I REFER to Tom Hayes' letter (Your Letters, September 9) which stated 'As usual the locals were noticeable by their absence' when he referred to the last Saturday night of trading at the Hawthorn.

I am a local, who with a group of friends has frequented the Hawthorn on a weekly basis for the 14 years that we have lived in the village. The week before the pub closed, one of our friends asked Jim if he was going to have a party when he closed and he said 'No' he was not. As I understand it, the 'Last Supper' was by invitation only.

I also wish Ann and Jim well for the future but I do believe they have underestimated the feelings of the locals in the village who would love to have back the thriving pub it once was.

VON CAMPBELL, Welland.