Motorway Pub Opens Despite Opposition
 

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Is this a bad idea or are people overreacting to it? Discuss...

What's the point? Drink driving is illegal, why from a business point of view would you open a pub in a motorway service station? Okay people might come and sit there with an orange juice for a while if they're wanting to take a break from driving but they could do that at a cafe... I can understand the opposition completely

This has got to be the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.

many will use it without drinking , though

Very bad idea

Excellent idea. The amount of times I've been driving on the motorway at 3.55 am thinking about having some shots are too many to count. I foresee no potential problems with this at all.

Although if you can't see a pub without having to have a drink, then that's your issue.

A lot of Wetherspoons business is non drinking though, like all their meals are pretty good food at really affordable prices and especially their breakfasts are quite popular I think

I don't think it's that big a deal anyway, ok so it's right by a motorway but all pubs are by roadsides anyway really aren't they, if someone was driving and really did want a drink they could leave the motorway and be at a pub within not that long usually. This might be more convenient but people are sensible enough to not suddenly start chucking drink down their neck just cos there's a pub in a service station. I imagine most of the drink trade will be things like big coachloads of people and that sort of thing.

I'd imagine the food trade would be their main aim tbh and having it at right by the motorway is a perfect place to get trade from people who are on long journeys and need to stop for food. I really don't think having a pub near a motorway is going to make people who wouldn't normally drink and drive suddenly decide to do so.

Over here people go to the pub on their lunch breaks alot for food, they have trays with pints of water lined up on the counter, pubs make big money on food.

So yeah, in short I don't see the problem

This is the worst idea since Abraham Lincoln said to his wife "I'm sick of kicking around the house all day, let's go take in a show"

Fixed.

This is a very bad idea as tempts people to have an alcoholic drink and then go and drive at 80mph on a Motorway...

I'm seeing major death and disaster ahead.

Cannot understand how permission for this was granted...!!!!

Some pertinent points here. I don't see the problem with it personally, although I can understand the knee jerk reaction of "omg selling alcohol at a services station". However if you think about it, Wetherspoons IS primarily known for it's food and low priced deals, they do cracking breakfasts btw :love: (sorry, I'm digressing) and it seems to me that it will be very convenient for the majority of drivers to have this facility especially on long journeys, I'm guessing that this will set a precedent and more will soon be introduced at different locations, if it's a success and I believe it will be.

Let's not get carried away by scaremongering; if someone is inclined to drink and drive then it's in their character and they will do it anyway. Consider this, many a service station has a Pizza Hut in the locality, they serve alcoholic drinks, I've never heard anyone protesting about that?

I don't see a problem.

No to mention petrol stations sell bottles of wine and sometimes beer as well.. (well they do here anyway)

Yes they do here as well Niamh. Good point.

I don't get it

I just don't get this logic though, there are pubs everywhere, if someone wants to drink and drive having one less pub isn't going to stop that. And people who aren't inclined to drink and drive aren't going to suddenly start doing so because there's a pub nearby

Maybe, I deleted the post after you quoted, because I read that the pub was a Weatherspoons, not a pub-pub as I first thought, lol.

I'm sceptical, in theory it sounds like a recipe for disaster but in practice who knows?
Mobile breathalysers would be a fantastic addition to places like this, most I'm sure wouldn't risk more than one drink if any.
But if you wanted to make sure? however, then you would be trapped up the M40.... :laugh:

Oh I'm sorry, i didn't notice you had deleted it

No problem :joker: I think its more resonable opening a Weatherspoons on a motorway than just a normal pub, it'd just seem strange opening a normal pub there, lol.

Well, I don't think a pub that didn't serve food would even want to open on a motorway, I doubt financially it would make any sense to them, there's a big market and big money for the food trade on a motorway though I would imagine

Meh. I would stop by there for some food if I had a long journey and I suppose any passengers in the car could have a quick drink. No problem to me. It's up to the driver to be responsible really.

I deal for passengers who fancy a pint or if you fancy a quick 2 pints on your journey.

Precisely this

The guy from JDW was on the Sky News this morning and he made the point that there are any number of places where alcohol can be bought and consumed if the driver just leaves the motorway for a mile or two, therefore anyone wishing to have a drink, whether they are driving or not, can feasibly get one anyway. I do see his point.

However, I think it's a bold move business-wise because it's already attracting negative attention. All it's going to take now is for someone to decide to get drunk at that pub, then drive, and you know there will be a media shit-storm.

True but anyone who's planning to get drunk and then drive their car is probably going to do that whether or not they go to a pub on the motorway or just off it

I agree Niamh, but you know the press will have a field-day if it happens with this pub.

Yeah, you're right

I do agree that it is the driver's responsibility, not Wetherspoons'..

Maybe to placate the scaremongers / bad publicists they could place a limit on the amount of alcohol they offer per group, not allowing it to be over the limit? Sure, maybe others in the group could give their drinks to the driver, but then they would just be a group of morons who deserve to be done for drink driving anyway.

Maybe the police will just sit at the point before re-joining the motorway, in breathalyser Heaven.

haha.. I actually said this when I was watching the news report this morning.. that the police could sit half a mile down the road from it and rake in the fines lol

A lot of Posters on here are saying they can't see a problem with this.

I think the problem is that it puts unnecessary temptation into the minds of a few people who have issues with drinking and driving. Opening a pub in a Motorway service station ensures some people who are driving may have an alcoholic drink when previously they would not have been able to.

It's that small group of drivers that worries me as the odds for drinking and driving have now just increased ever so slightly. all the other arguments re food don't hold water as most service stations offer a wide variety of food.

No this is about offering alcohol and within that group some drivers are certain to have an alcoholic drink and unfortunately an even smaller group will sadly have one over the limit.

And as we know on motorways with large volumes of traffic travelling at high speeds it only takes one drunken idiot to cause a major pile up with large loss of life so...

NO I don't think it's a good idea...!!!!

To be honest, they'd have been better opening it up with a dry bar. That way they still get the food customers, but don't have the alcohol for sale.

People on the road will pop in for Food and hot drink
So it will work.


Not Everyone is a Piss Head

The perfect solution. It would silence all the critics.

I wasn't implying that everyone was a piss head.

I was pointing out that a dry bar would be a happy medium. If there's not much demand for alcohol, then it shouldn't affect their turnover.

Yes I know lily.


I am sure over time it will work out


On ITV1 London News
many punters said its great
good value Hot Food
and a single drink or Hot Drink

Apparently this service area is off the motorway just near the junction anyway and has had a dedicated M&S Off License for years lol

I think there's a slight difference in justification between having it with a meal and buying it in a can. Not my justification, a potential drinker's :laugh: