A?PETERSFIELD cafe proprietor has expressed concern about plans to open another tea room in the town.

For the past 11 years Paresh Pandya and his wife have run Café Mezzo in High Street, close to the war memorial.

The family business is open from 8am to 4pm daily, selling coffee, tea and a range of fresh cooked food, snacks and cakes.

But in the past two years Mr Pandya has seen the number of day time eateries around his cafe, and in the town centre, grow.

Earlier this year The Natural Apothecary gained permission to expand its Heath Road premises into a neighbouring empty shop in College Street. Work to complete that development has been taking place.

Now the Beatons Tearooms franchise wants to convert the former Henry Adams estate agents, which is directly opposite Mezzo, into a seven day a week place to meet and eat.

In a letter to South Downs National Park planners, which will decide on the Beatons proposal, Mr Pandya says that the number of similar establishments in town makes it hard for the smaller ones to thrive.

He said: “There are ample places already offering a similar choice and adding another (Beatons Tearooms) is not contributing to the diversity in town.

“Although I am in favour of fair competition, I feel we need to have more choice as the same types of business have conflicting interests and there is no room to grow hence many small independent cafes keep changing hands and shutting down altogether.

“We need to attract more people to the town and diversity in shopping is the key, and we have a fair number of eateries already catering for the same market as the proposed tea room. Therefore, I?ask you to reconsider the planning for a new cafe/tea room.”

When national chain Caffe Nero planned to open in The Square, it caused a furore with people saying the business was not needed.

Any other objections or comments on the planning application for change of use need to be made to the South Downs National Park planning authority by Monday, July 31.