Ignorant residents of South Kensington need a history lesson

It's not often I get really riled by something I've read in a newspaper but when I came across this story yesterday I almost fell off my chair.
This morning's Sun newspaper carries the headline: RESIDENTS BATTLE TO KO HALL PLANS
It begins: Local residents are fighting to stop boxing returning to London's Royal Albert Hall.
Ah, "local residents". Having worked as a reporter on a local newspaper I know this phrase all too well. I can't count the amount of stories I've written about "local residents" opposing a new development or "local residents" having a moan or "local residents" saying "that's all very well but not-in-my-back-yard".
Now the "local residents" of South Kensington, one of London's most affluent areas, have got their knickers in a twist over plans to return boxing to the Royal Albert Hall. If any of these residents had lived there for longer than ten years they would know that boxing has always taken place there. Well, at least since 11th December 1918 when the Welsh flyweight legend Jimmy "The Mighty Atom" Wilde appeared on the card.
Boxing has been staged at the Royal Albert Hall as recently as 1999 when Julius Francis defeated Danny Williams for the British and Commonwealth heavyweight title and a certain Ricky Hatton featured on the undercard. In fact, most of the great British fighters of the past 90 years have fought at the Hall at some point in their careers. Lennox Lewis, the 1988 Olympic gold medalist, made his professional debut at the Royal Albert Hall in 1989. British heavyweight champ Joe Bugner fought at least a quarter of his 83 bouts at the Hall, Frank Bruno fought there, as did Sir Henry Cooper and greats such as Jack "Kid" Berg, Randy Turpin and Ken Buchanan. Nigel Benn defeated Anthony Logan in a classic tear-up at the Hall in 1988.
What this all boils down to is simple prejudice. As one of the residents says herself: "The type of people attending boxing matches aren't going to be your average Prom-goer". So it's alright for people to attend classical music concerts, or even tennis matches, but not boxing. There is an underlying belief that people who choose to watch boxing are "undesirable" types. Now, it may be true that boxing sometimes attracts a noisy element, witness Hatton's traveling army of fans, but are they really any worse than people attending a rock concert? And what if they are? Haven't they paid their taxes the same as everyone else? Millions of pounds of public money are poured into "the arts" every year for events which frankly, have limited public appeal. A British or World title fight at Royal Albert Hall would have been in the past and could be in the future, one of the highlights of the sporting calendar.
In fact, the only reason boxing hasn't been held at the Hall in recent years is because of a clerical error on the part of the Hall's management who simply forgot to tick a box when reapplying for a license in 2005.
Let's hope Mr Justice McCombe, who is hearing this appeal, sees sense and throws it out without a second thought.