Lesley Hixon (Argus, February 2) could have taken the fate of North Street to depict a better-known place: St Peter's Gate.

One can imagine the scene as St Peter asks, "And what did you do?" The answer "I shopped" indeed sounds a feeble way of spending precious time.

A real "major attraction" would not be a glass-fronted building but a restored Essoldo. A great chance, worthy of a real city, has been lost. I cannot believe anybody prefers to hike from Churchill Square to North Street and on to the North Laine with an increasing number of bags in hand.

-Max Chambers, Westbourne Gardens, Hove