Sir, I read Stephen Williams's letter with great interest and, I hope, was not his only reader. The Gatehouse Hotel should be demolished as soon as possible before a catastrophe occurs. But at that point the theme title 'Save the Town' should become 'Improve the Town'. To move the building line of the current entrance to the hotel a mere 10 feet does little to the improvement of Tenby. Any new development plan must be on the basis that the new building line be dictated by the current line of the cinema. I made that point in a letter printed in the Tenby Observer many moons ago, but that had no response from the local authorities. I sent that same plea to the Tenby Civic Society prior to their current AGM (and the fire), but with no response. Perhaps the president and vice-chairman will respond as members of the council. I said in my original letter that any new development, mainly taller buildings, would make White Lion Street more than a back alley and the walls a garden wall. We have the opportunity to give the street and the walls the full dignity they deserve. Stephen will come against more criticism by the minority group of 'listed buildings' supporters. I, too, like the principle of protecting buildings which are worthy of that treatment -should it be truly justified. Let us look at the Gatehouse from all angles - can you see any justification there? Look through a list of great architectural styles - which category would you allocate to the Gatehouse Hotel? Which category would you allocate the pillars - the sole part of the building that might look to be ancient? Any building to be 'listed' should have related to memorable historical event(s) that shaped the town, county or country. So the Gatehouse in that category? Do the same exercise on the 'historic Tenby lifeboat house' mentioned by Roscoe Howells (sorry, Roscoe, I did not laud that shed, that was Richard Lawrence) and try to make a case for 'listing' that will make sense. For various reasons, parts of Tenby will gradually disappear and be rebuilt. A large number of buildings were built for an era that is long gone, will scream for more cash injections for renovation, above all to finance alterations to comply with health and safety requirements and 'greener' usage of energy. We cannot, nor we should not halt the progress, but we should lay down the ground rules for the direction and quality of new developments. By staying silent or just nodding to keep the peace, we hand the reins to the 'get rich quick' brotherhood.
Ivor Jenkins,
23 Domby Road, Poynton, Cheshire.