THE photograph of Parliament Street in 1962 (The Press, 5th January) was very evocative of days gone by.

The photo shows a busy street with everyday shops for local people and cars (all small and human scale by today's SUV standards) parked in neat rows up the centre.

Now we have a bland pedestrianised precinct mostly to accommodate hordes of visitors edged by the garish facias and plate glass of large corporate retailers.

Progress is a mixed bag.

David Farnsworth,

Old Orchard,

Haxby, York

What do you think? Email: letters@thepress.co.uk