Albert Beale on the 5 Caledonian Road building of which he is a trustee, which refused to sell up as property developers transformed much of the central London location

I’ve worked at King’s Cross for close to 50 years, and lived here for a while too. I won’t be the only local who cheered when reading Suzanne Moore’s article (G2, 6 November) about how she missed the wildness and the people of the old, pre-“development” King’s Cross. There was a detailed alternative community plan to reuse the derelict railway lands for socially useful purposes, while leaving the non-derelict (even if somewhat run-down) occupied areas in place. Money spoke, however, leading to the loss of some existing (genuinely) affordable homes, and the plonking down of corporate headquarters.

But not everyone and everything that typified the old down-to-earth community here has been driven out. For example, next year the 5 Caledonian Road building of which I’m a trustee – and which did its bit to frustrate the property developers on this patch by, almost uniquely, refusing to sell up to allow demolition of this corner of The Cross – celebrates 60 years as a progressive resource for both the locality and the wider world. Suzanne will be welcome to the party.

Albert Beale

King’s Cross, London

• Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com

• Read more Guardian letters – click here to visit gu.com/letters

• Do you have a photo you’d like to share with Guardian readers? Click here to upload it and we’ll publish the best submissions in the letters spread of our print edition