As a born and bred Bristolian, I will still call it the Colston Hall

YOUR report: “It’s been a long journey – but it was time for change” (Bristol Post 24th Sept) told us sadly, in my opinion, that the famed Bristolian Colston Hall has been erased from Bristol’s future, and been uninspiringly rebranded as the Bristol Beacon.

However, as a born and bred once proud Bristolian I shall continue to refer to it as the Colston Hall. My first recollections of this ‘concert’ hall (as opposed to a ‘gig’ venue!) were circa 1958 when as a schoolboy I listened to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra conducted by the late Sir Charles Groves.

Moreover, this demotion from a serious concert venue to a populist mass entertainment circus is perhaps synonymous with the continuing architectural decimation of many of Bristol’s iconic buildings.

Furthermore as a flaneur of the inner city I was impressed very recently to see the erstwhile Grosvenor Hotel near Temple Meads Station devoid of its scaffolding. Amazingly even in its unkempt state it still had for me a certain antiquated pride reminiscent of the Bristol I can recall from my youth. It was built in 1875 by SC Fripp – an architect who helped Brunel in the construction of Bristol Temple Meads railway station.

Surely it would be civic vandalism if the council were to allow this glorious building to be demolished. This is perhaps a golden opportunity for BCC to stem the constant degrading of the inner-city with yet another office block or high-rise flats. I’m pretty sure that many indigenous Bristolians will have fond memories of it as a premier hotel, much as they will of the Colston Hall!

We now have the Bristol Beacon as a concert hall, do we really want the Grosvenor Hotel replaced with yet another ‘Faulty Towers’? R L Smith

Knowle