Councillor Mark Cooper has used some strange and frankly dubious arguments to support his view that the Crosfield Hall should be demolished and rebuilt elsewhere (Advertiser, November 10).

Cllr Cooper concedes that the hall is a popular venue in a convenient location and easy to access. Not that bad then?

But there is, it seems, an area of the town centre which is inefficiently used and a rational and logical solution is necessary. 

Oh dear, there must be centres to other market towns, mediaeval cities and other cherished places which are inefficient, not rational or logical and which must similarly be under threat. 

And there lies the charm and the value of them-built before the motor car and long before online shopping. The best town centres evolve without a vital part being uprooted and dumped somewhere else 

This “popular venue” is in “dire need of replacement” the councillor says. He claims that it’s not good for TVBC meetings. 

There is a choice of meeting places-the main hall, the section adjacent to the kitchen and smaller rooms. Maybe the heating is inefficient. I haven’t noticed that on the occasions I’ve used it over a 40 year period.

Cllr Cooper says the acoustics are awful. Rubbish I say. The local Arts Society uses it. The Romsey Chamber Orchestra plays there and the acoustics are good. I understand the Romsey Male Voice Choir rehearses there and they find the hall warm and they like the acoustics.

As for the toilets being antediluvian, well, I don’t claim any specialist knowledge on the publicly available toilets in Romsey but those at the Crosfield Hall surely compare quite well with those at other Romsey venues such as the Abbey and the Abbey Hall.

No doubt money could usefully be spent on some aspects of the hall but as a regular user of it it seems to work well.

If arguments are to be made for change let’s hear some which are not dodgy or spurious. 

As for the survey allegedly claiming that 85 per cent of users come by car this needs careful examining so we know more about the methodology used before the general public can consider this.

What concerns me most about this whole idea is that we have no information about the proposed replacement. Where exactly would it be? How big? How easy would it be to access it on foot? What attention would be given to acoustics? And even if reasonably convincing answers can be given to all these questions there remains the damage to the cohesion and vitality of the town centre where we have the shopping centre (broadly delineated by a triangle between Smith Bradbeers, Waitrose and Aldi), The Abbey and other places of worship, pubs and restaurants, the Town Hall, King John’s House and the bus station. 

Drifting of the town centre would cause irreparable damage.

Peter Stone,
Millstream Rise,
Romsey

Send letters by email to newsdesk@romseyadvertiser.co.uk or by post to Editor, Romsey Advertiser, 5 Upper Brook Street, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 8AL.

All letters and e-mails must include full names and addresses (anonymous letters will not be published), although these details may be withheld from publication, on request.

Letters of 300 words or less will be given priority, although all are subject to editing for reasons of clarity, space, or legal requirements. We reserve the right to edit letters.