Madam,

Another coffee chain eyes up Aberystwyth (Cambrian News, last week). Caffe Nero will have a great bedfellow in Starbucks which, in 2015, received Ethical Consumer’s worst rating for likely use of tax avoidance strategies.

In 2013, Caffe Nero made a pre-tax profit of £21.1m, yet paid no corporation tax - no coincidence perhaps that its parent company is registered in the Isle of Man.

Let’s not be seduced by these companies’ Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance labels. The true cost of national coffee chains is that they squeeze out local stores through unfair (yet legal!) tax advantages. Let’s support our locally-owned businesses - and keep the proposed new café quarter independent too.

Only that way will we ensure that more of our cuppa supports the local economy, and that the taxpayer won’t have to pick up yet more of the tab for public services whilst the big boys toss us the dregs.

Yours etc

Dr Angie Polkey

Swyddffynnon.