[Closed] Are some people too 'anti' for their own good?

Morning Mr P. 🙂 I know exactly the place you're talking about, twas a regular haunt of my daughter.

I object to more and more eating establishments opening in town centres, it's not necessary and just creates more litter. Frankly, it would be far nicer to put some greenery along that road to improve the appearance!

Opjecting to Mcdonalds is just snobbery IMHO. At least someone is stepping up to save a building, provide jobs.

Also the coffee half decent, the eggs are free range and I love mcflurrys!

CG - Yeah, maybe it would, maybe not. But it's too late now isn't it? Nobody gaev a RAT'S ASS until Maccy Ds bought it.
That's prime land there, with what? The back end of a car park on one side and a dual carrigeway on the other. i.e. - No place for a park.

I object to more and more eating establishments opening in town centres,

Agree about the litter. They need to put how to use a bin instructions on all their packaging.
Only stupid bastards eat at McDonald's as someone nearly said.

Don't McDonalds employ litter pickers in some areas?

I assume this is the Tumbledown Mac? Agree, it's been sat there empty for way too long, it's in an ideal 'drive thru' location and if it brings/keeps custom for that part of town there could be knock on benefit elsewhere. On the downside it's yet another piece of globalisation adding to the homogeneity of every town centre but I'd rather that than dereliction.

Agree about the litter

As it happens our local Neighbourhood Watch meetings involve/include the McDonalds drive-through at the other end of town, and having talked to the manager about this, I know that they employ litter pickers and if you TALK TO THEM they will step up the litter patrols in places they might not have thought of and get it sorted.
I used to work for KFC in Newark many years ago, we had a litter picker even then

Don't McDonalds employ litter pickers in some areas?

Yep. In the nicer parts of That London, they're very active in clearing up. Not too sure what they do elsewhere, though. Never seen any McD's litter around their Salisbury branch come to think of it...

As above, better to see someone in the building and the jobs/revenue etc than an empty shell.

Sounds like typical knee-jerk NIMBY snobbery to me. It does seem to be a particularly middle England trait to just object to everything.

But with the present government's attitude to planning laws, I wouldn't fancy their chances of stopping it.

In the grand scheme of things, there are a lot worse things the site could be utlised for than a Maccy D's

Yep. In the nicer parts of That London

As above, they do in Farnborough.

Going slightly off topic ,my friends wife is a superb cook and can make anything taste like a feast.
Ask her kids what they would like to eat and they will say McD. How has such disgusting food become so prized? ( I must admit I've never had one at this point but I've not eaten dog poo and I can assume they taste similar)

Purist - Agreed. It'll fall down if it's left much longer. I've been told the roof and ceilings already are. They were bad 10 years ago or more to my knowledge.

from what i understand from more people who were working there when it shut down its asbestos city in there.

gigged there loadsa times, was a regular there for a few years, got loadsa memories... but in the end, its been bought and it sitting there crumbling away isn't doing anyone any good.

all the people protesting and trying to pester people to sign petitions and stuff now should've kicked up a fuss when it was originall closed down and purchased by a different company who were planning on turning it into a 2for1 meal place but then realised it wasn't financially viable to restore the building to meet modern health and safety stuff so they quickly moved on.

I know the pub as well, although I never went there.

Before, nobody who worked there cared. The manager didn't care. The brewery didn't care. The customers didn't care.

Exactly...It's not a pub, it hasn't been a pub for years. It's a dissused building.

People are going on as if they're trying to close down a busy and thriving pub, which is the heart and soul of the town.

At least McD are prepared to put their money where they mouth is and invest some money in Farnborough. McD isn't necessarily what's is needed, but it certainly preferable to a boarded up building

Seems there was a petition to oppose its closure some time back...

http://www.gethampshire.co.uk/news/s/2088441_future_looks_bleak_for_popular_music_pub

"The pub’s regulars launched an online petition, which received 1,312 signatures, to re-open the pub."

