AS owners of the now inoperative Cloud Nine tea room we write to refute the allegations made by Angela Underwood regarding the closure of our business (Your Letters, July 4).

Contrary to what Ms Underwood claims in her letter, we are not attempting to speculate in property development at the expense of an amenity, but are facing up to the harsh reality of economic facts while also wanting a home for ourselves.

We would question how 'conservation of the hills' would be compromised by replacing one building by another on the same site in a road where a number of dwellings already exist.

MARTIN & ANDRES SEARBY, Jubilee Drive, Upper Colwall.