mercuryg

Someone told me yesterday that there is a no standing at the bar policy in wetherspoons bars. Apparently they want you to sit in a little enclosed booth or at a table. That's me going somewhere else, then.

Absolutely right, Monsta, it shoul be a case that if you don't like it you'll go elsewhere. So why condemn it before you've tried it?

Hate to pull you up on that, Monsta, but I think 16.4 refers to the cylinders and - and what I don't know - as the engine is just under eight litres. Is it worth the price? No, of course it's not. If you have to think about the price, however, then you can't afford one! Buy a Bristol Fighter T instead.

Nicely designed so that there's little room for standing at the bar, I note. Not a good move. Looks pretty, though. Bit too much like a restaurant for me.

You may have some points, but I drink in Bedlington regularly (perhaps too regularly!) in a variety of pubs, and while you're right there is interest in Wetherspoons opening, I would say that most of it is more of 'well I'll pop in and see what it's all about' than a welcoming and eager anticipation. The 7am opening is a complete red herring; as i said before that's great where you have a major bus/rail station and a regular number of people passing, with time to wait for their connection and a need for a bacon sandwich, but in bedlington at 7am you have a stream of cars heading out of town and a handful of people crammed into the bus shelter; there is no business for them at 7am, it's a needless expense and one that, as economics determine, they will soon knock on the head as they have more business sense than that. I like the idea of curry clubs and such, but again it's worth remembering that many pubs in Bedlington have tried such ventures over the years - to a t, each one has failed miserably through lack of interest. Malcolm also raises an interesting point about the clientele, and it's one that the non-Wetherspoons initiated seem to be ignorant about; in one bar I drink in on Bedlington front street there is a regular afternoon crowd of half a dozen who are, as you say, eager for it to open. The lure of cheap beer is something that fits their needs. What they don't realise is that the language they use and the attitude that prevails will have them kicked out within a day, as Wetherspoons is known for not tolerating bad language or behaviour and proferring a 'family atmosphere'. I simply can't see where that angle of clientele is going to come from. The landlady in the bar I mention is fully expecting those few regular afternnon drinkers to flock to the Red Lion when it opens; she is also fully expecting them to be back in her place pretty quickly when they find they are not the sort of people that Wetherspoons wants. Will I be going in? Of course I will; however, call me old fashioned, but I prefer to support the local landlords who have been providing me with good, honest enjoyable service for all these years rather than give my money to a major corporation that is interested only in a quick buck.

No I don't! where have I ever changed my stance on the matter? It began with me saying I believe there are escaped animals in England, that's still my stance on the matter, I have never done anythign but agree fully that native lynx have been extinct in th UK for centuries - and still are - and never mentioned anything about reintroducing them at all. I also never said they were common, in fact quite the opposite. I even concluded that the likelihood of a breeding population of escaped or discraded animals is slim. I haven't changed my argument at all.

can means can not, too, though, doesn't it? It's quite easy to miss out on things when you decide in advance that you won't like them. What if i'm in that 'niche market'? I mean, if there's a niche market to be targeted then someone has to be in it! What if the 'limited music genre's' happen to be ones I like? After all, nobody loves everything! As for amateur, so what? Don't you sometimes get sick of slick, boring professionalism all the time, isn't that yearning for something more 'amateur' the very reason we chat on sites like this? And then there's 'can be crap'; Yep. Everything can. No, try harder Monsta. The only reason you could possibly give me is that you know what it's like, you've heard it, and you know what I want. You don't, so it's not really much of a sell, is it? I wish all who are trying to break into local radio great success;I remember the days of KFM, pioneers of 'community radio', in Stockport very fondly.

I did say that, but where's the implication there are breeding populations of lynx in england in that sentence? I can't see it at all.Can anyone else? Furthermore, considering we - that's this thread - are talking not about native lynx, which mr Autumwatch rightly points out don't exist (just like native wildcats don't exist in England) surely you can see that the distinction is clear? You should do - it's been explained for you.

Ha! I look forward to relieving you of some hard earned cash, Malcolm!

Wow! What a read this thread is (and the others)! I never knew radio stations could arouse such vitriol! But then most of it comes from Monsta, for whom a cheese sandwich can cause apoplexy! On that note, to Monsta, your question 'give me three good reasons why...' etc, can you give me three good reasons why not?

It's a question that has been asked, debated and so on many times. One of the most common dismissals of the possibility of released or escaped lynx existing in the wild is that which you mention - the possibility, or unlikelihood as such, of them breeding. Yet, there is a well known example of a young lynx, one mentioned earlier in this thread somewhere, being sighted and positively identified with no known source - i.e it was not an escapee- forthcoming. Even those who are sceptical about 'Alien Big Cat' sightings freely admit that there is a strong possibility there are such animals loose in the country (I believe the expert witness account posted earlier - perhaps by yourself - alludes to this.) These animals, contrary to what Monsta might have us believe, are not reported once every few years, but quite regularly; mainly the reports come from people in remote areas, farmers and farmworkers, and a good many are from people on trains passing through generally uninhabited regions. More so than breeding, the real question is why so many reports are of 'black pumas' when the melanistic colouring doesn't exist even in the wild. You may have gathered it's not a subject I've become interested in since reading this thread; I'm heavily into crypto-zoology and collect such reports. Monsta - you completely missed my point: Packham was talking of a lack of native lynx, of which nobody - least of all me - is disputing. We are talking of animals that are not native to the country.

Malcolm, I think I may have been a touch unfair with that final sentence, as there is more to me not advertising on here than simply the 'tone'. I may be based locally, but my business is not, per se, 'local' so I see it serving little purpose. However, I am in the process of looking at more local business possibilities, so will consider the option. A quick one for TomTom - the North and 'reasonable' are not phrases I would class together (I'm assuming you're talking prices) and I know of no publicans who are unduly worried about the impending opening of Wetherspoons; the reasons are quite simple - people frequent this pub or that because they feel at home there, they meet the people they want to meet there, they like the ambience, music, staff, beer, pool table, bandits. whatever. Those people aren't suddenly going to up-sticks and head to Wetherspoons.

Am I the only one who thinks Wetherspoons will be a complete failure? For a start, nobody is going to go for breakfast at 7am. This isn't a town with a major transport terminus that allows for people with a little time to spare before their bus/train leaves. Opening at 7am can only cater for locals, as nobody comes into Bedlington at that time otherwise. They will soon knock that on the head as a needless expense. Next is th question of where the trade is going to come from. I have had conversations in the many pubs with people who believe that when it opens people will flock from miles around to come to the new Wetherspoons. Why would they? Ashington has their own anyway, Blyth has cheap pubs; the only trade that Wetherspoons will attract will be, again, local. Great, the beer is cheap and the food is cheap too, and I will safely bet that for the first couple of weeks the place will attract a lot of interested punters - i'll go and have a look for a start, and other like me undoubtedly will - but if the attraction of a drinking joint was price alone we would all drink in the clubs and the pubs would be shut. This isn't going to suddenly revive Bedlington in any way at all; beer is still very cheap in the supermarkets, people don't suddenly have any more money to spend, and it's just another pub. Those of us who frequent our local pubs do so not just to pour ten pints down our neck, but to have a bit of a natter, get out of the office, the house, whatever, and relax and have a laugh. I'm afraid that 50p off a pint isn't going to do it for me - and others like me - if the place is as sterile, boring and downright unwelcoming as other Wetherspoons establishments I;ve visited. And it certainly isn't going to attract a mass of people from neighbouring towns who suddenly see Bedlington's Wetherspoons as The Place To Be. I doubt it will last long at all. On another note, I wouldn't advertise my local business on this site. While I enjoy it, it doesn't present the right tone.

Has Chris Packham, or whoever, walked every inch of the many thousands of remote and largely untouched moorland, woodland, forest and more that this country plays host to? Does he personally know every single animal that lives in the UK? or is he talking, perhaps, about NATURAL predators for deer, rather than non-native cats of the ilk that we are talking of here? It's great to point to evidence that lynx have officially been extinct for many years - they have - and that TV presenters know everything there is to know, but we're not talking about lynx, or other cats, in the sense that they live here naturally; we're talking animals that are here as alien species, possibly as released after the Dangerous Animals act came into force. There is, as I'm sure you know, a major difference. As for having no predators, smaller deer are often killed by foxes.

That's the Iberian Lynx, unique to the Iberian Peninsular. The Eurpoean Lynx is quite common.In Europe, that is.

Midweek for me Mr Darn, something to do!

Did anyone ask you? Is that glass still half empty?

I'm pretty sure that playing cards for money in a public house isn't on. Mr Darn, if you find anywhere count me in I'm up for a game with the sort of pot you mentioned. I'm someone who actually likes people, rather than spending all my life with machines.