Perhaps the people now objecting didn't realise that MaccyD was going to open there? Isn't it a false dichotomy, having only either deriliction or an unwelcome megacorporate on the site? I don't know the place but a Weatherspoons might have been another option, or low-cost housing?...

There is a new(ish) weatherspoons already, 2 minutes down the road. There is plenty of new housing in the area.

Given the figures below, McD's and other junk food shops need to be reducing in number, not increasing. I don't think this is snobbery, it's a pretty serious public health issue:

In 2010, just over a quarter of adults (26 per cent of both men and women aged 16 or over) in England were classified as obese (BMI 30kg/m2 or over). For the same period, around three in ten boys and girls (aged 2 to 15) were classed as either overweight or obese (31 per cent and 29 per cent respectively).

[url= http://www.ic.nhs.uk/pubs/opad12 ]Source: NHS[/url]

but a Weatherspoons might have been another option

One opened last year about 300 yards away round the corner.

or low-cost housing?...

Fair point but, again, town centre, between a multi storey car park and a dual carrigeway? I think that would be less 'low cost' and more 'ghetto'! 😉

I don't think this is snobbery, it's a pretty serious public health issue:

Here is a fantastic opportunity for community enterprise and that's far more important than lining the coffers of some tax-dodging crap food outlet.

An idea - can this building be used for teaching skills, ie bricklaying, plastering, carpentry etc etc? Bring it back to life! Could the college further down the road not get involved (not sure what they teach there)?

People matter, be they the young unemployed or the elderly. Everyone has a part to play in Society, they just need an opportunity.

One of my favourite pubs in Southampton was turned into a McDonalds about 15 years ago. In some ways I was very sad as I have good memories of nights in there sitting in front of the fire but on the other hand, even in a massive area for students, right by 3 halls of residence, it was never busy so clearly had problems.

farnbro tech do do a lot of vocational courses... thats a good idea! whether they'd be able to go in from a H&S point of view is a tricky one i imagine.

i dunno, thing is if it wasn't maccyD's then chances are tesco would've thrown in a tesco express...

Be interesting to find out what exactly the objections are about..

Is it McDonnalds to company and it's policies?
Or
Is it the food produced by McDonnalds?
Or
Is it the people that use McDonnalds?

What ever you think about McD's they do provide employment are socially aware of thier surroundings and are abundantly aware of the image they have.
But..
They have saved some mighty impressive buildings in the center of towns and cities that would have turned into a Costa or Starbucks.

atlaz, I assume you mean this one?
[img] [/img]

As you mention, even in a bustling student area it was never busy.

*is concerned that STW'ers may have unknowingly met my daughter* 😯

Edit: excellent post by brooess, he gets it!

An idea - can this building be used for teaching skills, ie bricklaying, plastering, carpentry etc etc? Bring it back to life! Could the college further down the road not get involved (not sure what they teach there

College is Farnborough College of Technology. Have you not seen their big car workshop on the left just before the BMW garage?
Agreed, that's probably a good idea, but as above, it wasn't even viable as a business, and they have had 4-5 years to try it....

is concerned that STW'ers may have unknowingly met my daughter

When did she go in there? If it was between about 1995 and about a year before it closed, I most probably have. I might have even served her! 🙂

i dunno, thing is if it wasn't maccyD's then chances are tesco would've thrown in a tesco express...

To be fair, that's probably the ideal use for that building.

Only stupid bastards eat at McDonald's as someone nearly said

I must admit I've never had one at this point but I've not eaten dog poo and I can assume they taste similar

Can you? How, exactly?

How has such disgusting food become so prized? ( I must admit I've never had one at this point but I've not eaten dog poo and I can assume they taste similar)

I've never met you, but you sound like a few twunts I have seen pictures of before.

Are we following the same 'logic' here?

would need a photo of your daughter in her tumbly days CG to tell....

