MY husband and I moved to Tavistock ten years ago and truly believed we were buying much more than a property, insofar as we were buying into a lifestyle.

I was born and bred in Plymouth — Tavistock was always the place we came to on Saturdays to shop 'somewhere different'. As a married couple we also came regularly to Tavistock to shop, socialise and to enjoy membership at the golf club.

As someone who regularly commutes to either Plymouth or Exeter for work, I have many options open to me for my general weekly shop and have always been proud to support my local butcher, baker, delicatessen and more recently a new fish monger and only use supermarkets for tinned and other dry goods/general provisions.

However, I also have to be honest and tell you that these dry goods and general provisions are never purchased from Lidl, the Co-operative or Spar shops who I personally see as low end/corner shops with my preference being Sainburys and Waitrose. As such I am prepared to travel out of town to visit these shops on a regular basis.

Over the years I have been saddened to see the decline of the 'somewhere different' and to watch our high street fill with pasty shops, charity shops and estate agents and truly believe that we need to attract some 'high end' shops that will encourage people to spend because they offer better quality. To restrict the residents of this town to only those stores that are perceived as being low end, is both small minded and lacks vision.

I totally back the traders on the Plymouth Road industrial estate who have called for a supermarket on the old Focus site, as to see the site left continually vacant, I believe says more about our town than another supermarket.

Sue Eastwood

via email

I WHOLLY support the potential plans for another supermarket nearby to Tavistock and I endorse the positive reasons given by other readers.

The suggestion by the report that it would be better that existing supermarkets should enlarge their existing stores rather than Tavistock having an alternative competitor is preposterous.

Who would want to see existing supermarkets, for example, expanding by selling clothes etc? There would be no control over such an expansion proposal once plans for expansion have been approved.

It is far better therefore to introduce more competition and this would be much better for the local population and indeed for the businesses within Tavistock who would benefit by being close to an area visited by customers.

Let the locals have a referendum in this respect as already suggested.

Sue Bean

Yelverton