I WRITE to express my disappointment at the inadvertent party-political bias in the recent article on the Sub Rooms.

I don’t for a second question Lucas Schoemaker’s and Martin Baxendale’s commitment to the cause but I am concerned that readers of the piece might come away with an impression that the valiant Green Party is battling to save the Subscription Rooms from the evil machinations of a Labour Party hell-bent on selling the venue off to the highest bidder.

Anyone who had been at our branch meeting would realise that local members are desperate to save the Sub Rooms and to keep it viable.

We have a working party, run by branch members, looking into ways to run the venue if the district council does decide to transfer ownership, there are party members at the heart of the Save Our Subs campaign group (whose petition the article invited readers to sign) and there are Labour councillors, at both town and district level working behind the scenes to ensure that the Sub Rooms isn’t lost as an arts-and-culture venue.

With an important set of elections in May, it is more important than ever that the SNJ avoid unconscious political bias.

Jim Thomson Labour Party Stroud branch