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The
Lymington Society
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Lymington
Society
The
planning application by Wetherspoon's for a pub next to the
The
Lymington Society tries to be objective about all planning applications and
informs the planners as much as possible on each application. Here it may
be helpful if the Society informed the public through your pages as well.
Can I firstly amplify the comments of the Lymington Society spokesman in your
article by inserting the four paragraphs that you omitted from the press release.
"However we note that local people have expressed
concerns about the likelihood of such a large premises becoming a public house
so near to the church and the adjacent graveyard.
The Society understand the concerns and also has reservations
about what may well become an extremely large destination public house being
developed so near to an area that some people may feel is inappropriate.
Large destination pubs such as this may become have been
associated in the past with very late night licences and public order concerns,
as we see regularly on TV news programmes.
Therefore whilst welcoming in principle investments such
as this that bring new facilities, jobs and economic activity to the town,
the Society hopes that the authorities will not allow a very late licence
for this establishment which could cause problems for those living in the
town centre from noise and nuisance from inebriated revellers in the early
hours".
This
press release did not "cautiously welcome the move," but welcomed
a commercial investment that brought vitality and economic activity to the
High Street, but not the noise and nuisance of an establishment with the reputation
of Wetherspoon's, which from their website reads
"During the day, our Lloyds No.1 bars can offer a quiet, relaxed
pub, for all to enjoy a drink or meal; at night, the teams up the mood and
tempo. The night-time teams are really
focused on, and enthusiastic about, people having fun and providing a really
vibrant atmosphere. Watch out for
our regular party nights – great fun and often a bit of an eye-opener! At the weekends, many of our Lloyds No.1 bars
have live DJs or live music."
The
commercial ethos of Wetherspoon's, as I understand it, is to sell drink at
a price lower than other outlets which will not only damage the business of
those outlets, but on the basis that there is no similar outlet between Bournemouth
and Southampton, make Lymington High Street a focus, or destination, for that
type of pub. It is very questionable whether that is appropriate to the present
character of Lymington and its High Street.
The
authorities would no doubt try to control excessive noise and disturbance
from such a pub, but there would be continual friction and on the basis that
this can be described as a "destination pub" designed to attract
large numbers of young people from a wide area, there would no doubt have
to be a regular police presence in the High Street. A few years ago there
were continual disturbances monitored by the police in
Accordingly,
whilst in principle welcoming facilities for young people in the right places,
as the press release did, it clearly cautioned against this sort of outlet
next to the parish church. The Lymington Society have now had an opportunity
to discuss this within its executive committee and with many of its members,
and the clear feeling accepted by everyone is that this is a proposal for
what might, in certain circumstances, be the right facility but in completely
the wrong place.
I
appreciate that many with strong religious or traditional views may say that
the proposal is outrageous and that it should not even be considered. The
Lymington Society have now considered the proposal fully and objectively and,
on all the arguments, a pub of the Wetherspoon's type is clearly wrong for
Lymington High Street and in particular for this location immediately next
to the entrance to the Lymington parish church.
For
the full objection of the Lymington Society dealing with all the issues please
look at our website.
Yours
faithfully
Clive
Sutton