THIS is an open letter to those who were protesting outside the Coleford Co-op on Saturday.

I was surprised to see a group of protestors parading through the streets of Coleford, and even more so when I saw that the protest was apparently directed at the Co-op. Curious, I approached one of the protestors to ask what it was all about, and I was told that it was a demand to allow Asda to open a branch in the town. Now I can only presume that the Co-op has raised some objection about the proposal, and to be honest I can only agree with the Co-op whole-heartedly.

When I asked the person on the march she patted her pocket and said it was all about saving money and the cost of food at the Co-op, and the presumably 'unreasonable' prices being charged there. To that person and the rest of those who're demanding that this Walmart-owned mega-superstore be allowed into our small town, I'd like to ask the following:

Are you willing to have this supposedly 'cheap' food you are after at any price?

The few extra pennies you may or may not save on any particular item in your weekly shopping basket will have a far greater cost than maybe you've considered. Companies like Asda make their massive profits (for the American-owned Walmart company in this case) by squeezing the suppliers until they squeak.

Those suppliers, if they happen to be in this country rather than producers thousands of miles away in South America or whatever, are forced to reduce their sale prices to the supermarkets to the lowest possible level to compete with the huge international buying muscle those supermarkets wield.

In many cases this means them having to produce food at the lowest possible level of welfare allowable, using the highest yield crops available (likely GM) for the lowest pay to their workers that they can get away with.?Co-op on the other hand, whilst probably not completely whiter than white, have been proven year after year to have the highest welfare, environmental and general ethical standards of any of the big supermarkets currently vying for a share of the food market.

So what's that to me you may ask?

It's a recession and money is tight so I don't care about that, I just want the cost of my weekly shop to be as cheap as humanly possible, I?have a family to feed! Well, I wonder if you'll say the same if you're a local producer of food in this country, struggling in the exact same recession to make a living and compete with the cheap foreign imports?

Will you be quite happy to see yet another small country town reduced to charity outlets and 'To Let' signs while you sit down to eat your 'a-few-pennies-cheaper' eggs on your 'not-quite-as-expensive' toast?

We need to protect our town from the slow and relentless spread of multi-nationals which have absolutely no interest in the future of our towns, our local livelihoods, or our culture beyond how large a percentage of our pay packets they can get out of our pockets each week.

I'd suggest you need to shop more wisely and maybe buy veg that isn't pre-packed, you need to actually look at the cost per kilo of loose food and not go for the easy "it's-in-a-packet-it's-simple-to-pick-up' option, or choose the 'own brand' option rather than the premium big brands as you rush around the Co-op complaining about how far your money doesn't go.

You want to consider what happens to prices when all the competition has been put out of business and, most importantly, you need to think whether you actually want Coleford, a town with hundreds of years' worth of history behind it, to survive or whether you just want another shopping mall selling all the same stuff. Again.

So have a think the next time you pass Voyce butchers or Scott's fruit and veg or even your local pub.?What price are you actually prepared to pay to maybe save a few pennies each week?

– Name and address supplied.