Dear Editor,

May I seek the courtesy of your letters page to take issue with the churlish tone of the Observer comment on the announcement of a new hotel in the centre of East Grinstead.

For the record I warmly welcome this development which will greatly add to the opportunities and facilities of the Town and it will go some way towards helping to fulfil admirable local ambitions for tourism and business development.

East Grinstead has so much going for it and it would be nice, for a change, to see an unqualified welcome for a piece of really good news.

Yours sincerely,

Nicholas Soames MP