Give Old Town the support it deserves

We have fantastic music/dance venues, great value pubs and clubs, as well as restaurants and takeaways for all tastes: Eleven for fabulous French food, Momenti for Italian, Dockers for American, Ali’s for exquisite Indian, The Jumbo for Chinese, Toscano’s for pizza, The Great British Takeaway, and Bunters sandwich shop, to mention but a few.

We also have a handy hardware shop, Lamats, as well as award-winning barbers and hairdressers. We’re also lucky to have bicycle and motorbike shops, along with great value bathroom supplies, computers from Click OK, and, of course, Gaia, the wonderful vegetarian organic wholefoods co-op where I work myself.

Old Town also has a number of vibrant community ventures, including Bath Place Community Venture and the Community Arts Workshop (both based at the Old Library), Action 21 recycling in action, The Band Factory, Help the Aged, the Salvation Army, Tim Ellis’ music project, the Caribbean Community Centre, and the Brunswick Healthy Living Centre.

Architecturally, we are equally fortunate to have some of the most beautiful buildings in Leamington Spa, including the Spring Sculpture on the site of the origin of the Spa water outside the parish church (which is itself a beautiful example of Gothic Revival architecture). The diversity of Old Town’s religious community is also reflected in its architecture: the Sikh temple, the Muslim community centre, the Seventh Day Adventists, the Hindu temple and St Mary’s church are just a few of the treasures on this side of the Leam.

Old Town is fighting for its future in this tough economic climate, and it would be a shame to lose any of the wonderfully diverse local and independent treasures that keep me loving the place in which I live and work. Let’s keep giving Old Town the support it deserves. - Love local, shop local, live love. - Helen Lowthian, via email.