RECENTLY on a guided tour of Frankfurt, Germany, we were taken to an area around the art gallery, through narrow streets lined with attractive ancient buildings.

We were surprised when told that until a couple of years ago there stood on this site a monstrous concrete and glass building from the 1960s era; from a photo it looked a bit like what is being built to replace the Bargate Centre in Southampton. However, the good citizens of Frankfurt, discovering that this building was three months away from becoming a listed building, had the good sense to pull it down instead.

It was decided to rebuild the area as it had been before destruction in the Second World War. With the aid of old photos, many of the buildings, on the outside, are replicas of originals. Some still use old architectural features, but are more modern and blend in well. The area is now a delight for tourists to wander round.

So Mr Developer of the New Concrete and Glass Bargate Area, it is probably too late to alter the layout of the buildings but perhaps you could reconsider the finished facades overlooking the ancient city walls so they reflect the heritage of the area, and use stone, brick, tile hanging proper window frames and even some pitched tile roofs.

Please can we have some attractive buildings to look at and not more of the nondescript blocks that have made the city centre so boring over the last 70 years.

Roy Andrews

Botley