I fear that before very long the busy and vibrant Tolworth Broadway will have its life sucked out by Tesco.

It plans to open a huge superstore on the old Ministry of Agriculture and Food site - now there's an irony - and I believe that the businesses on the Broadway will not survive the assault by Britain's wealthiest supermarket.

But to describe Tesco as merely a supermarket is to neglect the fact that it sells all the other goods and provides practically all the services that can currently be found in the independent and smaller shops of Tolworth Broadway.

It won't just be Budgens and M&S that will have their trade snatched. Tesco sell flowers, clothes, hardware, DVDs, film processing, banking services, medicines, gifts, stationery and anything else that it can make a profit on.

No doubt it will also have a caf. Even the charity shops should be afraid of Tesco because it has such almighty purchasing power that it can discount new goods down to the same price as second-hand.

Our only hope for the Broadway is that Kingston Council maintains its stance that the site is not suitable for a retail store and rejects Tesco's plans.

ROBERT HANLON Elgar Avenue Tolworth