Would rather pay to use Shire Hall

SIR,

In response to the letter in last week's Beacon (29th June) titled "Shire Hall should be free", I can understand where the reader is coming from.

In an ideal world attractions like this could be free, however we live in a far from ideal world.

Now the Shire Hall has been repaired, we should do our best to preserve it.

If it was free and open to the public, it would be a matter of weeks before it had been vandalised and used as a homeless shelter or a drug den.

I would much rather have to pay to see it in mint condition rather than see it in a mess for free.

Shaun Whittall

(Monmouth)