Rock and Fountain
I have been reading a story in the Shrewsbury Chronicle about the Rock and fountain pub in Shrewsbury which the police want the Licensing committee to review the premises license.
I think that the pub should stay open and I will be sending a letter of support to the council. My reason for this is a simple one, with a lot of pubs closing down in Shrewsbury and with the Rock and fountain being successful and employing staff so the last thing we want is to raise the unemployment in our Town and as someone at work said, closing the pub is not going to remove the trouble makers, just force them into another pub so nothing will really be solved.
you have got no idea about what goes on in that pub. Under age drinking being the tip of the iceberg so to speak. As for employing staff, most of them are not on the books but are paid on ‘the side’. I agree that the trouble makers will only move to another pub but this one should be closed, now! It’s been allowed to carry on with many illeagle activities for far too long and as I council member I am amazed you seem to be full support of it. I take it you’ve never been inside the dump then!!
Thank you for posting a comment on my post. I have visited the Rock and Fountain pub in the past and I am well aware of the reputation of the venue both as a council member and as a postman who’s place of work is directly opposite.
I will admit that although the Rock and Fountain is not my first choice of drinking establishment, it is a popular one and not all of its regulars are underage, drug dealing, criminal troublemakers. These are just the small group that gets the headlines.
Yes, there are problems with the situation at Rock and Fountain and these do desperately need to be addressed by the police, local council and licensing bodies and there are reviews happening but they are not the first public house to have problems and certainly will not be the last.
I remember witnessing drunken fights overflowing onto the street every night of the week from where I work in Royal Mail which in the past couple of years have stopped.
I am unaware of any irregularities with staffing or any other illegal activities other than the drug related activities uncovered by the police a few months ago. If you have any knowledge of such things then I would urge you to contact the police, I am sure they would be eager to learn more.
I certainly have many concerns about the Rock and Fountain but I just don’t think its fair to label the pub rotten for the sake of a group of trouble makers. Closing one pub will not remove trouble makers from shrewsbury’s public houses, just move them along. What we really need to be doing is focussing on the trouble makers themselves not the venue because following the close the venue logic, eventually there will be no public houses left in the town.