I read with dismay the article on the front page of the Croydon Guardian of February 20 under the headline "Fairfield Facing Radical Revamp." I would like to make two observations about Councillor Chandarana's comments on Option Three. This is the option which recommends rebuilding the Fairfield Halls on the existing site.
Councillor Chandarana states: "We've got to go out into the market and talk to developers about which option they favour most or variations on these proposals." It would have been gratifying to think that Councillor Chandarana might have considered "going out into the market" to talk to those who are the most important in any aspect of redevelopment of the Fairfield Halls, namely the public.
I have been a resident in the Croydon area for almost 40 years and during that time I have been a regular attender at the Fairfield Halls for music and at the Ashcroft Theatre for drama.
Perhaps I and the thousands of others who have enjoyed many events over the years might have been approached as to what we might want; after all the Fairfield Halls exists to provide me with entertainment and I would suggest that my views be canvassed.
My second observation concerns another of Councillor Chandarana's statements: "The acoustics in the concert hall are perfect for classical music but not for rock concerts."
This first part of this statement is true. The Fairfield Halls boasts one of the best acoustics in any concert hall in London and the south-east. The second part of the statement is nonsense. Pop music is conveyed to its audience by amplification at such a level (of volume) that acoustics become almost irrelevant. Certainly the science of acoustics would be lost on those who attend such events. Noise and the vision of those performing is everything, little else matters.
I enjoy such events but things such as reverberation time and other acoustical matters cease to be important on these occasions.
To Councillor Chandarana I would say please leave the Fairfield Halls and the Ashcroft Theatre as they are.
They serve the most useful of purposes and their quality must not be sacrificed in any way whatsoever in the pursuit of commercial interests.
John Morris
Mitchley Avenue
Purley
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