When modernity poisons the essence of a neighbourhood

Your diarist, the luminous Victoria Vasiliou, highlights a perennial problem we face in old Nicosia (‘Time to stand up for what is Cypriot, seven, February 22), namely the destruction of the past by an army of parvenus determined to further their own commercial interest to the detriment of the community.

The establishment she was too modest to identify is the Achilleon Taverna in Ayios Omologites, this is a haven of cosmopolitan gatherers, intellectual discussion, radical politics, traditional Cypriot fare, serious drinking and bonhomie.

We have witnessed over the last few years a determination on the part of the municipalities to bend the knee to any ‘johnny jump-up’ who wants to tear down the old and comfortable, and replace it with their vision of modernity.

If there is one thing that this area does not need, it is another poly-clinic; has anyone witnessed the chaotic parking that accompanies such enterprises? It is time that we state that we will not tolerate these attacks on our refuges and will resist any endeavours by recently arrived ‘pullers of teeth’ to gentrify our traditional enclaves.

My suggestion is that the habitués of Achilleon immediately raise a petition to resist any attempt to establish a polyclinic, as it will be deleterious to the area and threaten the future of generations of Cypriots and residents that wish to experience what our country was like before the arrival of McDonald’s and Starbucks.

A.J. McGowan,
Nicosia

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