Dismay at bid for new cafe at Eastbourne station

I‘m a local Eastbourne resident and I read with some dismay your article about Costa’s bid for the old ticket office in The Terminus where, after some years, a local business, Bella’s Cafe has developed a local clientele.

Given the COVID19 lockdown Bella’s has worked very hard to stay in business over the last few months even giving discounts to NHS front-line staff.

Clearly, Costa Coffee presents a potential threat to award-winning Bella’s and in my view their bid to open in the old ticket office at The Terminus is an almost textbook case of commercial predation.

Costa already has three cafes in Eastbourne, one of them being directly across the road in The Beacon.

There is a balance to be made between encouraging new business to Eastbourne and protecting local businesses, especially at this time.

But I believe that in this case, displacement of a popular and viable local business by a conglomerate is not in the interests of Eastbourne.

I want to help raise awareness of this problem and am prepared to put the case to the owner of the Terminus building.

In addition to this I’m considering raising a petition.