TVs are still in use.

The survey resultswas no surprise to Gary Uzzell, of Burden Electronics on County Road.

“No one has come in to have a black and white repaired for ages,” he said. “But as far as I’m aware they can still work, just about. It’s down to the socket on the back of it.

“We stopped selling them about 20 years ago. It’s a bit mad but I don’t find it surprising. I’ve got customers who still use turntables from the late 1950s. They just have sentimental value.”

With advances in technology, the demand for black and white licences has been in steady decline for years. At the turn of the millennium there were 212,000 black and white licences issued, but by 2003 that number had shrunk to 93,000.

Richard Chapman, a spokesman for TV Licensing South West, said: “Even in the digital age, more than 11,000 homes still watch their favourite programmes in black and white.

“We may be on the brink of losing black and white sets to history, but older technology will always be replaced by exciting new ways of watching live.

“It’s important that no matter how you watch live TV, whether on a black and white set, or online, you’re correctly licensed to do so.”

Iain Logie Baird, the grandson of television inventor John Logie Baird, added: “Despite over 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.

“There will always be a small group of people who prefer monochrome images, collect vintage sets or just don't want to throw away a working piece of technology.”