Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

DRINKING

Wetherspoons have applied for planning permission for a pub/restaurant on the Ridgeway Plympton. (It could just as easily be Plymstock or Ivybridge) What should the planners do?
My feelings are mixed. On the one hand, I enjoy few things more than going for a nice meal and drink with Jan in pleasant nearby surroundings. The more choice we all have, the better; the more competition, the more standards will rise. Wetherspoons do produce some very attractive places.

But on the hand, we need another outlet for alcohol in this area like a hole in the head. We are all getting thoroughly sick of the sight of drunken youths strewn all over our street corners, being sick and making a nuisance of themselves. I exaggerate, but only slightly. So much crime is now drink (and drug) related and our hard working police officers are overwhelmed, especially at the weekends. Most of the recent evidence suggests that 24 hour drinking was a step too far. We have to get this dangerous love affair with binge drinking under control, and opening up new pubs is a strange way of doing it.

Many would argue that the real problem with alcohol abuse stems more from cheap booze at supermarkets than respectable establishments, and there is some force in that argument. Whatever the cause, we clearly have to act on this modern day scourge, especially when underage drinking is concerned, where the primary regulator must be the parents.

I worry too about the character of the Ridgeway. When we first came to Plymouth in early 1980 (symbolically in an old car that got slower and slower as we approached and expired never to go again outside the front door of our newly purchased tiny terraced house in Mutley) Mutley Plain was a decent secondary shopping area of reasonable quality, with a few quite good restaurants. Look at it now – a glorified drinking haunt for students and teenagers. I do not want our suburban shopping centres, all of which have shown signs of recent improvement, to get like that.

So the planners have a real dilemma on their hands. At the very least they will need to explore fully the likely impact on anti-social behaviour and the character of the neighbourhood before being able to agree such a dramatic change of use. The attitude of the police will be crucial. What would you do if you were a member of the planning committee?

posted by Nigel on Friday, August 24, 2007