As one of the people responsible for the past success of The Mayflower, I am probably the last person you would expect to be in favour of charging for parking in the evening and risking putting off audiences. The new Mayflower chief executive organised a petition against the plan and, if I had still been involved with the theatre, I might well have been signing it.

But these days I have a different perspective. I am aware that parking charges are something that can deter people from coming into a city when they have a choice of going elsewhere. One of Mary Portas' proposals to save high streets was to offer free parking. If Southampton's evening economy needed saving or even building up, I would think that the City Council were making a mistake. But this is far from the case.

I don't know The Mayflower's current situation but when I left seven years ago it was thriving, with up to half a million visitors a year. In my experience, when the economy suffers a downturn, businesses including theatres that offer the relief of an evening out tend to benefit rather than suffer.

Many years ago, when I chaired Southampton City Centre Management, I led a proposal to develop Southampton's evening economy. Nowadays the city is now packed with people enjoying an evening out. Some of the people you see on Above Bar on a Friday night may be a bit wobbly but the evening economy certainly doesn't seem so.

Therefore my question is, why should the evening economy be treated differently from the daytime one? In other words, if it's okay for people who shop and work in the daylight to pay to park, why shouldn't the equivalent night owls and night workers do the same? They are adding to the costs of running the car parks, of maintaining the city's infrastructure and provision of services, so why shouldn't they make a pay towards them?

I do believe the performing arts make a valuable contribution to the economy as well as society's well being so there are good reasons for supporting them with funding but I'd rather see subsidised tickets for an arts centre than subsidised parking for all.

I find it hard to imagine that a couple spending over £50 on the cheapest tickets for a commercial musical or £40 per head at a restaurant will notice another £2.00 for parking. In many establishments offering evening entertainment, you'll spend more than that on half a pint of lager.