What does everyone think about Sainsbury's getting the go ahead to open in Portishead? Good news or bad news for the town? Will the High Street falter or flourish? Have your say here.

Good. I think this will be good for Portishead and the other High Street shops. The Co-Op obviously don't rate themselves if they think all their customers will flock to Sainsburys as soon as its open. Perhaps their building can be knocked down and the size of the car park increased so people can use the High Street easier.

This is a HUGE discussion really - the question is "Do supermarkets destroy communities?".

I think the damage to Portishead has already been done and is irreversible. Half of the High Street is already made up of Charity shops, but nobody cares as long as they can save money at the supermarkets... so they can buy more and consume more. Gluttony and greed.

You should also consider - as more and more of the high street shops close down, you will get no-go areas appearing. I'd hate to see it happen in Portishead, and just maybe there will always be enough new Charity Shops to fill the empty premises!!

Most no-go areas were once afluent.

I think you'd find that there aren't actually many differences between high street prices and supermarket prices but when consumers buy their fruit & veg or meat we don't tend to look at the price per kilo we tend to look at the pack cost and that is what the supermarkets do very well! Also if you don't have the full selection on the high street then people still have to go to the supermarket. I'd love to see independant food shops and furniture shops etc, Clevedon seems to support it and they've had a greater numebr of supermarkets for longer than than Portishead.