Sir,

Further to recent letters and discussions in the Observer re: the fate of the Royal Playhouse Cinema due to lack of audience numbers, I write to express serious concern about the lack of support by Tenby-ites, for local businesses in general. I have now lived here for over 10 years, and apart from the town's natural beauty and historical importance, I particularly appreciate the community spirit, but will that last if businesses continue to close or be threatened with closure? Who wants to see High Street and Frog Street so run down that more shops are forced to close and we end up with a 'dead' town centre? Apart, that is, from proliferating gift shops which attract seasonal trade but do not serve the essential shopping needs of locals

We had two good fruiterers, now only one (excellent) fruiterer, which seems very quiet whenever I pass it, despite the owner's hard working efforts to bring a wide variety of market- fresh fruit and vegetables within our reach. The butcher's also appears short of trade, whenever I pass it.

We are fortunate to have three pharmacies, but whenever I go in the sea-front one, I am served almost immediately, due to lack of custom. Some individually-owned shops appear to be having to diversify their stock in order to attract interest.

Often, shopping in Tenby, I am one of a small band of retail consumers who can be counted on the fingers of one hand, as I walk around the shopping centre. Shopkeepers comment, when asked: "People must have gone to Carmarthen to do their Christmas shopping." Personally, I dislike chain stores, finding their goods - clothes in particular - undistinguished and almost like a uniform when so many people choose to purchase the same clothes. Nor are they particularly reasonably priced.

In Tenby, we are fortunate enough to have some unique clothes shops, Equinox, The Kazbah, T.P. Hughes and now, three charity shops, where again one can pick up some very individual outfits at a snip of larger towns' chain store, High Street prices. Yet again, these unique retailers strike me as being low on trade.

Even the chains Tenby does have appear to be in need of more custom. Recently, shopping in Somerfield at what would once have been peak hours, the number of other shoppers could be counted on the fingers of one hand, despite some very competitive prices for foodstuffs. One staff member admitted to me that "more people go to Tesco's." This is borne out by Somerfield's advertising, which favourably compares its own prices vis-a-vis Tesco's.

We don't want to lose our one and only supermarket, do we? Especially those of us who do not drive and even some drivers who are canny enough to add their petrol costs to 'bargain supermarket prices' in Pembroke Dock. Not everyone is on line at home, in order to do 'hassle- free' supermarket shopping, which itself carries a delivery charge, compared with Somerfield's free, over £25, deliveries. And those of us who are on line sometimes prefer to see what we are buying 'in the flesh', so to speak.

Walking through Tenby Market, recently, I was sorry to see a formerly-thriving retail area ghostly quiet. And then, to end where I began, I totally agree with those who have written in to the Observer, decrying the feeble turn-out for movies at the Royal Playhouse. Are we really going to allow the DVD revolution and 'clinical' multiplex cinemas - at some distance's drive away - to threaten the social occasion of going out to our own cosy flicks? What other cinema makes the effort to put up Christmas trees at either side of the screen, at this time of the year?

Since I've already written in several times about lack of attendance for significant events at the De Valence (and lack of local support for a number of Tenby Arts Festival events) - despite huge efforts being made by committee members giving freely of their time in trying to cater for a wide range of tastes - readers of the Tenby Observer's letters page will be aware of my views on the entertainments/arts issues.

Before closing, I would like to put in a plea for Dr. John Harrison's superb musical appreciation classes under the aegis of Cardiff Centre for Lifelong Learning: I understand that, if the new course, beginning in January, does not attract sufficient numbers, there will be no future musical appreciation classes at St. Mary's. I think most Tenby-ites would agree that Dr. Harrison's services to the music of our community deserve support (if not, an award)?

Please, please Tenby-ites, one and all, think again: do you truly wish to lose the heart of your highly individual and characterful community and its businesses?

Anne-Ruth Alton,

Tenby.

PS. Re. New Year's Eve Party at New Hedges Village Hall. Further to my remarks about 'community spirit', New Hedges Village Hall is pulling out all the stops to host a lovely New Year's Eve Party - cost £5 per ticket, to include buffet, disco and fireworks at midnight. However, they have so far had very little take-up. Why?

PPS. Further to the ongoing debate in the Letters page, about the Royal Playhouse Cinema, I see one writer in the Observer dated December 14, has commented on the cinema's off-putting exterior and I have spoken to some people who say the Royal Playhouse is an eyesore, without them ever having been inside it in their lives. It's rather like those people who say they can't stand garlic, due to its odour, without ever having sampled it in their food.

If none of us ever went beyond appearances, how would we ever perceive the essentials of something/someone? How can the cinema's proprietor be expected to both renew the exterior and bring us the best new movies, when attendance is so low, thus generating precious little income. I see the next presentation the biggest moved this Christmas -suitable for all the family - is 'The Golden Compass'. I have already seen it elsewhere, but am going again, partly to support the Royal Playhouse and partly because it's such a superb film - better than all the 'Harry Potters' rolled into one. Mums and dads, boys and girls, 'do' go along to see it, you'll have a wonderful, thrilling experience and will also show the proprietor that we do care about this 'much-needed facility' as the writer in the Observer of December 7 put it.