I don't think this is snobbery, it's a pretty serious public health issue:

Oh do be brief, you liberal, hand-wringing fool.

PARENTING. Parents educating their kids. That is an issue - not a bloody food shop. Amazingly, people who eat in good ol'Fish and Chip shops every day get fat too. All things in moderation.

Instead of Maccy D's, Maybe a workers co-operative, artisan deli, selling organic, free-range, locally sourced, mungbeans, and fair trade coffee?

Could it not be converted into a re-homing centre for bitey dogs or somewhere to carry out Speed Awareness courses?

Binners - LOL! Nail on head there mate! 🙂

On a slightly different note, we stopped for a toilet break during a long trip on Sunday. Decided to have a Burger King for the first time in a long time.

One Chicken Royale and one Whopper. *NOT* meals, just the two burgers.

£9.50!!!!

Seriously?

I feel like I have had a burger 'ing up my backsie!

How has such disgusting food become so prized?

It's actually reasonable, and I'd far rather eat certain items from their menu than some of the inedible dreck (chewy chips, overcooked fish, gristly steak, unidentifiable pies etc) that I've had in quite a few pubs.

This is about pub vs McDonalds, right? Since when have pubs been all about the health food? People just order pie and chips when they go in there anyway, makes no difference. And they probably have a couple of pints of that well known miracle cure, beer.

To answer the OP - YES, people are much too anti. McDonalds isn't fine dining, but it's far from the worst place to get food if you are out and about. But people seem to be desperate to identify themselves with some cause or other, and this seems to be joining whatever lynch mob is currently in fashion. Save our local businesses.. yeah right, you're about 50 years too late in the case of Farnborough.

Oh do be brief, you liberal, hand-wringing fool.

I would prefer it if you were brief to the point of absence you right wing knuckle dragging numbnuts - I think we have helped the discussion no end by hurling insults about with gay abandon what what 🙄

Is it McDonnalds to company and it's policies?

Is it the food produced by McDonnalds?

Or
Is it the people that use McDonnalds?

I would need to go into one to knwo who ate there

What ever you think about [s]McD's [/s] pimps drug delaers and people trafiickers they do provide employment [ of course Mc D's cannot be compared to this but providing employment is not enough to justify is my point]

More McDonalds is hardly a reason to get the bunting out is it? I'll admit to going there on occasion and have worked there in the distant past, so don't see how I can be accused of snobbery or 'hand-wringing', whatever that means.

Fact is this country would be a better, healthier place if less McDonalds food was eaten. Their massive marketing push of unhealthy food to kids is totally immoral. Yes ultimately it's the parents responsibility but that doesn't mean it's ok.

artisan deli

You know whenever you hear the word 'artisan' in front of anything, these days, it's going to cost you four times the price you'd normally pay.

But people seem to be desperate to identify themselves with some cause or other, and this seems to be joining whatever lynch mob is currently in fashion.

Some people are desperate to prove their 'salt of the earth' credentials by slagging off anyone who doesn't fully buy into the marketing BS of the crap food chains they eat at. 😉

The liberal/handwringing angle is an interesting response to some pretty shocking stats which impact us all:

Obesity is a massive burden on the economic output of the UK:
More illness = higher load on NHS = higher taxes
More illness = lower productivity = lower GDP = lower wealth
Higher aggregate weight of the population means everything has to be bigger and stronger to carry the same number of people = more oil needed, = less room on public transport, = roads need to be made stronger...
Harder to recruit soldiers, police, firemen who are fit enough to do the job...

I don't think the government have fully explained the breadth of impact of obesity to us yet...

Near me, about a decade ago, some old buildings were sold, pulled down and new flats/cafe built in their place.

Folk objected as this obstructed a view of the sea (the new buildings being by the promenade at the end of a dog-legged street). The old buildings were near-derelict and housed a grim amusement arcade that could appear in a Smiths video.

Now there's some s****y flats and a busy cafe, which together with the revitalised pub next-door has breathed some life into the prom which was ptherwise devoid of pleasant eateries.

