Sir - At last, a decent cup of coffee in Sidmouth!

All that is needed now is a Travelodge and a Wetherspoons! Yes, I am being deliberately inflammatory with that last remark - the opposition to Costa Coffee was only to be expected and rumblings of a Wetherspoons has already caused shaking heads and comments such as “not in Sidmouth!!”

But, and Sidmouth is not alone in this - far from it, mention any one of the above moving into a town and there is the immediate backlash, mostly fuelled by existing hoteliers, publicans and cafe owners. (Christchurch being one currently in the news.)

The point is, and I know from experience, that, for instance, to go into a coffee shop in Sidmouth and ask for a skinny cappuccino, mostly the best offered would be semi- skimmed milk (served as a norm). With the more health conscious and dietary way of thinking these days, this is very short-sighted.

Some consider the difference between a latte and a cappuccino to beUp whether it has chocolate sprinkled on it or not, whilst in others the closest to a thick froth is more of a scum! With a cup of coffee usually somewhere around �2 or more, is it any wonder visitors to an area in particular search out the chain names they know will serve up what they want and of a consistently good quality.

In the past, in Sidmouth, I have been served up with coffee which has ranged from passable down to undrinkable. It’s not good enough and, until these establishments move with the times and up their game, they will lose out when the high street names move in on them.

The same reasoning applies to the likes of Wetherspoons, usually objected to on the grounds of the type of drinking customers it is purported to attract but, in reality, it is Mr Family Man and Mrs Day Tripper who know, from experience, this is somewhere they can get a reasonably-priced meal of consistent quality, rather than take the risk of spending good money on poor food and bad service.

Those establishments already providing value for money, good quality and service would have no reason to object, as there are plenty of people who would never be seen dead in a Wetherspoons, Travelodge or Costa Coffee!!

Mrs J Corrick

41 Summersby Close, Seaton