I recently had a German friend over to visit. I showed him the sights of Brighton, including the Pavilion, the Lanes, Devil's Dyke, Kemp Town and the racecourse.

He is a well-travelled man, from Dusseldorf, which is a lovely city.

However, when I showed him the West Pier, he thought it was a eyesore and I was embarrassed because that is exactly what it is.

I am also well-travelled and cannot think of any major city with such a festering pile of girders.

One of your writers recently took the view we should regard the West Pier as we do a historical ruin, such as Bramber or Lewes castles.

Or perhaps we should view it as we do the piles of old cars, washing machines and cookers which are piled up and festoon the quayside at Shoreham Harbour before they are shipped off to China as scrap.

If the West Pier is rebuilt, it will have to be pulled down first, so why not do so now and remove this embarrassing eyesore?

-Chris Rackley, Burgess Hill