As a Marlborough shopkeeper, I should like to point out that our business are suffering as much from the perception of road chaos as from the roadworks themselves.

Neither I nor any of my customers have experienced traffic problems today – and we have all travelled in from different directions.

Marlborough is very much open for business if you avoid rush-hour periods and people need to be made aware of this if our range of independent and interesting shops is to survive.

So, if you don’t wish Marlborough to become a ghost town or yet another town full of chain stores, indistinguishable from every other town in the country, and you value personal service and original gifts, please keeping coming, the traffic really isn’t all that bad during the middle of the day.

We have all-day parking (albeit inadequately signposted by the council) behind Waitrose and off Hyde Lane, and I for one will be happy to reimburse the first hour’s parking charge to customers who spend £10 or more at The Cat’s Whiskers. So, use us or lose us.

Sue Rumbold, The Cat’s Whiskers, Kingsbury Street, Marlborough.