Many thanks for the editorial ( Tesco not to blame , April 26), concerning nonsense printed in a London newspaper, wrongly blaming Tesco for killing off Well Street...

Many thanks for the editorial ("Tesco not to blame", April 26), concerning nonsense printed in a London newspaper, wrongly blaming Tesco for "killing off" Well Street.

They spoke to one person, a street trader, to get their story, which claimed the market is set to close.

He attacked Tesco for wiping out the competition, yet he must be doing reasonably well to want to continue to trade in the market!

The newspaper failed to talk to any of the rest of us who live in the area and use all the shops as well as Tesco. Did they ever visit the street?

The Well Streey Tesco store has sustained the shopping area, attracting people into the area, and provided jobs for some local people.

It's also something of a community meeting place, with older people sitting on the benches outside and enjoying a chat.

I know that it may be different elsewhere and supermarkets generally have put pressure on small and independent shops. But here, it has also helped.

The store has been there 37 years and the street is still going. The store does not do clothing, shoes, greetings cards, car spares, fridges, etc etc, which other local shops sell. The nearby butchers is popular judging by the queues you see outside.

I counted six stalls on Saturday, so the market is still hanging in there. Everyone knows if the store ever went, the shopping area would decline.

The market now has new life, reflecting the changing communities in the area with new hair stylists, takeaways, sitdown caffs, internet caffs and clubs.

I believe the council has tried to regenerate this and other markets in the past, but as you so rightly say, unless we, the public, support them by shopping in sufficient numbers to make them sustainable, they will slowly die.

In the end, the answer lies in our own shopping habits and pockets!

Cllr Ian Rathbone.