WHEN I was a teenager in the early 1970s, Stroud was a bustling, busy town. Thursdays were half-day closing, or was it all day?

My Saturday job was as a shop assistant for Jean Merrett’s Art Shop, in Lansdown, our family home was Lavona at number 33.

Vernon, my husband, came to Stroud in 1973 aged 23 to open his bookshop in Bedford Street.

All car parking then was free, plus there was so much more of it in the centre as the Swan Lane car park was the biggest.

On Saturdays, the streets would throng with shoppers and Christmas shopping would start in November and you wouldn’t be able to move for people.

Vernon said: “On hot sunny days the town could go dead, especially in 1976, which was a difficult trading year, until October when Christmas shopping started early.”

Today the town shops open six days a week, some seven and traders even stay open later but car parking is not free which seems to me very unfair, especially when car parking for the supermarkets is.

It’s very good news that Aldi and Lidl are coming to Dudbridge, cheaper alternatives to the big four are needed to serve those struggling financially, and is another reason car parking in the town should be free.

More housing is being built all the time in the area, bringing in more council tax, surely this alone gives enough revenue to provide free car parking.

Jane Gadd

Cainscross