In reply to Simon Fanshawe's article, while the need for facilities to attract conferences to Brighton and Hove are clearly important, Mr Fanshawe has not mentioned the equal importance of the venue to the music industry.

While work is carried out, there will be a loss to the city for quite some time of a vital space for large touring bands, whose events there support significant employment.

The city has quite a few great smaller venues but already suffers from a lack of medium-sized venues (500-1,500) or anything for very large concerts and we already miss out on many tours which would otherwise like to stop in Brighton and Hove.

I trust this will be considered by Brighton and Hove City Council when planning any re-development.

Martin Grimshaw, Green Party
candidate for Goldsmid ward,
Waterloo Street, Hove