Sir – Having read Katherine MacAlister’s restaurant review in The Oxford Times last week, I would like to say that the Randolph Restaurant is our favourite place to dine in Oxford.

We have been going to the restaurant for five years or more and have entertained friends and family there.

We are now greeted as regular customers and find the service exemplary, not just efficient, and have always found the food excellent.

We agree with her on that point.

However, we applaud the decor of the dining room.

The fact that the furnishings absorb sound is such a relief, because we can have a conversation and can hear what everyone says.

Members of our family are deaf and this is the only place in Oxford where they can relax, are not attacked by muzak (we frequently find ourselves positioned below a loud speaker) and can join in a conversation.

In most restaurants, we and others give up trying to converse because the lack of soft furnishings means that everyone speaks louder and louder, because they cannot hear, and the situation becomes intolerable. As most people get older they experience a slight hearing loss, which makes restaurant dining considerably more difficult.

The red curtain in the restaurant is drawn when the restaurant needs to be enlarged.

We have sat on the large table when the curtain is drawn back several times with a large party.

Susan Brownlee, Oxford