Yes, we do need shopping centre to revive city

From: Mrs P M Rhodes, Allerton, Bradford.

CAN Bradford really bloom again? I cannot disagree more with Mrs Strachan (Yorkshire Post, May 12) when she suggests that turning Forster Square into an open-air market and garden would be a much better use of the area than Westfield development.

She suggests that a Westfield-type of development would be a clone of so many others. So be it. That is exactly what people want – shops where we can buy decent clothes, furniture, household goods etc.

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Later in her letter Mrs Strachan suggests what we need in Bradford is shoppers. Where then are they to shop? Are they to get their clothes from an open-air market? She states that shoppers go to Leeds or out of town shops rather than Bradford city centre.

Of course they do – for the shops we would see in the Westfield development.

I also hope that the suggestion to pull down the old Post Office building doesn’t happen! How would an open-air market and garden attract tourists?

However, I do believe that Mrs Strachan’s idea for the Odeon is excellent with the suggestion of a cultural centre with museums, decent restaurants etc.

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It is time the matter of the Odeon is settled once and for all and something done with it for the benefit of all. In final response – yes, I do hope that Bradford can bloom once again. We just need to let those people who want to save the Odeon get on with the job and stop procrastinating.