Letters
Town needs a healthy mix
THE article An Awful Lot Of Coffee (Life, March 12) mirrors my own and other residents' views on the proliferation of coffee shops in Reigate.
I have lodged a formal objection with Reigate and Banstead Borough Council planning department but given what has happened in Horley and Cllr Joan Spiers' statement I am not hopeful this will have any effect.
If Reigate is to remain a vibrant shopping and leisure area it is essential that we maintain a healthy mix of trading companies.
The retention of such outlets is, as Cllr Spiers suggests, dependent on customers and unless residents shop locally the town centre will inevitably decline.
However, to allow yet more coffee shops - and restaurants - just because retail space remains vacant for a period is clearly absurd.
It has the effect of further reducing the space available for trading ventures which are not "refreshment" orientated and makes Reigate a less desirable place in which to shop.
Sadly we have lost small traders not just because of lack of custom but due to high rents. Perhaps the multi-nationals are best able to afford premises locally and, if so, then surely the council should be seeking high street names which provide goods rather than services.
In saying this I do not wish to see a bland and sterile town centre populated by household names, so prevalent throughout the British Isles but if Costa joins the existing brand names in High Street I have little doubt that private establishments will suffer and eventually cease to trade.
The pavilion in Priory Park is a different issue and I can see no argument in having a place of refreshment there. But another in the town centre? Absolutely not!
Stephen Durrant, Vandyke Close, Redhill
9:05am Tuesday 18th March 2008
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