AFTER the pound shop, comes the 99p cafe.

With Bob Appetit 99 opening in Cheltenham, there could be every temptation to see this as the death knell for the town's upmarket image.

In the same area as the ambitious new plans to improve the High Street and its link through to the Brewery comes a venture at the other end of the "town centre experience".

Businessman Tam Emirali clearly thinks this is the part of town where he can sell sausage and mash, pizza, jacket potatoes, pasta and breakfasts for a maximum 99p.

Okay, it's a good marketing ploy and the portions aren't so big they will keep you going all day, but if Mr Emirali has got his business plan right, that won't matter.

As one customer on Saturday showed by going in four times, at £3.96, you're still getting a bargain.

We're not quite sure how he's going to make the sums work, but what we're certainly prepared to do is to wish Mr Emirali good luck.

He's certainly ambitious, with plans for a second cafe in Dublin already in place.

The truth is he sees this as the right time for his venture to work economically. And he's probably right.

But it doesn't mean that it can't work alongside restaurants and cafes at the other end of the expenditure scale.

After all, it's only a short walk from Bon Appetit 99 to Jamie's Italian, which opened just over six months ago. That's attracting a very different clientele but its owner is just as convinced he has a success on his hands.

We might have had more to worry about if Cheltonian Mr Emirali had wanted to open his first cafe somewhere other than in his home town.

FULL marks to Gloucestershire social services for the way they helped retired vicar Tony Downes.

Within 24 hours of them being alerted by Tony's neighbour that he had fallen coming out of his home, a handrail had been installed to help him stay on his feet.

Both social services and health authorities repeatedly make the case these days that they want to encourage people to stay in their own homes wherever possible.

More responses like this – sensible, cheap options that make a real difference – will go a long way to ensure that these policies can actually work in the home as well as on paper.