Wetherspoon to open first motorway pub amid outrage

Pub chain JD Wetherspoon has been given the green light to open its first pub at a motorway service station despite criticism from campaigners that it will "tempt" drivers to drink.

The new bar will open at the Extra service station in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire later this year and will be licensed to serve alcohol between 8am and 1am.

Wetherspoon chairman Tim Martin called the unprecedented pub an "exciting new development" and said he hoped its would be "the first of many Wetherspoon's on the motorway".

However, road safety groups including Brake and the Alcohol Health Alliance have condemned the move saying the bar will send the wrong message to drivers.