We want pride and gems not more concrete

I am writing with regard to the Futurist theatre and plans of Scarborough Council to demolish it. I often wonder how many proud Scarborians such as myself would love to be able to turn back the clock to a few weeks before The Pavilion Hotel was demolished?

For if we could, and with the advantage of hindsight, how many of us would stand steadfastly in the path of those bulldozers that razed it?

How much would we give for the monstrosity which now stands so prominently in its place and which so perversely carries its name, to simply not be there where once a proud, majestic and iconic building stood?

I look back also to a time when Scarborough had the Newborough Bar, the Balmoral Hotel, Olympia Theatre, Royal Opera House and numerous churches to name a few.

Unimaginative eyesores have now taken the place of most of Scarborough’s lost heritage where, in some cases, an opportunity presented itself for possible improvement.

Thankfully the Grand Hotel was saved in the ‘nick of time’ and still stands for this and future generations to admire, instead of the multi-storey car park which could so easily have replaced it!

I urge those councillors who were elected by the people of Scarborough as custodians of the town, to listen to the combined voices of those who stand behind the Save the Futurist group and take heed of the lesson we should by now have learned from history which shows, in miserable reality, that not always can we rely on those we put in power to make the correct decisions entirely on their own.

Under that unsightly cladding the Futurist is already a unique piece of architectural historic art.

The Futurist can be saved and transformed into a prosperous asset for the town, and at a cost much less than that of its demolition.

Please do not allow another concrete eyesore to blight our town and be called the ‘Futurist Building’, as if by way of compensation as happened with the Pavilion, Balmoral, Olympia etc. We are surely not going to swallow that again.

Let us take any possible opportunity to now have a world-class theatre that competes with the best in the country for the biggest and most spectacular shows.

An asset to be proud, rather than be ashamed of as sadly is the case with so much of our children’s heritage now lost forever. Richard W Ashley Filey Road Scarborough Our popular weekly feature shows striking images by Scarborough Photographic Society members. The society meets at the Friends’ Meeting House, Woodlands Drive, on Wednesdays at 7.30pm. Visit www.scarboroughphotographicsociety.com, or call (01723) 370419 for more information.