More McDonalds is hardly a reason to get the bunting out is it?

Fact is this country would be a better, healthier place if less McDonalds food was eaten

Same can be said of any 'bad for you' food.
The fact is that if they build this McDs I'll be able to walk to 2 McDs from my house. I've just had a quick metal count up and within that same radius I'm loosing count at about 10-12 (I've edited that twice during typing becasue I keep thinking of more) curry houses alone, never mind pizza, kebab, chinese, chippy etc
When was the last time someone protested about a curry house opening?

I think within the range of a good thrower with a cricket ball from the pub in question are 2 curry houses, one chippy, one kebab and possibly a chinese.

I thought McD's was a bit/lot better than many fast food places these days? Seem to remember reading a fair bit about them following the McLibel stuff a few years ago. Their environmental and social policies seemed quite positive compared to most and the franchise nature of the business meant that many of their outlets exceeded these policies standards...

...or I may have been hoodwinked by their huge PR buddget!

PS -How is F'boro's Wimpy still going? Retrochic?

I don't think the government have fully explained the breadth of obesity to us yet...

I am not sure we can blame McD's for this but it also seems clear education alone is not the answer- everyone knows what stuff is bad from you but we seem reluctant to go down the prescriptive route [ via taxation] we have with cigs and alcohol and we seem to be liberal and leave it up to folk. Will it last? I really dont know

If all you can buy when you want to eat is unhealthy stuff then that is what will be bought

However I doubt a salad bar or couscouserie would fair well - well not oop north

If people REALLY cared they'd have done something before now. Now it's just bandwagon jumping.

What exactly did you want them to do, put in a preservation order banning Mc Donalds from opening there?

PS -How is F'boro's Wimpy still going? Retrochic

Moved to bigger premises opposite Iceland a few years ago, going well I think!

If all you can buy when you want to eat is unhealthy stuff

Which, in the UK, is never. There's ALWAYS an alternative.

Same can be said of any 'bad for you' food.
The fact is that if they build this McDs I'll be able to walk to 2 McDs from my house. I've just had a quick metal count up and within that same radius I'm loosing count at about 10-12 (I've edited that twice during typing becasue I keep thinking of more) curry houses alone, never mind pizza, kebab, chinese, chippy etc
When was the last time someone protested about a curry house opening?

Last time I went in a curry house they served proper food full of real vegetables, (that probably also had a fair bit of fat in it). McDonalds has almost zero nutritional value.

Not sure I've ever seen a curry house that aggressively markets rubbish food and sugary drinks to kids either.

If all you can buy when you want to eat is unhealthy stuff then that is what will be bought

I don't know the location well , but I'd hazard a guess that other food outlets are available in the vicinity. Who knows... if you looked really really hard, you might find one that sold fruit. Though I doubt it'd be organic

Fact is this country would be a better, healthier place if less McDonalds food was eaten. Their massive marketing push of unhealthy food to kids is totally immoral

Do me a favour. McDonalds is hradly the only place to get unhealthy food, is it? Everywhere from top restaurants to the nastiest chippy sells it. That should tell you something. That we like unhealthy food, and as long as we like it people will sell it to us.

As for marketing to kids - surely that's an 90s thing? Almost all the ads I can remember seeing for McDs are aimed at adults.

I'm not a particular lover of McDs, but it's just a fast food restaurant selling much the same as any other cheap pub or restaurant. It's just not that big of a deal.

And you can eat reasonably in McDs, by the way. You can have some crispy chicken in a tortilla with salsa/sauce/whatever and a water or a coffee. You don't have to have fries and coke. You could also go into Pret a Manger or whatever and have something slathered in mayo, on white bread, with crisps and a coke.

There's no point in demonising the company (any more)

Not sure I've ever seen a curry house that aggressively markets rubbish food and sugary drinks to kids either.

