APPARENTLY, despite signs that the consumer boom is coming to an end, sales in Worcester shopping centre have recently increased by three per cent.

I think the shops further back in the shopping centre are merely taking business from those facing directly on to The Tip (formerly High Street).

It would seem these latter concerns are sustaining cataclysmic losses. I foresee a number of very well known names pulling out of Worcester altogether because they have to operate in such dismal conditions, thus accelerating the city's decline.

Manufacturing more or less ended in Worcester a long time ago. There are no headquarters of national or international companies here, central government has pulled out, and tourism has almost ceased.

The city is now divorced from its erstwhile far more vibrant partner, Hereford.

It seems that the Faithful City's only reason for existence will soon be to function as a dormitory for all the neighbouring towns.

D E MARGRETT,

Worcester