I say ‘initially’ amused as I have been astonished at the volume and tone of comment and debate generated by the item. Regrettably a lot has been ill-informed with people making good use of their pre-formed prejudices to come to their conclusions. So without further ado I will add my ill-informed prejudices to them.

I’m not sure the interview I saw with a member of the Lymington Society arguing that the character of the town would be ruined was possibly the best choice of argument against the pub. In a town with a number of national high street shops, restaurants and coffee shops already in residence, you might say that horse has already bolted to some degree. But here’s the thing, when the 99p shop opened in the old Woolies site they heeded concerns and changed their signage to suit the location. This shows a commendable sensitivity bearing in mind that whatever the shop fronts at ground level are like, a lot of the building frontage is still Georgian. That’s where the character is, so a pub may or may not effect that. But well done 99p stores, credit where it’s due.

I can’t say I had too many issues with Argos opening, which was similarly rejected, but there were a number of residents who did. Personally the M&S which opened instead is more useful more often as far as I am concerned, since you can order items online from the M&S website and pick them up from the Lymington M&S without incurring delivery charges. Not many people know that. Interestingly enough, the shop whose owner was a leading objector has now closed.

So anyways, back to J D Wetherspoon. Or not. My main concerns are based on the projected location which is next door to the Parish church and right across the road from an old people’s home. Now let’s imagine for one moment that the fact they sell cheaper alcohol than many pubs won’t create an atmosphere where the good burgers of Lymington and its environs drink a tad more than they should. I said imagine, I didn’t say it was likely to be the reality. With the best will in the world, the volume level tends to go up when drink is consumed as social mores become less adhesive. If you are old and your room is on the street side and you can hear well without electronic aid your quality of life may well dip. Or at least your quality of rest. Now I’m not an advocate for churches having any special status per se, but the church is in a churchyard. The churchyard has paths through it linking easily to a number of different residential locations. I’m sure that didn’t occur to the J D Wetherspoon bods. But that means it will effect a large area of Lymington, not just the main shopping street. That may or may not be a bad thing, I’m not sure, but it does go to show that the situation is more complex than simple nimbyism.

However it will definitely effect the existing pubs in the town. From memory there are probably six within a quarter mile radius of the proposed site. You could therefore argue that perhaps Lymington doesn’t need another one. You could equally argue that perhaps J D Wetherspoon should buy one of the existing pubs. There are alternative sites, there is an old Social Club site which has been vacant since purchase by developers, however it is close to two other pubs.

Considering the prices charged for beer in Lymington pubs, I wouldn’t personally object to being able to buy some for less. What I don’t like the idea of is what may come with it. And yes it is only a ‘may’ but if whether a town is snooty is decided on whether it looks at the TV reports of anti-social drink-fuelled behave and says ‘you know on balance we’d rather not risk it’, then maybe Lymington is snooty. Maybe however, it realises that it’s character is the only thing that keeps visitors coming back and commercially keeps the town afloat, and has decided that resisting efforts to shoot itself in the foot may well be the best policy. J D Wetherspoon being turned down may be nothing more than a ricochet in all this, but who’s to say? It doesn’t take many reports of rowdyism to ruin a reputation and snooty or otherwise, reputation is important to a place people come to for a quieter holiday.

So what do you do aprés shopping? Well drink tea of course. Off up to the top floor of John Lewis where they have a food court with big windows looking out over the docks. Talk about good timing, just as we arrived the Queen Victoria slipped moorings and headed out on her maiden voyage. Being as how they had organised a quayside ceremony for a very large number of dignitaries earlier, Cunard obviously couldn’t let this auspicious occasion go without a rather noticeable firework display. At times it was hard to see quite where the fireworks were coming from, but so far as we could figure out there were quayside and shipborne both going off at the same time. Probably increased the ships carbon footprint what with all the smoke and all, but do ships have a footprint? Ignoring obvious jokes about the plimsoll line, the concept of a carbon hull print is a little harder to comprehend. It was pretty jolly good though. The celebration flapjack I had wasn’t bad either. OK, I admit, it wasn’t due to celebration, it was down a lack of self-control bought on by the euphoria of finding I had dropped a jeans size. Apparently swimming really is good for you, once the ear infection goes.

Whilst I was shopping I came across a great example of possible cause and effect. In JJB Sports they lock the changing rooms so you can’t use them without the assistance of an assistant. Well I call them assistants but to be honest it’s more of a title than a description. So anyway, you go to find an assistant and there follows a discussion amongst them as to who is going to unlock the changing rooms, and who then is going to cover the front door whilst the one who was covering the front door goes to unlock the changing rooms. I stood with my best do-you-not-realise-I’m-still-standing-here expression, but it didn’t speed things up any. Now I had assumed that the covering of the front door was keeping an eye open to stop their stock walking out, even with the massive plastic dongle designed to prevent that which is attached to all items. On reflection, and considering their general disability to be of any help in making a purchase at all, maybe it’s to stop potential customers getting in. Saves having to unlock the changing rooms after all.