Anyone seen the heart – or soul – of St Ives?

The usual suspects were out in force in St Ives this week to oppose the proposal to open a branch of Pizza Express in part of the former Woolworths store in Fore Street.

There was St Ives town councillor Terry Tonkin (he who opposed the Carbis Bay Tesco) and a restauranteur who was worried lest ‘the whole culture of the town loses its soul’. Other objectors said the Pizza Express restaurant would ‘rip the heart out’ of the town. But last Tuesday Cornwall Council gave the scheme its approval.

I never quite saw Woolworths as either the  heart or soul of St Ives and I speak as one who will probably never cross the threshold of Pizza Express. But any sympathy I might have had with the likes of Councillor Tonkin and his pals was quickly dissipated when I heard of their suggestion of just what might count for them as the heart – or soul – of St Ives. Poundland.