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England's First Motorway Pub opens today

Covered End
Covered End Posts: 52,225
edited January 2014 in Not Sports Related
As an esteemed client of Wetherspoon over many years, they have kindly agreed to open their first pub today on route to Oxford just for me.

It is located on the M40 at Beaconsfield and I shall pay a visit, purely to say I was there :-)

I should add that I'm riding shot gun (not driving).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/10583747/Englands-first-motorway-side-pub-to-open.html
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Comments

  • Leroy Ambrose
    Leroy Ambrose Posts: 14,488
    That is, frankly, absolutely fucking ridiculous.
  • MrLargo
    MrLargo Posts: 8,013

    That is, frankly, absolutely fucking ridiculous.

    Yep. Doubt they'll be people getting hammered and then getting behind the wheel, but I reckon there'll be plenty who chance their arm by risking an extra pint or two.

    There is no good that can come from it whatsoever.
  • Carter
    Carter Posts: 14,346
    At airports and train terminals yes

    Motorway service stations absolutely ridiculous
  • DaveMehmet
    DaveMehmet Posts: 21,734
    Thing is, if people want to drink & drive, they'll do it whether this place is open or not. Can't see it encouraging people tbh. I'm probably one of the biggest twats going but I wouldn't even consider it.
  • SuedeAdidas
    SuedeAdidas Posts: 7,817
    Other than potential volume of custom......why is this any worse than a pub opening up on any road?
  • MrOneLung
    MrOneLung Posts: 27,071
    I often drive and just cant stop myself from stopping at every pub I go past.

    what a lot of fuss about nothing
  • MrLargo
    MrLargo Posts: 8,013

    Other than potential volume of custom......why is this any worse than a pub opening up on any road?

    Virtually all its customers are drivers who will be getting back in their car and driving straight after their visit. That is not the case with town centre and residential pubs.
  • JT
    JT Posts: 12,348
    do people no longer drive with passengers then?
  • SuedeAdidas
    SuedeAdidas Posts: 7,817
    Isn't it? What percentage of people that drive to a town centre/residential pub do not drive upon leaving?
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,475
    Drinking and driving do not mix period .. I do a lot of motorway driving .. there are a few, not many, loon drivers about .. what I do not want to have to contend with is pissed loony drivers or even mildly intoxicated drivers

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  • BIG_ROB
    BIG_ROB Posts: 5,274

    Thing is, if people want to drink & drive, they'll do it whether this place is open or not. Can't see it encouraging people tbh. I'm probably one of the biggest twats going but I wouldn't even consider it.

    Twat
  • BIG_ROB
    BIG_ROB Posts: 5,274

    Drinking and driving do not mix period .. I do a lot of motorway driving .. there are a few, not many, loon drivers about .. what I do not want to have to contend with is pissed loony drivers or even mildly intoxicated drivers

    Drinking periods and driving definitely don't mix
  • MrLargo
    MrLargo Posts: 8,013

    Isn't it? What percentage of people that drive to a town centre/residential pub do not drive upon leaving?

    I don't know, I've not conducted a survey, I just drink in them (and then walk home or get a cab). Not interested in getting in an argument, just don't think it's a brilliant idea.
  • SheffieldRed
    SheffieldRed Posts: 3,772
    Some people will drink regardless of a pubs location. And some people will drive to a pub regardless of its location.

    However a higher percentage of this pub's clients are likely to drive than those attending non motorway pubs. A higher percentage of this pub's clients are likely to drive longer distances than those attending non motorway pubs. A higher percentage of this pub's clients are likely to drive at higher speeds than those attending non motorway pubs. Therefore, if you believe that people attending this pub are as likely to drink and drive as those attending any other pub, a client of this pub would probably be more likely to cause an alcohol related accident than the person attending a non motorway pub.

    Added to this, availability of alcohol is likely to increase the amount of people drinking and the volume drunk by an individual, increasing the likelihood of an accident.