You wouldn't let that !*!@# out of the house, far too valuable! Would make a nice jumper.

You're absolutely right, Monsta, the native Lynx is extinct in England and the UK, just as the Wildcat is extinct in England. However, 'one or two escapees' is an uneducated guess. As long ago as the 1920's there were known to be three Lynx living together in Scotland; did they breed? In the mid 70's a young Puma cub was shot near London. It was almost a new born, indicationg its parents were still at large (they were never found). The number of sightings of cats alien to our country (that means native to another, not from outer space) over the past 50 years include positive identifcations of an Ocelot in the early 1990's, seen repeatedly in a part of Surrey, if I remember rightly, and many instances of smaller alien cats and even a clouded leopard. These aren't just tentative assumptions - these are actual, recorded sightings. Given that it was very trendy in the late 1960's among the wealthy to own exotic pets (the famous Harrods store had a pet shop specialisin in them, and a story goes a gentleman once requested a camel; 'One hump, or two?' was the assitants reply) and there are records of many purchases of Lynx, Puma, Jungle cats and more from both Harrods and other stores, where did they all go when, suddenly, owners were required to have an expensive licence following the Dangerous Animals Act in 1976? Very few instances of zoos accepting such animals - animals that existed as we know from sales receipts - yet suddenly nobody owned them! Where, again, did they go? It's a subject that raises many questions, yet provides few answers; what is certain, and even the most sceptical of commentators admits so, is that there are lynx, puma, ocelot and more living in the wild in England. How many is unknown.

That's incredible. Talk about not doing your market research. I have an idea - let's start a campaign: The Golf Course Lynx to Open The Red Lion!

The deer suggestion is very plausible indeed, but I would suggest that most people can tell the difference between bambi and a larger than your average !*!@# cat. i would also suggest that deer ARE common on the golf course and around. The thing is, what you're missing is that if what was seen turns out to be a Scottish Wild Cat that would be considerably more interestign to naturalists (no, Monsta, they are not people who don't wear clothes) than a Lynx as, as has been pointed out to you but conveniently ignored, there are Lynx known to have been released into th wild in England while the Wildcat hasn't been seen here for hundreds of years. Take the wallabies in Derbyshire - if I had told you you were more likely to see a wallaby in Derbyshire than a wildcat you would have resorted to your trusty wikipedia and ranted on about wallabies bein native to Australia and how they were not only extinct here but nver were here in the first place! The fact is, however, that you are more likely to see a wallaby in Derbyshire than a wildcat, as there are wallabies, but not wildcats. Are you getting the picture? If there are wildcats in England, then that is very, very interesting news indeed, as they are just as extinct in England as the Lynx. It's a case of recognition - big !*!@# with tufty ears and bushy tail that slinks away quietly into the bushes, or little bambi with scrawny legs and hoofs that sort of trots and bounds away into the bushes in a panic. You would, I'm sure, tell the difference? PS - who on earth decided to censor !*!@#?

You really should be careful when quoting people to get the context, and the quote itself, correct; it's quite easy to go back a couple of pages and read that I wrote: "but when was the last time a Scottish Wild Cat was seen in England? You're probably more likely to see a lynx!" I wasn't talking about the UK, but England. The Scottish Wild Cat is believed, like the Lynx is, to be extinct in England - that's the bit south of the border above which the Jocks live - and sightings in England have not been reported for a very, very long time. On the other hand, we know of Lynx released in the wild in England. As the general consensus is that there are no Scottish Wild Cats beneath - or indeed near - the border, and yet even the expert quoted by Pete admits there are likely to be 'very small numbers' of big cats, including Lynx, in England, the chances are, statistically, that you are more likely to see a lynx. Never once did I imply they were common, which to me means everyday, easy to see, ordinary.

Hold the Uk Lynx Lovers convention, of course.

This is the most pressing conundrum in the whole issue, Pete; breeding, it has to be said, could only take place in very unlikely circumstances. The thing about us not seeing them, though, is somewhat contentious; it's often forgotten, with us being such a relatively small country, that there are hundreds of thousands of square miles of moorland, forest and the like that are visited by people very rarely. A Lynx, or other big cat, isn't likely to die by the side of a road - and as I've driven for 28 years now and never hit a domestic moggie a collision with one is quite unlikely - but out in the wilds, where it chooses to live, away from us. It would be great if we could 'prove' the existence of the Golf Course Lynx - would be even bigger news than Tommy the Egg man!