I’VE been reading with interest some of the recent letters about the seafront, especially as I emailed the Tourist Office weeks ago ... to which I had no reply.

The August 6 Letters Page had letters re: no seats on the promenade and one about the toilets by Boscombe Pier.

In my email, I had commented on the fact that there are few seats on the pier.

We had taken my 96-year-old mother along the pier earlier in the summer. Fortunately she was in a wheelchair.

About 4.30pm two young men came along the pier to collect and chain up any deckchairs that were being used. Some people then sat on the decking. Others went off of the pier.

The facilities near to the pier just amazed me. At that late hour in the evening... well afternoon, everything was closed. You couldn’t buy so much as a cup of tea, ice cream, anything.

What a difference just a few miles away if you go onto Swanage Pier, loads of seating, toilets and even an ice cream close to the pier.

As for toilets, the council staff can hardly be blamed for the filthy state some people leave them in, just the same as we can’t blame the staff for the rubbish on the beach.

However, as for the ‘human excrement 30 yards from the toilet block’, is there any wonder?

My guess is that no one would chose to relieve themselves in that way, but what time in the evening are the toilets locked?

Early, well before the beach, pier and promenade are deserted.

Even the disabled toilet was padlocked because of a fault.

Bournemouth is a holiday town trying hard to attract visitors and obviously very successfully when we are blessed with good weather.

It might be a good idea if the tourist department took over the responsibility of seeing that such basic necessities are provided for both local people and the visitors.

I have no problem with spending however many thousands of pounds for the sign ‘Welcome to Bournemouth’.

But, if the town is so hard up, maybe the money should have been spent making the welcomed visitors want to come back again, not remembering their visit because they had to sit on decking or concrete and then ride cross legged until they could find a garage on the way home.

DAVID BUTCHER, Redhill Crescent, Bournemouth