WHAT HAVE HARVEY NICHOLS DONE TO THEIR FOOD HALL - THE HORROR...

I fell in love with Harvey Nichols Food Hall well when I moved into Central London in 1994.

It's been an institution for me for regular groceries but most importantly it became my Christmas Eve Tradition. Inviting friends to share a glass of champagne at the bar having made my food selections ready for collection when I eventually stumbled out of the door some hours later happy and sated.

It had the best Butcher, Greengrocer, Fishmonger, Cheesemonger of any establishment in London and I'd include Borough Market in that, that was when it was a grown up traders food market (before it went to hell in a hand cart and became a marketeers wet dream).

Unlike the cavernous Food Hall of it's neighbour Harrods this was intimate. Harrods was where the tourists went, HN was where the foodies would come.

Every staff member had been there since I started coming. They were committed to the store and far more importantly they were committed to their customers. I had friends use the place as others would shop at Tesco (think Ab Fab).

And yes, there were lots of expensive foods, but for your local grocery shop it would be no more expensive than buying free range organic at your local supermarket.

I have raved and raved about this establishment for over 2 decades.

It's service was second to none.

As I've said I sat at the Champagne Bar entertaining friends on most Christmas Eve's meeting up with customers, who'd be collecting their regular fowl, bird or game every year since moving to London.

It was the archetypal London Christmas and perfect in every way.

I was always offered things to try I'd never heard of, tasted a variety of things before perfect selection, the Wine Shop had the most knowledgeable staff on all alcohol, not just wine.

It really was the most special and unique department store Food Hall in the world.

But over the last few years, it's been in steady decline, first the bakery disappeared, then the grocery section get reduced to nothing until this year, the most horrific of abominations, the entire Fresh Food department has gone.

What's left is mass market Franchise food outlets - it is in essence a Food Court. Yes and no amount of poncing those two words up, is ever going to elevate an eatery from its connection to tacky food, for bored, palate less, hungry shoppers in a Shopping Centre in Slough. All this homogenisation has now turned a world beating foodie paradise into, I suppose, what the store has itself become (with HN stores now across the country) a slightly elevated Debenhams. A store full of concessions that does very little itself, other than rent out space to others.

No place for the discerning anymore.

A devastating and appalling piece of London vandalism that should never be supported.

Time and time again the food hall managers have said there was the trade to support it, but why bother when you can drag stupid people in to buy poor food for much more money (and people actually queue for B&L an incomprehensible situation to me).

So if you want places like this to remain unique, bastions of our fantastic city, don't shop here, make their money grabbing overlords find the stupid in other cities, use the Burger & Lobster, Yo Sushi, Zelman Meats, Bubblology in any of their high street outlets, just don't use these ones.

Complain about the Food Hall's absence to the store manager every time you're in here. Tell your friends too, Tweet, Facebook, WhatsApp etc. the hell out it.

I've said it about Fortnum and Mason's, Burlington Arcade and I'll do so again here, London institutions are ours, not their owners, the owner is just granted the honorary licence to be the establishments care-taker for a while, not it's destroyer.

Let's see the fantastic food-hall and all it's amazing staff next year, you'll be better off for it, I'll be better off for it, but above all, London will be much, much better off for it.

And that would definitely bring back a bit of Christmas Cheer and we should all be thankful for that.