Witherspoons Pub

Tealeaf · 11-02-2004, 14:32

Whats this crap I read that Witherspoons are looking again at opening up a pub in Accy town centre? The council must be bonkers to even consider it - or else they're trying to cover their own mess of trying to get tenants into the market redevelopment.

Just what will another pub - a megapub - result in? A few hundred additional delinquents around the town centre every friday/saturday night, more fights, more NHS & police bills, 2 or 3 traditional pubs around Hyndburn closed, more dereliction, more rubbish, more rats....When will we ever learn. It's enough to make you sick.

I'm going down the pub.

Darby · 12-02-2004, 10:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Whats this crap I read that Witherspoons are looking again at opening up a pub in Accy town centre? The council must be bonkers to even consider it - or else they're trying to cover their own mess of trying to get tenants into the market redevelopment.

Just what will another pub - a megapub - result in? A few hundred additional delinquents around the town centre every friday/saturday night, more fights, more NHS & police bills, 2 or 3 traditional pubs around Hyndburn closed, more dereliction, more rubbish, more rats....When will we ever learn. It's enough to make you sick.

I'm going down the pub.

They are not pubs..Tealeaf, just bars where undesirables can get legless by paying well over the odds. There should be a special "Town-Centre" tax payable by everyone who goes into them, to pay for the resultant mess.

I'll go down the pub as well

lettie · 12-02-2004, 11:11

Being the occasional town centre dweller that I am. I can honestly say that I am not a delinquent, but see loads of people every week who obviously are. Maybe if we had a Wetherspoons, the delinquents would all hang out there, and leave the rest of us town centre people alone. Wetherspoons are known for cheap ale, because there's no music or other frills to bump up their prices. I have never been in a wetherspoons which has sold good cider, although the beer drinkers that I know say it's quite good, the cider is always poor quality trash.

I also happen to think that we have more than enough pubs in Accy town centre, many of which are only half full, even on a friday or saturday night, as many people regularly beggar off to Blackburn or Burnley, as I happened to notice a few weeks ago when I was in Blackburn and ran into half the population of Accy in Wetherspoons ( the postal order)

Tealeaf · 12-02-2004, 13:33

OK Lettie........I understand what you are saying. Keep the riff-raff in one place, preferably out of the town centre.......just a shame Witherspoons could'nt have got the Sacred Heart, is'nt it?

glasgow guy · 12-02-2004, 15:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

OK Lettie........I understand what you are saying. Keep the riff-raff in one place, preferably out of the town centre.......just a shame Witherspoons could'nt have got the Sacred Heart, is'nt it?

the flip side of things is jobs for local people & more money coming into the town centre by way of people making the effort to come here because there is a witherspoons - which are actually nice pubs - they dont play music at all (every witherspoons have a strict no music policy which could well keep the teenage binge drinkers away) and have no smoking area's (which may put smokers off from going but thats their choice)
I personally would like one here cos they are nice pubs to have lunch in and being a non smoker its is nice to sit in a pub and not choke on the fumes of people next to you every time you have a bite and you can hear who you are talking to because of the no music policy.
But different folks & different strokes......

Tealeaf · 12-02-2004, 16:18

Yeah...they are nice - in the way that MacDonalds have nice restaurants. Once you've been in one,with it's ubiquitious pinewood numbered tables, fake tiffany lampshades (that should go down well in Accy), poorly kept ale at £1.20 a pint (toilet duck tastes better) - you've been in 'em all!

OK - they create jobs. But they also cost jobs - and tradition. Witherspoon rarely takes over an existing pub (they're to small) - it's either an old bank, office ground floor or something similar.When they start selling their knock down ale (which they do through their buying power) the traditional family pubs can't compete...and they close. They get boarded up..windows get broken....The street starts to look scruffy, ..you know the story.

If you want a cheap pint & no fag smoke then get yourself a 4-pack & a video & stay at home; but unless you want to see the town more mucked up than it already is, keep clear of the wetherspoon rogues.

glasgow guy · 12-02-2004, 18:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

Yeah...they are nice - in the way that MacDonalds have nice restaurants. Once you've been in one,with it's ubiquitious pinewood numbered tables, fake tiffany lampshades (that should go down well in Accy), poorly kept ale at £1.20 a pint (toilet duck tastes better) - you've been in 'em all!

OK - they create jobs. But they also cost jobs - and tradition. Witherspoon rarely takes over an existing pub (they're to small) - it's either an old bank, office ground floor or something similar.When they start selling their knock down ale (which they do through their buying power) the traditional family pubs can't compete...and they close. They get boarded up..windows get broken....The street starts to look scruffy, ..you know the story.

If you want a cheap pint & no fag smoke then get yourself a 4-pack & a video & stay at home; but unless you want to see the town more mucked up than it already is, keep clear of the wetherspoon rogues.

