I’ve played in Salisbury’s City Hall more times than I care to remember, with orchestras, choirs, bands, Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball, the King’s Singers, SAYM and when I was really small, the fantastic Wessex Band Course with more than 300 musicians sounding together.

I have had loads of memorable concerts in this hall.

I come from Bournemouth and our town used to have a similar venue - the Bournemouth Winter Gardens.

Just like the City Hall, Bournemouth Council started to defund the Winter Gardens.

Over a period of decades it wasn’t kept up to date. Then it wasn’t maintained properly.

Then eventually the council announced that the building wasn’t worth the effort so they demolished the hall.

Bournemouth Council promised to build us a new arts venue but 17 years later the space where the hall was is still a carpark with news that the council now want to sell the land to build expensive flats near the sea.

City Hall is a vital part of Salisbury’s cultural scene, not just for attracting big national and international names, but also so important for the thriving local amateur music scene.

Please don’t let what happened in Bournemouth happen to the City Hall. Once you lose it, you’ll never get it back!

Paul Williams

Creasey Road, Bournemouth