WORCESTER was once a centre of light industry but no longer.

These days, it is being touted as a university city. The powers-that-be like this idea.

It conjures up images of graduation ceremonies, dreaming spires and freshfaced youngsters skipping over Sabrina Bridge wearing mortar boards.

But that’s not the whole story as many residents of St John’s will tell you.

Large areas of the village-in-the-city are being bought up by landlords for renting to students.

A nice earner to be sure but not necessarily good news if you’re an ordinary working person and you suddenly find a house full of students next door.

As we all know, every night is Saturday night if you’re a student – but that’s not the case if you’ve got to get up early for a day’s work.

This uncomfortable reality is always overlooked by our civic dreamers.

But why should they worry when they live on the other side of Worcester or even in another town?