I AM reading, with much interest, about the fate of the Piano Building.

From the age of 16, until I was 28, I worked in the local carpet industry, from being a carpet designer to a senior export administrator. My father was a weaver here for 33 years.

I moved to St Malo, France, and until 18 months ago my home was Jersey.

I occasionally sit in the new pub in the Bull Ring, looking across at the contrast between Baxter Church and the monstrosity of Crown House.

If the powers-that-be could knock down the old School of Art and Science (the old library) then what chance has the Piano Building got?

I pretty well agree with Mrs Jordan's letter (Shuttle/Times and News May 8), that the Piano Building should be preserved - I would say for small retail units, and apartments, plus a small market.

But do local people really have any say in its fate? I think not.

How much call is there for a cinema(s), at such great expense and the loss of a landmark in Kidderminster's history?

Anyway, why should I care, I am off to live in Florence.

ROBERT HANGLIN

Springhill Rise

Bewdley

WHY are we being presented with a choice between the Piano Building and a cinema? Those seeking to destroy part of the town's history by campaigning to have the Piano Building demolished seem to have been conned into believing these are the only options.

Numerous factories have been demolished in recent years, leaving plenty of brownfield land available for development. Do the people who want the Piano building demolished seriously believe that none of this land is suitable for a cinema?

With the new retail development in the centre of town, most of this land is no longer needed for retail parks.

The land occupied by the Piano Building is worth more to the developers vacant. It is in their interests, not the interests of Kidderminster, to have the building demolished.

We don't need a six-screen complex when a four-screen one on another, possibly better, site will do. There is room in a town this size for a cinema without destroying its cultural heritage.

ALLEN HARDY

Kidderminster

Full address supplied)

I DEPLORED the demolition of the old library and I signed petitions to this effect, but that was because it was a lovely old building which served the public, and frankly, needed preserving.

The Piano Building, on the other hand, is a complete and utter eyesore, of no use whatsoever. I say tear it down.

A cinema would be great for the area.

It would keep kids off the streets and boost our economy, benefiting the Kidderminster pubs and restaurants, not those of Brierley Hill which already receive far too much revenue from our local residents, who are forced to go to Merry Hill due to lack of facilities here.

LINDA NEWEY

Nightingale Drive

Kidderminster

I GO to the cinema at Rubery about three times a month and would love to have the facility in Kidderminster, but not at the expense of such an interesting building.

There is a perfectly good building on the Crossley Park site which would be ideal for a cinema, but again the dictators of Westminster have decided for us that this is not an option. So our last hope is the Piano Building. Why?

There has to be plot of land somewhere that would be an alternative.

SALLY PORTER

Merricks Lane

Bewdley