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First pub at motorway services

The pub chain JD Wetherspoon has been given the go-ahead to open its first pub at a motorway service station, despite criticism from road safety campaigners that it will "tempt" drivers to drink.

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Health charity: Motorway pub 'sends wrong message'

The chairman of the Alcohol Health Alliance (AHA), which brings together organisations focussed on tackling alcohol misuse, has condemned plans for the first Wetherspoon motorway pub:

To reduce alcohol-related harm, we have to reduce its availability, not increase it. Opening a bar at a service station sends out completely the wrong message if we are trying to prevent harm from alcohol-related traffic accidents.

The AHA believes that a fundamental review of licensing law is required which focuses on controlling the availability of alcohol and reducing alcohol-related harm.

Public health should be a licensing objective in its own right, taking into consideration the total number of premises selling alcohol, of all kinds, and the impact of this provision on the health and wellbeing of the local population.

– Sir Ian Gilmore, chairman, Alcohol Health Alliance

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