Stephen Reading, of Mayflower Close, Dartmouth, writes:

Of course the campaigners are right – the last thing Dartmouth needs is a highly popular, nationwide, excellent coffee shop in place of what was a second failing greetings card shop.

What Dartmouth needs are more and more estate agents, letting agents, art shops, gift shops, antique shops, pubs, ice-cream parlours, expensive restaurants and small coffee shops. That is, without a doubt, the best way to preserve the uniqueness of Dartmouth.

I am no spring chicken, and although born in Plymouth in 1943 and raised there, I moved to Dartmouth in 1969 on ­leaving HM Forces, so I feel qualified to speak.

Then the town had a lot of useful shops that local people came to rely on. It had a wonderful annual carnival and a real regatta, not what is now – in essence, a glorified and expensive air show (when it isn’t foggy or raining).

The carnival has gone, of course. Now the excitement is a passing cruise ship.

Character preservation is a moot point. It has usually been self-interest and money that have motivated the changes I have seen over the years.

It is laughable when a ­comment is made that Costa would not employ local people. Look around you and see how many non-local people are employed in the present refreshment industry in the town. Many are our neighbours from the Continent, so I think we can put that point behind us with a grin.

Brixham has a Costa, and so does Kingsbridge. Costa is the first place I make for when I visit those towns, and so far I have not met any foreigners working behind the counters. I doubt they bus themselves in from distant places on a daily basis, so I classify them as ‘local’. Fortunately, all of them speak English like natives.