IT was good to see that a new pop-up art space has opened in the former TSB Bank in Skipton High Street.

Craven Arts are to be congratulated on having the imagination and drive to seize this opportunity to make the most out of the closure of a banking facility and thanks too are due to Cllr Peter Madeley for giving the initiative the town’s formal endorsement.

This is a good start but we will need a lot more initiatives of this kind if our high streets are to survive and flourish in an age when shopping is moving increasingly on line and people need other good reasons to be drawn to our town centres.

The presence of art where there were once bank tellers is also a poignant reminder that the arts as a whole have suffered more than almost any other sector as a result of the loss of revenue from the closures made necessary by the Covid pandemic.

If the arts are to retain their place in our national life then they do need targeted public funding to help survive. Our new pop-up space is a welcome sign of what can be achieved with a little. But so much more could be done with greater support.

Geraldine Reardon

Settle