I AM dismayed but not at all surprised by the way the council is acting over what I have taken to calling the Queens Hall fiasco.

Firstly, they shut down a vibrant and growing hub of an expanding, positive social culture and gave the excuse that it will now all be based over the water.

Now they propose to re-open but hand it over to Marmalade.

Widnes offers me, and many like me absolutely nothing in the form of socialising and enjoying my free time.

The only place I can catch a band now is on some obscure weeknight in one of two of Widnes' 50 odd public houses and then it's all too irregular.

Hence I spend most of my free time in Warrington and Liverpool, to a catch good and regular band night, and to enjoy an atmosphere that isn't filled with aggressive yobs and music that shouldn't be allowed to call itself music.

Halton needs a venue exactly like the Queens Hall if it is ever going to be taken seriously and seen as anything other than a backwater small town.

It needs to be run in the ways Loose proposes to run it, with credible touring bands, well run local band nights, nights for under 18s, diverse and challenging music, maybe even a northern soul night for the oldies, not the pap that Marmalade has showcased for its bid.

Robbie Hough,

address supplied