    Allowing this pub to open appears to be decision which has placed economics above safety.
  • Lincsaddick
    Lincsaddick Posts: 32,475
    ^^^ terrific post
  • shirty5
    shirty5 Posts: 19,413
    Very handy for the coach(s) heading to oxford this evening.
  • dizzee
    dizzee Posts: 5,616
    edited January 2014
    I say if you're going to drive why bother even having one drink at all, putting some other poor buggers life in danger.
  • soapy_jones
    soapy_jones Posts: 21,443
    edited January 2014
    Fucking Nanny State. Whenever I have been in a Wetherspoons there have been more people stuffing their faces with overpriced food and insipid tea or coffee than anything else (an exception of course being the HH at Liverpool Street, cheap lighters and Big Issue central). 99.9% of people driving on a motorway are just getting from A to B with as little hassel as possible, does anyone seriously think that we have got to the stage where these people need to be told NOT to drink AND drive.

    Idiots who drink and drive in this day and age, are congenital morons, what's the news there.

    Cue the media salivating over every accident within 10 miles of this establishment just in case the poor bastards stopped for a piss on the way through.
  • _MrDick
    _MrDick Posts: 13,147

    That is, frankly, absolutely fucking ridiculous.

    Don't always agree with everything you say but on this occasion...

  • Curb_It
    Curb_It Posts: 21,263
    Can lorry drivers park up overnight at a service station? They will love it if so, a few beers and their dinner before camping down in their trucks overnight.

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  • Chizz
    Chizz Posts: 28,451
    So it's now possible to drive to a pub, park your car and go in. Just like every other pub in the country. Big deal.

    This is an absolute non-story.
  • Should make the club coaches a bit more lively
  • cafcdave123
    cafcdave123 Posts: 11,491
    Curb_It said:

    Can lorry drivers park up overnight at a service station? They will love it if so, a few beers and their dinner before camping down in their trucks overnight.

    I think a lot of service station's have a policy that forbids lorry drivers staying overnight but id imagine that this was taken into consideration when deciding on which services would get the first pub.

  • Rizzo
    Rizzo Posts: 6,457
    The Police must be loving this. Easy way to get their stats up by just breathalysing anyone getting behind the wheel when they come out of that place.
  • Chizz
    Chizz Posts: 28,451
    Why does anyone assume that everyone going into a pub is going to drink? The place opens for breakfast at 4:00 am, but does not sell any alcohol until 9:00. What do we think all the customers are doing in there, waiting in an orderly queue for five hours?

    Many motorway service stations and petrol stations sell alcohol. Virtually every pub has a car park. There's very little difference.
  • My simple theory on these types of issues is to treat citizens like adults (who have both the 'right' to have a drink, and the 'responsibility' not to get in their car and drink afterward), and chuck the book at them if they abdicate the latter in the assertion of the former.

    Unfortunately our justice system rarely chucks the proverbial leaflet at wrongdoers, let alone a book.
  • meldrew66
    meldrew66 Posts: 2,576
    For me, it simply isn't a good idea. A bit like having a chocolate machine in a health spa..........but significantly more inappropriate given the risk to life of 'inviting' drivers to have an alcoholic drink. I'm pretty sure that there is no evidence anywhere that says that alcohol improves driving and/or road safety.
  • Having done a few long trips recently where we've stopped at a services every time, I'd have welcomed a Wetherspoons which offered better food than the other crap in there at much better prices...providing they stick to Wetherspoons pricing structure!

    Doesn't mean that I'd also have a pint.
  • Chizz
    Chizz Posts: 28,451
    meldrew66 said:

    For me, it simply isn't a good idea. A bit like having a chocolate machine in a health spa..........but significantly more inappropriate given the risk to life of 'inviting' drivers to have an alcoholic drink. I'm pretty sure that there is no evidence anywhere that says that alcohol improves driving and/or road safety.

    So, is it "a good idea" to have car parks outside pubs? Or outside restaurants?
  • The_President
    The_President Posts: 14,280
    Rizzo said:

    The Police must be loving this. Easy way to get their stats up by just breathalysing anyone getting behind the wheel when they come out of that place.

    I went to a booza in the country on XMas day, and there was a Police Car parked right outside with a PC in the car.
    Good or Bad?