Show me (honest question, as like I say I see far more adult adverts for McDs than I do kids ones)

Who knows... if you looked really really hard, you might find one that sold fruit. Though I doubt it'd be organic

Yeah, there's an Asda within walking distances. They even sell organic and free range foodstuffs for bleeding-heart-envirogeeks like me!

I would prefer it if you were brief to the point of absence you right wing knuckle dragging numbnuts

Keep your assumptions to yourself and I'll throw proper insults when I need to - not some frippery of a throwaway comment aimed at a reactionary and rather foolish statement with no foundation.

The Golden Arches are NOT the cause of obesity in the UK. Poor education and parenting are the main cause of this.

McDonalds has almost zero nutritional value

Factually wrong.

[url= http://www.livestrong.com/thedailyplate/nutrition-calories/food/generic/chicken-korma/ ]This site 🙂 [/url] says there are almost 500 calories in a Chicken Korma. A bit more than Big Mac.

I'd still like to know what the basis for most people's objections were. It's all well and good us debating the rights and wrongs of junk food and the obesity epidemic but I find it hard to believe that was the collective objection to this pub being turned into a Maccy D's.

There's ALWAYS an alternative

Yes a quick look down any high street will see what the ratio is of healthy to eat at places and takeaways with unhealthy stuff

Its not even a contentious point. I am a vegan want to walk down ahigh street with me whilst we look for a helathy meal?
There may be an alternative if you have time to look but you will pass lots of other options on your quest to eat healthy

The Golden Arches are NOT the cause of obesity in the UK. Poor [b]parenting[/b] are the main cause of this.

Absolutely. It's too easy to blame someone/something else.

druidh - don't you now have to go to the sin bin in Hell for 10 minutes for that link? 😈

There may be an alternative if you have time to look but you will pass lots of other options on your quest to eat healthy

So, a good walk and a healthy meal. Win win situation surely.

I find it hard to believe that was the collective objection to this pub being turned into a Maccy D's.

Its snobbery! Pure and simple! McDonalds = frightful Chav's shoveling burgers into their feral, fatherless offspring, in the snotty, middle-class, aspirational minds of some people. Though as is being exhibited on this thread, this is based purely on assumptions, probably formed some time around 1992, rather than any actual evidence

Blaming McDonalds for an Obesity epidemic is like blaming WH Smiths for people smoking

[quote=TooTall ]druidh - don't you now have to go to the sin bin in Hell for 10 minutes for that link? 🙂 I knew it would go down well here

Keep your assumptions to yourself

and I'll throw proper insults when I need to

Given your psychological make up that will be quite often you need to then

- not some frippery of a throwaway comment aimed at a reactionary and rather foolish statement with no foundation

No the big words you used to explain why you were rude and insulting have left me confused now 🙄 so i shall stick to
they dont like it up them 🙄

[quote=Junkyard ] I am a vegan want to walk down ahigh street with me whilst we look for a helathy meal?
Market forces dictate that outlets don't necessarily want to cater for around 0.3% of the population. That's simple economics.

junkyard. I do rather enjoy your amateur psychological analysis and the virtual therapy you provide.
I hope that, some day, I can see the world with the clarity you embody and achieve enlightenment to reside in the sunlit uplands you obviously inhabit.

the processed food industry is BIG, has lots of power/influence-- same as Meat industry, supermarkets , etc--- they control pretty much the whole process, nice juicy profits to be made, the junk food stuff is addictive, its also not good for the consumer-- you only have to look across the pond to see where uk is heading.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20390416

Seems apt to post this here.

Do me a favour. McDonalds is hradly the only place to get unhealthy food, is it? Everywhere from top restaurants to the nastiest chippy sells it. That should tell you something. That we like unhealthy food, and as long as we like it people will sell it to us.

No but it's one of the most prevalent, high profile places to get unhealthy food, so unsurprisingly it get's highlighted more than your local chippy. Also, fancy restaurant food normally contains lots of decent ingredients as well as fat etc, and is seen as a treat you might have occasionally.

