Why is Newhaven becoming a ghost town?

When I first moved to the town in the 1980s, it was a vibrant port with freight coming and going 24/7, four ferries a day.

There was plenty of employment. I obtained a job as a security guard on the docks. They had fruit and timber boats coming in seven days a week and also the large banana boats arriving weekly.

They were the first to pull out because they did not want their boats sitting on the bottom. Slowly, the boats came less and less.

Over the next few years the town centre businesses began to close down. At one time, we had three butchers in Newhaven. Now we have none.

Yes, we have Sainsbury’s and Lidl but they’re over the river. The only supermarket in the town is the Co-op.

The banks began to go. The first was Lloyds, followed by Halifax, Barclays, Natwest and now our one and only HSBC, which is going at the end of September when the lease runs out.

Then, there was the biggest shock of all.

Parker Pen, one of the largest employers, pulled out and moved their operations elsewhere and, since then, other businesses have closed, too many to name.

Now the final bit of news – that the ferry is on a one-year contract. If the ferry closes that will be the final nail in Newhaven’s coffin. My own opinion is that they will not go – but who knows?

Paul Harris Metcalfe Avenue Newhaven