A SEAT, a seat, my kingdom for a seat. Where have all our benches gone? Every one into storage as ordered by the owners who think it’s best for us to have plenty of room to go charging about looking busy rather than treating the place like a lounge.

They got that bit right. We have an abundance of space now, enough room for a brass band, but not for a few seats. We know the Star tracked down the owners and spoke to one of the top suits primed and ready with all the jargon.

"The decision to remove the seats was not taken lightly." Yeah right. He then says there are a number of factors that led to this decision.

It’s the customers who keep the shops going and the majority are ancients like me with bus passes, so we can go elsewhere – there’s plenty of choice. But I worry most for the people who can no longer come, for whom the seats were necessary.

Nobody begrudged the time they spent.

Joan Byron

Mendip Grove