Revitalise before it is too late (From Western Telegraph)

Revitalise before it is too late

12:09pm Thursday 20th September 2012 in Letters

WHAT has happened to Fishguard? It is now more like a ghost town than the once vibrant place I remember.

I have been coming to the area for many years staying with my family on Strumble Head. I can’t get over the sight of so many empty, sad looking shops. It has one main supermarket, the Co-op on High Street, with car parking spaces, plus another smaller one at the other end of town; two bakeries; one greengrocer’s; one shoe shop, a fish and chip shop and a Chinese takeaway.

It no longer has any clothes shops. I had to go to Haverfordwest over ten miles away to find a men’s shop. I am told ‘that some of the pubs close in the winter months’.

Entertainment-wise you still have the excellent annual music festival, also your small cinema/theatre.

I am informed that down at the harbour in Goodwick work is due to commence on a marina and a block of new apartments. Where will the folk moving in there shop for food and other provisions?

This area at present has only a small Tesco local with another small grocer/butcher’s and a post office around the corner in the main street.

The town is now badly in need of regeneration pronto.

Does the council have any plans for this? Other similar sized towns in north Wales have successfully regenerated with financial help from different sources, including the Welsh Assembly . A start could be made by reducing commercial rates to shops to encourage new businesses.

So come on Fishguard, get cracking and revitalise a once pleasant historical place before it’s too late.

MR I PARRY Royal Docks London