A PERSONAL plea has been sent to the president and founder of Pizza Express asking the national chain not to come to Ludlow and open where The Marches pub stands.

The letter from writer Peter Burden, who lives in Bromfield, has been sent to Peter Boizot, who is the man behind Pizza Express.

Mr Burden, who writes a web guide on 'gastronomic delights' under the name Mr Pernickety, lived in London in the 1960s and 70s where he met with the Pizza Express boss on a number of occasions.

He says that he admires the company but believes Pizza Express will not make a lot of money from Ludlow and will do great damage to the town.

“I loved Pizza Express then and enormously admired what you and Enzo had done,” writes Mr Burden.

“In the 60s and 70s I sampled every pizza on the list and knew the ingredients of them all.

“So, I have long and happy memories of Pizza Express and I am reluctant, even now, to have to challenge you over your plans to move into the small and mostly unspoilt medieval borough of Ludlow.

“For a small town it thrives; there is some good, small-scale industry in two industrial estates along the edges of the town, but above all there is the history and architecture of the place.

“The town’s centre is filled most days with a bustling market and the crowds who visit it, on whom, I guess, Pizza Express hope to prey."

Mr Burden says that along with the market, several independent and top-notch butchers, green grocers, bakers and delis thrive although life is now changing.

“Over the last few years this charm has been marred by a noticeable increase in the fascia boards of multiple operators like Costa Coffee, W H Smith, Betfred, Corals, Fate Face and Crew Clothing," writes Mr Burden.

“These places have added nothing to the town; there are other better, more amenable shops and eateries offering better quality, where the profits remain within the community.

"We are close to the point where any further intrusion by multiples will have the town looking like a clone of every other homogeneous high street in Britain.

“At the same time these multiples, being highly efficient, focusing only on the immediate bottom-line, employ significantly fewer people per sale than the independently-owned businesses that they displace.

“Bringing Pizza Express to Ludlow, especially in the highly sensitive site you are targeting, will do substantial damage to the appearance and flavour of the town. It will also directly damage and possibly destroy several well-run local businesses.”

Mr Burden said he believes national chains come to Ludlow overestimating the amount of money they can make without realising that as a small town trade is often very quiet.

Tish Dockerty, secretary of Ludlow Chamber of Trade, said that the arrival of Pizza Express in such a prominent location would harm the town.

But Pizza Express believe that it will add to it.

A company statement said: "Castle Square is an exceptionally picturesque area and we’re very excited about creating a beautiful design to complement the building and its immediate surroundings – something we always aim to achieve when working with buildings of historic importance, and something that our founder, Peter Boizot, has always been passionate about.

“This year we’re celebrating 50 years since Peter opened the first Pizza Express and are looking forward to bringing to Ludlow our fresh, handmade pizzas and new job opportunities.”