An open letter to the Queen on the High Beach tea hut: Your Majesty, I am writing to you about the suggestion that the City of London Corporation is planning to put the tea hut at High Beach out to tender to interested parties.

The tea hut in question has been operated by the grandfather, father and mother of Bradley Merton for a continuous period of time – 84 years in fact – so you can well understand the upset involved.

Just the suggestion alone smacks of sheer incompetence and greed on the corporation’s part – tampering with something that has been operating very successfully for 84 years without problems.

But at this late stage, the corporation, which is sitting on billions of pounds, decides to create a tendering situation that nobody except the fat cats on the corporation wants to happen.

I myself have used the tea hut for around seven years and I have never found any problems or difficulties there. The prices are reasonable and the food is run-of-the-mill.

It is true to say that the tea hut, known as Bradley’s tea hut, is a virtual landmark for people who come to the area from all over the country and is in fact used as a regular meeting point.

Some young people use it and likewise, some reasonably old people, who could probably not afford to pay £1.50 for a cup of tea, use it.

Added to the support, I think the corporation and its officers should give due consideration to the fact that the tea hut does not have a running water supply and no toilet facilities. There is no electric power or gas.

Is this what the corporation is fighting over?

It has been said by a representative of the corporation that “the days of an 80p cup of tea are over”, which makes one think that one of the big firms would be what the corporation would prefer to take it over, thereby making what was an 80p cup of tea into a £1.50 cup of tea.

Ma’am, in closing, I would like to ask you to intervene in the decision to tender out the tea hut at High Beach and if at all possible to put the necessary pressure in the right place that can cause this comedy of errors to be overturned.

Brian Dean, Hillyfields, Loughton.