I am mindful of the comments made over the past years by councillors, council officers and the renaissance management that the arrival of these “big-name operators proves the town is getting it right by having these parties interested”.

I am concerned that these large national entities are not that healthy for the economic stability of our town. As Mr Senior mentioned, we could end up looking like any other high street. Unfortunately this is already happening throughout the borough as one only has to look at the abysmal pavement along Sandside which is reflective of other bland and repetitive thoroughfares or shopping parades in the country.

Our valued visitor comes to Scarborough for our unique individuality, beauty, history and traditional charm, and, above all, to escape the architectural monotony of the modern mundane places they come from.

If we are not careful each and every small individual family business will disappear and with them all the other local firms which we support and in turn support us.

Our policy is to use local suppliers and tradespersons across the whole range of our needs, and we have done since we started in business as we acknowledge many other establishments do likewise. They include fish merchants; potatoes and vegetable suppliers; local bakers and butchers; electricians, plumbers, joiners, plasterers; our milk lady; scaffolders; bricklayers; printers; decorators; fire and alarm services; computer support and maintenance; cash registers, stationery and office equipment suppliers; carpet and flooring specialists; window cleaner; council waste services; solicitors; architects; training and acccreditation services; crockery and catering equipment.

This is what local businesses do, and in so doing the strength of local small business economy is maintained and we all benefit from our own individual contribution.

The “Big Boys” use the corporate image to push the independent traders till they have all gone. We’ve seen it with the corner shop, pub, the demise to near-extinction of the family butcher and greengrocer, fishmonger, chemist and post office.

It’s time the guardians and individuals of the town stood up and embraced the last bastions of Scarborough family business heritage across every discipline before all of us disappear.

The vociferous advocates of liaisons with the corporate bodies should stop misleading us that this is a measure of Scarborough’s regeneration and realise that jumping into bed so quickly with the fat lads will end in tears.

When it’s all gone you can guarantee that somebody somewhere will seek to have a consultant tell us why it all went wrong.

David K MacGregor

Winking Willy’s

Sandside

Scarborough