Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Boarded up

Two examples today, here and here, of officious local councils making pubs remove A-boards advertising their services. One is a pub in a market town set in a narrow street off the high street, the other is set back from the road in a rural area. In both cases, the presence of an A-board advertising that food is available will bring in a lot of customers who otherwise would pass by. For many rural pubs in particular, an A-board is a vital sign that they are open and trading.

So, at a time when the pub trade is struggling, busybody council officials are trying to kick them when they’re down. Despite all the noises about helping local businesses, the practical reality so often seems to be the complete opposite.

on

6 comments:

  1. Alistair Reece7 July 2010 at 13:11

    Whatever happened to British common sense? Ridiculous, absolutely bloody ridiculous.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brian, follower of Deornoth7 July 2010 at 13:43

    This kind of thing will carry on happening while shortfalls in business rates are made up by increasing the level of taxation rather than cutting the pay of council cancers.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Tandleman7 July 2010 at 14:05

    Well they'll all be made redundant soon and we'll be able to paint our ads on the pavement if we want.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Neville Grundy7 July 2010 at 16:57

    I think the relevant law is obstruction of the pavement, so I can't see how that applies to the grass verge in one of your examples. As for distracting drivers, this is a matter of opinion, not fact. It's funny how wordy council signs don't distract drivers, e.g: "You are entering Blogton, twinned with Blogville France, Blogburg USA and Blogoblanca Morocco. Britain in Bloom Award 2003. Please drive carefully through our town."

    Much less distracting than "Two meals for £5".

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous7 July 2010 at 17:25

    We need A boards outside pubs
    advertising cheap food to tell us to carry on our way in our quest for proper pubs ,if any still exist.
    As stated before,my local
    Wetherspoons Licensed Cafe now
    opens at 7 am serving £1.49p
    breakfasts,so what, you may ask,
    but then staff are calling early closing in the evening because they have had a long day.
    There is something very very seriously wrong with the pub trade and radical solutions are needed
    urgently. Any ideas ?

    ReplyDelete
  6. NAM7 July 2010 at 21:40

    Chorley is twinned with Szekesfehervar in Hungary. Now that's distracting.

    ReplyDelete

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