A LETTER in the Daily Echo recently decried the fact that it is usually cheaper to buy new clothes from Primark than to buy used from charity shops in Southampton.

I noticed an upward trend in the prices in Portswood charity shops soon after the British Heart Foundation shop opened a while ago with inflated prices from day one.

While I am aware that these shops exist for the benefit of their charities, they did in the past perform another role, which was to serve the many individuals and families on very tight budgets who could not afford to buy new.

While I am able to access the city centre to avail myself of the cheap clothes sold there, I know of families on my estate who would find it financially demanding to get there by bus.

I now very rarely look in charity shops as I expect anything I see that I might want will be too expensive, and am concerned that many others may also vote with their feet.

It would be a shame if such a very British institution were to price itself out of the market.

DEBBIE SEFER, Southampton