19th September 2008
A local council has banned a number of pub road signs, saying they could 'encourage drink-driving'.
Wiltshire County Council ordered the Black Dog pub, just off the A303 at Chilmark, to remove their road sign as it was "potentially providing the temptation to drink and drive".
A letter from local Highways Agency planning manager to the pub's owners Trisha and Thomas Russell read: "No alcohol is allowed to be served or consumed in service stations on motorways as a matter of principle and we would wish to continue this principle by not encouraging drivers to break their journey in a public house."
Mr Russell said that the pub stands to lose 30 per cent of its business by removing the sign.
"Up to 60% of our lunchtime and weekend trade comes from weary drivers pulling over to take a break, entertain whining children and have some food," he told The Publican. "Without our sign no-one will know we are here."
The council also ordered another local pub to remove its road sign and rejected one pub's planning application for a new one.
Also quoted in the Publican, Godfrey Page of the Guild of Master Victuallers warned that the decisions could set a precedent, with other councils "jumping on the bandwagon".
However, a spokesman for the Highways Agency said that individual judgments "should not be seen as introducing new policy."
Pub road signs 'could encourage drink driving'
Wiltshire County Council ordered the Black Dog pub, just off the A303 at Chilmark, to remove their road sign as it was "potentially providing the temptation to drink and drive".
A letter from local Highways Agency planning manager to the pub's owners Trisha and Thomas Russell read: "No alcohol is allowed to be served or consumed in service stations on motorways as a matter of principle and we would wish to continue this principle by not encouraging drivers to break their journey in a public house."
Mr Russell said that the pub stands to lose 30 per cent of its business by removing the sign.
"Up to 60% of our lunchtime and weekend trade comes from weary drivers pulling over to take a break, entertain whining children and have some food," he told The Publican. "Without our sign no-one will know we are here."
The council also ordered another local pub to remove its road sign and rejected one pub's planning application for a new one.
Also quoted in the Publican, Godfrey Page of the Guild of Master Victuallers warned that the decisions could set a precedent, with other councils "jumping on the bandwagon".
However, a spokesman for the Highways Agency said that individual judgments "should not be seen as introducing new policy."
Tags: Landlord, Regulations
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