SIR,
Neil Bell's comments in the Beacon last week are timely.
Hopes were raised that with the refurbishment of the Shire Hall, Agincourt Square and its immediate area would be reinvigorated.
Innovative and imaginative ways would be found for the buildings use, tourism would increase and the trade imbalance between the top of town and the opposite end reduced.
Instead, we see the daily spectacle of local people and visitors to Monmouth gazing wistfully through the railings surrounding the hall, and trying the locked gates in the forlorn hope that they might actually get inside it.
The substantial cobbled trading area in front of the hall had been boarded up for so long that pedestrians have grown unused to crossing it and habitually keep to the pavement's edge.
The Shire Hall looks stunning, its outlines scoured sharp and pristine, a credit to the skills of the craftsmen who renovated it and the commitment of the stewards who made the refurbishment happen.
But the area is devoid of activity and all too tidy. People must feel they can re-inhabit the space and feel comfortable in it if the project has been truly worthwhile.
The first step is simple and obvious: bring the market back to its rightful place.
The rumours that Monmouthshire County Council clings to its position that if only one stallholder wishes to remain on the current unsuitable site then that is where the market will stay raises alarms at such a judgement.
To do business on the principle of the last man standing is risible at best, and reveals a lack of commercial nous.
Towns like Monmouth were built through trade. Agincourt Square is the natural hub of the town, but if it continues as it is now, it remains a mere thoroughfare down which people pass, admiring the architecture on their way to shop at the supermarkets at the opposite end of town.
Beverley Munday
(Monmouth)