Mrs Ray’s letter about the upstairs at the old Woolworth’s in Southend High Street (May 13) brought up a whole neighbourhood of memories.

In a moment, I was walking down past the Bottom Alex, Birn’s, Brightwell’s and the big black barrel outside the Royal Stores.

Under Queen Victoria’s finger (pointing to the ladies’ toilet), down between the Eagle Steamers booking office and the pier and foreshore building to wait for something magical to happen at the Guinness clock.

If the two shops mouldering away under the modern carbuncle of Pier Hill could be opened as Going’s fishing tackle and the Sorrento coffee bar then not everything would have been lost.

I enjoyed Jim Worsdale’s articles on conservation, but don’t they come a little too late?

Ric Morgan
Hobleythick Lane
Westcliff