Letter: The Venue should be retained

May I express my hope that ‘The Venue’ will be retained after the ‘City of Culture’ year comes to an end. The building has been an asset to the city with the likes of the ‘Sons and Daughters’ concert, the Radio One Big Weekend, the Fleadh, the Military Tattoo and various top name artists coming over to do concerts.

It would indeed be a shame if this building was lost to the city, as in future months and years, there would be worldwide events taking place, like the return of the Clipper Race next year and in 2016 we could see the return of the Fleadh to the city.

It seems pointless to spend thousands of pounds to build it and then spend thousands of pounds, which we can ill afford to demolish it again.

It seems that the Culture Minister Carál Ní Chuilín is in favour of retaining it, yet the DSD Minister Nelson McCausland is all for knocking it down at the end of the year. The question I would ask is: out of the two Ministers who has the final say? As far as I am concerned it is an asset the city should be proud of and retained. This is my own personal view but I don’t think I am alone in this opinion.

Yours sincerely, Colin Stannett.