SO Worcester's High Street is a "pioneering scheme." I must remember to jot that down in my catalogue of fatuous phrases.

It will sit well alongside such examples as "will mellow with time to match the stonework of the Cathedral".

It must be at least half a century since we had that assurance so I went along to see how our super modern prize-winning Technical College was faring. Frankly it seemed just as hideous as ever. In fact, restoration work on the fabric of the Cathedral puts the modern architecture to shame.

My favourite example is probably the Old Talbot Inn. The bulldozers had already descended on High Street, Lich Street and picturesque College Street when concerns were expressed about the fate of Worcester's oldest pub.

"Don't worry, that is being restored" we were told. It was, too. Well, at least one wall of it. The developers must have been ashamed of their efforts because they so completely encircled it with their modern monstrosity that even today, one would be hard pressed to find this surviving example of dear old Worcester.

JOHN HINTON, Worcester.