Oh dear who doesnt like Wetherspoons ??? what is it your afraid of ? Change ?, something new & modern ? bright lights and big pubs ???
Why cant you be happy that something modern thats a brand name may be coming to accrington ?
To be honest Accrington town centre cant look any worse than it does at the moment with the empty shops which are boarded up, some with broken windows - they look scruffy - but whats made them move away ....?? was it a bigger shop that opened close by ?? nope - no buissness thats why so whether there is a wetherspoons here or not other places will close regardless.
Just how many pub goers (given the choice) want to go out and sit in a 'traditional' pub all night when they could go to a new modern bright pub that has 'drinks offers' and other people of relevant age ??
You will always have the hardcore traditional pub goers who will still drink in the 'traditional pubs' (what is a traditional pub ??)
And so what if wetherspoons pubs have dodgy pinewood tables ? & fake tiffany lamps (those are the old ones - the new ones dont have those lamps in them or those pinewood tables) - its a pub for goodness sake - I take it the pub you go to has solid marble tables with your own private barman to serve you whilst you sit in the light of the candleabra ??? and if so then your quite right to 'slate' the decor of a big chain pub !
And what exactly is poorly kept ale ? is that 'ale' thats not kept in a fridge/cellar/cool environment and been sitting in the sun all day ??????
The reason that they can sell cheap alchohol is because they buy so much of it - like anything - the more you buy (wholesale) the cheaper you get it for.
Just because its cheap doesnt mean to say its of poor quality,
I think tealeaf mate that you should stay at home with your curtains shut when/if wetherspoons comes to town , at least you can enjoy your toilet duck in peace.

Tealeaf · 13-02-2004, 08:24

What is it you do? Marketing Manager for Witherspoons?

lettie · 13-02-2004, 19:22

If wetherspoons do such great beers, why can they not do a decent cider. I have been in many of these establishments and have never yet come across a good cider in there. Also the Postal Order in Blackburn has been desperately lacking in atmosphere the last few times I have been there. Accy town centre already has more than enough half empty pubs. I have nothing against wetherspoons, but quite frankly don't think Accy needs one, a new pub will not bring out of towners to Accy it will merely spread the buisness in town centre pubs more thinly.

glasgow guy · 14-02-2004, 00:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tealeaf

What is it you do? Marketing Manager for Witherspoons?

not at all mate, I am looking at it from a non accrington persons point who has moved here, been out in town seen alot of your small pubs and thinks that a new bigger brighter pub would be beneficial.
sorry if I have offended anyone.
Lettie- as for the Postal Order in B/burn - have never been there so cant comment on it ,as for the decent cider.. not a drinker of the stuff so I wouldnt know a good one if it bit me on the backside !

lettie · 14-02-2004, 09:03

Believe me my Scottish friend, I may not know much, but I do know cider, Strongbow is definately the most decent one, Kingston Press is passable, Woodpecker (too sweet for me) but if you like the sweet stuff is fairly decent. Unfortunately scrumpy jack, autumn gold and dry blackthorn all resemble formaldehyde (embalming fluid) and wetherspoons always seem to sell one of the last 3.
The main reason my friends and I would go out of town, would be to go to a decent club, not because a town has one decent pub. A place like wetherspoons is ok to meet up in to start your night out. You can talk to your friends without music blaring out and catch up on the chat. However, after one or two drinks the ladies like a dance, so there has to be somewhere good for you to move on to. Unfortunately, the most decent place for dancing in Accy is the Voodoo lounge, which is tiny. The club upstairs is full of kids, and I've never heard of most of the music that they play. Lar-de Dars is usually pretty empty, the 80's music at the Arcade bar used to be a laugh, but it became quieter up there when Voodoo opened.
Maybe I'm just getting old...

yerself · 14-02-2004, 18:56

Tealeaf. were you born aged 78?

lindsay ormerod · 15-02-2004, 11:02

Hi.
The proposed site for the new Wetherspoons is an unused patch of land at the minute.Personally I like Wetherspoons pubs,there are very few places in Acc that allow you take children in for lunch and the Wetherspoons I have been in previously have always been manned by pleasant and helpful staff.It may also maake a few of the established pubs sit up and take notice and maybe even improve!

Mick · 15-02-2004, 13:25

children should not be aloud in pubs
you go in there for a quiet drink you dont need screaming kids in there
running around

lettie · 15-02-2004, 18:37

Have to admit that not many pubs in Accy centre are child friendly, but children have no place in pubs with the smokey atmosphere. There are plenty of child friendly places outside town Redcap has a childrens menu, The Game Cock, and Bentley wood Farm. Most people who go for their Sunday afternoon pint have gone there in order to escape kids ( especially the fellas) If I go for an afternoon pub meal, the last thing I want is to keep having my table knocked into by other peoples running children. I have plenty of children in my family, who I have taken out for meals and with the best will in the world kids will run around and get on other diners nerves. My Nieces and Nephews know that they will not be taken out again if they don't behave, but some people get a knife and fork in their hands and the kids suddenly don't exist any more, and when you complain to them about the kids, you end up with a load of abuse.
It's a shame really, as other countries seem to have this problem sussed, My brother takes his little boy out in New Zealand every weekend, there are plenty of places to go, and specific areas/ separate facilities for families.