REGARDING your recent article entitled Setback for Tesco Express plans . Exmouth seems to be becoming convenience store central - in the last year Iceland and Londis have opened in prime town centre locations and soon, by the sound of it,

REGARDING your recent article entitled "Setback for Tesco Express plans".

Exmouth seems to be becoming convenience store central - in the last year Iceland and Londis have opened in prime town centre locations and soon, by the sound of it, Tesco Express will follow.

Lidl is on the verge of opening in Littleham. The Tesco superstore on Salterton Road is set to expand and, in time, I am sure there will be another large, faceless store in place of the sports centre.

We regularly hear that Exmouth needs to raise its image, but while plans to improve the estuaryside, The Strand and Rolle College seem to stall in the corridors of three levels of local government, stores at the cheaper end of the market are now coming to dominate the town centre.

Will tourists continue to visit Exmouth when the town's individual, locally-owned shops have gone, in favour of stores which can be found anywhere?

What is needed is good marketing to promote the town to the kind of businesses Exmothians would like to see to keep the seaside image alive.

Has anyone thought to tell Waitrose, Marks and Spencer, Oliver Bonas, Topshop, HMV etc, that there were suitable locations available, instead of just jumping at the first offer that comes along?

Exmouth needs to raise its collective horizon, the community college is already doing this, with more and more children getting better grades and aiming higher, but they are stifled because the majority of new jobs in town seem to be in the shelf-stacking industry.

Pete Le Riche,

Balham, London,

(Former resident of Exmouth).