As for marketing to kids - surely that's an 90s thing? Almost all the ads I can remember seeing for McDs are aimed at adults.

Then there's getting teen icon Justin Timberlake to front a massive advertising campaign, sponsoring lots of youth events etc, the very concept of 'Happy Meals', etc etc

This site says there are almost 500 calories in a Chicken Korma. A bit more than Big Mac.

A chicken korma (probably the least healthy thing from a curry house so well done for picking that) would be eaten as a meal, perhaps with rice. For most people a Big Mac is a snack.

A fiver for a big mac? I could eat at least 4 of those.
McD's is very poor value as well as shit. I avoid them at all costs.
Happily, we have St Nicks market in Brizzle which has some very nice food places indeed.

The Golden Arches are NOT the cause of obesity in the UK.

Its snobbery! Pure and simple! McDonalds = frightful Chav's feeding burgers to their feral, fatherless offspring, in the snotty middle-class aspirational minds of some people. Though as is being exhibited on this thread, this is based purely on assumptions, probably formed some time around 1992, rather than any actual evidence

Blaming McDonalds for an Obesity epidemic is like blaming WH Smiths for people smoking

Hmmm, the snobbery seems to me to be all the people in favour, who've decided there is a correlation of McDonald's = food for 'lower class' people (again, trying to prove 'salt of the earth' credentials?)

Not my experience of the clientele from working there btw.

the food is shite, but then so is carling black label, plenty drink that-- advertising does work, along with distribution and control thereof...

you right Grum-- the poor can't afford to go them places, £20 for a snack WTF- thats for two adults and two kids-- £20 can feed you well for two days at least eating proper food, that involves preparing and cooking-- adding the love 😉

If you look at the clientele of most MacDs, you'll probably note that many of them are much smaller than most of us, jeans hanging off the arse teenagers actually.

That means very little really.

FCOL it's nothing to do with class!!! There is an obesity epidemic in this country that will cost the NHS and country dearly. It's high time that local councils, or whoever decides on these matters, look at the big picture and forget their inevitable backhanders.

Binners is right it's just snobbery. And once it gets built they'll still go there 😆

Chips and a smarties mcflurry = treat yum!!

The country lanes around my house are strewn with litter from a McDonalds drive thru opened about a year ago.Theres also a KFC and rip off coffeee place as well on the same complex.
I contacted Macs about the rubbish and their head office said it wasn't their responsibility ,it was the franchisees problem.
The franchisee asked how to solve the problem.Close the drive thru,eat in only.That won't happen.
I'm not fussed about people getting fat,obese,and dying early as thats their choice.Same as smoking.
What irks me is the mentallity of drive thru customers who fling their rubbish out of the car window.If i saw rubbish from my business littering the road i would be deeply ashamed.
In the good old days eating in a cafe meant a ceramic plate and metal knife and fork instead of eating off polystyrene with plastic utensils meant for a child..Progress ?

I am a vegan want to walk down ahigh street with me whilst we look for a helathy meal?

Piece of piss for me me and MrsPP mate, who's veggie. Not my fault you limit yourself so much. That's your problem. 🙂

I reckon the vast majority of people objecting to McD's opening up in their neighbourhood are only really concenred with their fear of the value of their houses dropping, rather than any other ethical or health agenda. Because a McD's will inevitable lead to vast hordes of 'undesirables' flooding into the area.

Perhaps one possible solution to the social divide and ridiculous unaffordable mortgages is to move McDs from poorer areas into more affluent ones. This will bring the proletariat into more contact with Decent People and could lead to greater social interaction between people from different economic and cultural backgrounds.

What do those opposed to McDs/tescos etc feel about the rise of Evans Cycles in our hight streets, or Chainreaction etc? Or that the cycling industry unavoidably involves the exploitation of peoples in far away lands so that we can enjoy nice bikes?