With regard to the article and letter about the coal and wood business of Roberts & Son at 19 Warwick Street, Brighton (The Argus, March 3 and 10), my father purchased the business for me from Mr Roberts when I was 16.

He bought it for £300 in 1940, a tidy sum in wartime.

My parents and the rest of my family moved into the house next door for a short time as well.

Later, having sold the business, I joined the RAF becoming an airgunner on Lancaster bombers.

After the war I bought the business back and operated it for two more years before selling it again, for £1,500. What memories.

  • Charles Wright, Tor Road, Peacehaven

    With regard to the letter about Roberts & Son and the dismissal of an employee for a minor misdemeanour (Letters, March 10), I'm not sure that Bert would have been told to "get his cards" in Edwardian times as they were introduced a little later, but it was certainly easier for an bad employer to get rid of an employee in those days.

Thank goodness for the legislation that is now in place to protect the rights of people, introduced in the main by socialist-leaning governments with the backing and prompting of the trades union movement.

Steve John, Portland Avenue, Hove