I come from Eastbourne. For years I worked in a popular little cafe in the Arndale Centre, serving up teas, coffees, pasties and snacks to the good townsfolk. A little while ago it was announced that the shopping centre would be expanding, to become modern, bigger and more attractive to big-name stores. While I wellcomed the demolition of some truely hideous buildings to make way for it, I was concerned about the effect it would have on the smaller businesses…

Since the plans for the expansion were announced, rent in the existing Centre has soared. First a popular independant bookshop announced it would close, as it couldn’t afford the rent- and now so has the cafe I worked in. This made me sad. I am hoping our Lib Dem council, as well as the Arndale Centre bosses, will be doing something to encourage our small shops to come back and stay, and stop the town becoming just another mass of chain stores… but now my little cafe has been forced out, it’s hard to be optimistic :(