PLEASE allow me to make two points about the article regarding drug use and begging that appeared on the front page of The Argus.

Firstly, a matter of definition.

Kemp Town (two words), originally laid out in the 1820s, consists of Sussex Square, Lewes Crescent and the adjacent Terraces.

Later, Kemptown (one word) came to refer to a much wider area, as far north as The Royal Sussex, Brighton College and Kemp Town Station (now the Gala Bingo Hall), and as far west as St Mary’s Rock Gardens.

To include St James’s Street, which goes as far as the Steine, and which the article seems to be about, is pushing it.

Secondly, I walked the length of St James’s Street towards Kemptown this afternoon, as I often do, and saw no evidence of the antisocial behaviour described by the handful of residents in the article.

It was certainly far from lawless.

I saw no aggression, no open drug-dealing and no menace; only an attractive street basking in the May sunshine.

It was unrecognisable from Aidan Bourne’s description.

I agree that the police are not often in evidence in this area, but I did see three on the beat during my walk, perhaps as a positive response to the article.

I would only add that, in my 40 years’ experience of it, Kemptown and its neighbouring streets to the west remains an unfailingly vibrant and inclusive area, where young and old alike can feel safe.

Alas, this is not something that can be said of all cities on the South Coast.

Simon Smith Chairman Kemp Town Society