Letter : Shabby London

From Mr Howard Fry

Sir: Nicholas Schoon does a good job in telling us about shabbiness and decay at Greenwich ("Royal parks `sliding into shabbiness and decay'", 1 March). The Royal Parks Review Group is right to demand that Greenwich Park and the important buildings built on it should be smartened up. But we should clean all our important buildings in the capital. When I was in Paris recently with friends, we took a taxi ride around all the famous historic buildings in the city and were struck by how well presented they were.

On our way back to London we found the train filled with French tourists studying their maps and guides for London. Britain must act quickly to make sure that visitors enjoy their stay here. Our parks are already quite impressive and we should follow the French example and clean all our historic buildings. But perhaps the best suggestion from the review group is that we should encourage visitors to take a boat from Westminster to Greenwich. London viewed from the Thames is quite an impressive sight.

Yours faithfully,

HOWARD FRY

Dulverton, Somerset