AS I was fairly redundantly strolling along York’s ancient twisting cobbles the other day, it unexpectedly dawned on me that our beautiful city has now become overrun with unkempt students, popping in to their local Tesco Express to haplessly hand over their hardly-deserved student loans for cress and ham sandwiches at £3 a pop, babbling barely understandable nonsense about the latest ‘‘pop act’’ known as Mumford and Sons.

What happened to the days of home cooking, you know, knocking up a nice vegetable soup? What happened to the days where confident young fellows would parade on our proud streets, suited up to the nines and sporting a haircut you could set your watch to?

What happened to the time when York was at the forefront of the hotshot music scene?

Mumford and Sons? Do me a favour.

Shed Seven? That’s more like it.

York’s on the slide. Bring back the glory days.

Nick Lone, Alness Drive, York.