[Tealeaf]

Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington

As usual, the Telegraph has made a dogs breakfast of this bit of news.

I'm not sure that the economic climate in Accrington will support a Costa Coffee outlet........will wait and see.

Wetherspoons, well...that just might make a good go of it.

I can't exactly see queues round the corner for a Ristretto Doppio double decafe at three quid a time but I suspect the local alco's will be camped out on the pavement at 8am for their bacon butties and early morning pints of snakebite

The end result, of course, will be a couple more traditional pubs closing round Accy. Of course, I won't mind if one of those establishments is the Bee’s Knees (or whatever its title is these days) but my guess is the closures will be among those just outside the town centre.

That someone wishes to swap a proper pub for a ghastly drinking emporium is beyond me; I will certainly not be setting foot in the place – you’d sooner catch me in a Mac’s or a KFC than a Wetherspoons. In fact, there’s very little difference – the latter is no more than a licensed variation on the former and the only debate is on the quality of the pigswill that is laughingly sold as food fit for human consumption in all of these outlets. Still, I suppose if it attracts the local riff-raff and keeps them out of respectable boozers then some good may come of it.