Blimey! Is that your idea of being "lost for words" bcm?

1. "Let's just demolish the whole parade and have a tesco extra strip mall on one side, a mcdonalds, dominos and KFC on the other?"

Now you're just being silly. Though, if it made economic sense, somebody would probably do it. It's called the free market. True, such a development would be unattractive. (I take it that was your point?) But this isn't some historic jewel in the nation's crown we're talking about, it's HOP. If this were purely a question of architectural merit or aesthetics, there would actually be quite a strong case for demolishing the whole parade as you (jokingly?) suggest.

2. "There are enough take outs in SE23 to serve the towns 3 times over..."

In your opinion. Yet they all seem to survive, whilst restaurants like The Old Bank close. If only more people shared your refined tastes....

3. "...and what the parade doesn't need is a second pizza emporium within a 1 minute walk of the (already decent) existing one".

Again, in your opinion. We'll see. If you're right, Domino's will close and be replaced by something else. If you're wrong and Domino's survives, that will prove that there was a demand in HOP which was previously unmet. Either way, no harm (and possibly some good) will have been done.

So where's the disaster? Why is this trivial issue prompting such an angry (over)reaction? Honestly! You'd think the whole of HOP had been invaded by Daily Mail readers. Perhaps that's it; maybe people are worried about plummeting house prices as hordes of pizza-guzzling chavs (most of them illegal immigrants) defy their ASBOs and descend on the Parade of an evening, powerless to resist the aroma of baking pizza dough and the twang of mozzarella stretched (like themselves) beyond endurance?