Nothing would please me more than to have you take up the following complaint on behalf of the high proportion of an ageing population affected by the lack of seating in shops.
Look for a chair or a seat of any kind and you find none. Complain by letter to the Chairman of the Board (as I have done on numerous occasions) and your comments "are noted" but you are recommended "to request a member of staff to obtain a chair for you!"
Now, if you happen to be ill, lame, disabled or about to faint, the last thing you need is to run about seeking a shop assistant and then hang about waiting for a chair to be found and brought to you. By that time you have probably collapsed.
As the population of Bath ages (but still contributes a high proportion of commercial profit) it seems to make sense to expect shops in the city to cater for those of us, like me, who are old and ill, but still manage to enjoy shopping.
Stores like Marks & Spencer and House of Fraser to name two I have contacted, refuse to provide permanent seating on all floors of their stores.
In the case of M&S the Chief Executive at head office in London, in response to my letter, finally made sure seats were found and placed near the escalators on all floors in the Bath store, but only after, it must be said, the intervention of Don Foster, MP.
It might not surprise you to hear, after a few months, all that seating in M&S was removed and the last time I checked there was not a chair in sight on any floor (apart from restaurants) and two seats at the checkout and at the grocery exit door.
The last time I raised the matter by letter I was curtly informed that an assistant would bring a chair to me if and when required should I need one while shopping at any level.
Have you ever tried to find an assistant in M&S, let alone persuade one that you are incapable of standing another moment, let alone the ten minutes required while a chair is located and brought to you, quite probably from a restaurant two floors away.
I do hope you will air this matter for public comment and see if stores in Bath and Bristol will recognise the problem as an urgent one for the increasing number of elderly shoppers in towns and cities in Somerset.
Vivienne Rae-Ellis
Gainsborough's House The Circus Bath
