A PETITION of hundreds of names will be presented to West Devon MP Geoffrey Cox on Saturday by campaigners hoping to save a unique old folks? rest room in Tavistock from demolition. Owners of the building, which is in a prime town centre location, want to knock it down and create a retail unit. But the rest room has provided comfort and companionship to the elderly for more than 50 years ? and users are not willing to let it go without a fight. The premises, which were built by public subscription, are leased by Tavistock Town Council which pays a peppercorn rent to owners Hunstrete Estates. The lease comes up for renewal in April 2009. Eighty-eight year old Eve Tucker from Horrabridge said the rest room was used by elderly people from Tavistock and all the surrounding villages. She said: ?The ring and ride buses drop us off here and we can do a bit of shopping and then come and have a chat and a drink and go to a couple more shops. ?When you are old you cannot be on your feet for a long time and at the rest room we can stay as long as we like ? where else can we do that in Tavistock? ?People come here to spend a pleasant hour meeting up with friends and that companionship is very important when people are elderly, especially when they live on their own.? Phyllis Trace, 93, from Dousland, said she would not come into Tavistock anymore if the rest room was gone: ?I can leave my bags in the rest room and the minibus driver stops outside and carries the bags onto the bus for me. Without this place I don?t think I could manage.? The rest room also provides a facility for elderly holidaymakers on coach trips and in return they spend money in the town. Users say the volunteers who run it are ?lovely? and the toilets and kitchen are spotless. Ruby Johns, who uses the rest room when she comes to stay with her daughter in Lamerton, said so many people depended on it. ?I go to Bristol and Exeter and all over Devon and Cornwall and there is no other facility like this ? it is unique and extremely important and should not be demolished just for the sake of money. ?I think it is wonderful and everyone is so friendly. This place is about resting ? you cannot sit for hours in a café.? It has been rumoured that a capsule was buried under the building containing information specifying the site should be used for the elderly in perpetuity. Mr Cox said he would be very disappointed if the rest room was closed. ?I have often visited the place and it is a very valuable asset,? he said. ?I shall be writing to the town council to see what is going on. I appreciate we need more retail space in Tavistock but I would like to think that alternative sites could be found.? Town clerk Roger Howard said he had received conflicting reports about the usage of the rest room. ?There appears to be a hard core of users but generally it is not that well used,? he said. ?It will be up to councillors to decide when the place is demolished whether they should provide a similar facility somewhere else.? Mr Howard said Hunstrete Estates had every right to demolish the building under the terms of the lease. ?We knew they wanted to redevelop the area ? it was really just a question of when.? The application for redevelopment is expected to be discussed by West Devon Borough Council?s planning committee on August 21 at the earliest.
