FURTHER to your recent publication of a resident complaining about the number of street beggars in Bournemouth asking him for money on the way back from fireworks on a Friday evening, I thought I would test this out one afternoon.

I walked through the Gardens up Old Christchurch Road to the top of Lansdowne via the town centre pretending I was a tourist from overseas visiting Bournemouth for the first time.

I firstly struggled to get through the underpass by the Pavilion due to the rain which had caused three tennis ball tables to be located under it at a sideways angle.

There were three scruffy looking elderly bearded men who I presume where vagrants sat there taking shelter from the rain.

I proceeded to walk along the Lower Gardens and passed a homeless man with a sign by the steps to the Pavilion Dance with a cardboard sign with another sleeping in a bag on the other side.

I continued my journey past the lovely gardens strewn with takeaway rubbish and the odd empty can and bottles strewn about.

I then proceeded up the high street and observed a beggar outside the Natwest before you get to WH Smith's.

I continued my journey observing two homeless people sat on the bench by the clock tower near the Royal Arcade.

The second part of the journey was a real eye opener as I wandered past the Dalkeith Arcade.

The number of beggars and people drinking increased and I was asked three times for money.

I passed Nationwide heading for Horseshoe Common and saw eight to nine people using the new seating as they drank their strong lager and strong cider with one deciding to urinate against a tree.

Overall impression as a tourist was not good.

SIMON GWYNN

Cornelia Crescent, Poole