I would like to ask if she has considered not shopping at supermarkets in order to reduce her shopping bill?

Peterborough City Market has a host of fruit and veg stalls which sell their goods at a fraction of the cost of those at Tesco, right next door to the market.

Also, the butcher and fishmonger in the food hall sell their meat and fish at much lower prices than the supermarkets and, in my opinion, the quality is much better.

People of Peterborough should use this market, otherwise we shall all be left at the mercy of the supermarkets – overcharging the consumer, putting small local businesses and farmers out of business, using unethical farming methods, and overpacking their goods.

Those who do visit the market will be greeted with a friendly smile and a chat, as the stallholders get to know you. Admittedly, you can't get the whole of the weekly shop there, but we have greatly reduced our shopping bill by buying everything that we can at the market, including non-food goods, and by buying as little as possible from the supermarkets.

It can be a pleasant experience – please try it.
SARAH MARSDEN
Fletton,
Peterborough

Plenty of allotments are ready for use
If Eric Dent is looking for an allotment (Your Telegraph, August 14) we would be more than happy to help.
He is mistaken in stating that we have no available plots, as there are more than 130 available for new tenants at the Wesleyan Road and Bluebell allotment sites, as well as a small number of other vacancies across the city.
Allotment holders have the opportunity to grow organic fruit and vegetables in season, reduce their food miles and help the environment while experiencing the taste, freshness, variety and choice not always available in the supermarkets.
All the sites are fenced and secure, water is provided from standpipes and the city council allows sheds, greenhouses and polytunnels subject to an application.
Allotment holders might even like to keep a few hens or rabbits, and the city council can even arrange to rotovate a new plot.
Allotments are rented on an annual basis and are based on a standard 10 pole (300 sq yd) plot. Smaller or larger plots are charged pro rata.
The standard charge is £50 per year, with @ctive card concessions available.
n For more information, call Nick King at Peterborough City Council on 01733 747474, or visit www.peterborough.gov.uk
LOUISE WILCOX
Recreation manager,
Peterborough City
Council

Prison is not right answer
RE: Stewart Jackson MP's column ("It's a criminally raw deal", ET, August 14).
Mr Jackson's comments calling for more prison places and longer sentences for criminals show his misunderstanding of the causes of crime and the best way to treat re-offenders.
He is correct in his acknowledgement that the majority of crime is committed by a minority of people, however his
solution is to have them "breaking rocks in a prison on a semi-permanent basis". Simply putting offenders away for longer periods of time does not address the origin of the problem.
The fact that a large amount of people live very close to the poverty line, especially in the current economic climate, may perhaps give him some clue as to why certain people turn to crime.
If you don't address the social roots of the problem, you will never find a solution.
Building more prisons will
certainly not achieve this,
however, addressing the widening gap between rich and poor in a society where 10 per cent of wage earners in society own 54 per cent of personal wealth might.
DANIEL SMALL
via e-mail

Building's history explained
IT is surely inaccurate to keep referring to the building where the central post office is located as the Corn Exchange.
The Corn Exchange was demolished about 40 years ago. It was a large, square building of yellow brick which seemed to have no windows, though there were one or two ground floor shops.
I don't know when it ceased to be used as a corn exchange, but in my youth it was used, among other things, for auctions and wrestling.
The current building was once described by Sir John Betjeman, former Poet Laureate and architecture critic, as "a silly egg box of a building."
TONY ALLEN
Airedale Close,
Peterborough