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Say No to Wetherspoons in St Martins Walk

639 Comments

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Louise Black
8 years ago

Please help preserve this family friendly and unique part of our town. We don’t need such a large pub when there are already so many.

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Anonymous
8 years ago

There are already so many eateries in Dorking, the council should limit the number or they won't all survive. This huge Wetherspoons will drive out 5 other businesses in a town which is already suffering massive shop closures because of unaffordable rates. Why were new units recently built in St Martins Walk when there are already so many empty units in Dorking? MVDC should be encouraging and offering incentives to shops and businesses that are in keeping with Dorking instead of a massive pub that will swallow up the character of the town. Burgandy and Black is a meeting place for so many people, it has far more social value than a characterless chain offering cheap booze all day long. And all this before we even go on to the unsociable behaviour the cheap booze will encourage.

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Damian Howe
8 years ago

The police and services spent many years dealing with anti social behaviour due to low alcohol prices in pubs in Dorking. The opening of a Wetherspoons will not only affect independent businesses like the ones mentioned in this petition but will cause the demise of some long standing pubs that cannot compete with the pricing. Also the remaining businesses within St Martins Walk will see the negative impact associated with cheap alcohol. Vomit on the pathways and damage to the properties in the vicinity aswell as the increased police presence that will be required when the local police are already at stretching point. Although i believe the town needs investment i feel the opening of this establishment will be a retrograde step.

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Lindsey Thorn
8 years ago

Would be awful to replace the pretty little shops with a cut price pub.

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Mike King
8 years ago

Corporate bullying at its worst. I haven’t found anyone locally who thinks this is a good idea or what Dorking needs or that it’s appropriate to the area or helpful for the small businesses in the area.....but do Wetherspoons care? Let’s hope the Council planning authorities do.

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Jon Hooper
8 years ago

Not good pushing small businesses out. It’s a really nice part of the town which has a lot of character.

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Catherine Haynes
8 years ago

No .the white horse is struggling as other traditional pub so in Dorking .Witherspoon is out of character with historic Dorking

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Sara Vernon
8 years ago

This is a wholly inappropriate site for such a huge weatherspoons pub. Dorking has enough pubs, please don't cheapen beautiful Dorking with such a down market chain such as weatherspoon.

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Stephen Batchelor
8 years ago

This proposal will have a negative effect on the town.

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Robert Billinghurst
8 years ago

Dreadful idea born out of the desire to make a quick buck. This will not bring anything to the town other than more anti social behaviour and will actively reduce the amount of viable retail in the town. Take a look a Leatherhead high St on A Saturday morning to view the affects a Wetherspoons pub has. This is not Dorking.... Dorking is a special town, one of very few remaining. Don’t ruin it with a bloody Wethspoons in a prime area!

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Christine Sachett
8 years ago

Dorking doesn’t need any more pubs

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Ron White
8 years ago

A Wetherspoons pub is unsuitable for a country town like Dorking, especially in the relaxed and peaceful St Martins Walk. Cote Brasserie there does not have a licence to serve outside in the evening but a Wetherspoons pub would result in people drinking and making noise outside, and would inevitably attract business away from other Dorking pubs. It's not fair to make other small businesses move away to accommodate something antisocial and not in the best interests of the town.

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Jake
8 years ago

Dorking is a nice easy town with nice homely pubs where you welcomed. Don't destory a nice town.

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Jyothi Joy
8 years ago

No more big chains, only local businesses.

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Theresa stoneman
8 years ago

The worst pub chain ever!

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Anthony Sidery
8 years ago

Don't move five existing shops for this venture. There are other empty units. The Surrey Yeoman. The Factory Shop. Half of West Street is empty.

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Roy Tanner
8 years ago

Not what Dorking needs but money talks so what chance have the residents of Dorking got.

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Anonymous
8 years ago

Definitely not the right location. Beatitudes and Burgundy and Black are two of the very few loca businesses that seem to have stood the test of time. Both family friendly. They would be missed much more than a spoons would be appreciated down there. Why not locate a more reasonable alternative premises?

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Matt Miller
8 years ago

When existing pubs in Dorking are already closing, it seems unreasonable to cite this business in this location. As I have seen first hand in other areas where I have lived, the cheap alcohol and long opening hours which serve as Wetherspoons’ operating model do little of nothing to revitalise an area, instead simply increasing antisocial behaviour, public drunkenness, graffiti and vandalism. This is precisely what we moved to Dorking to avoid

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Paul Smart
8 years ago

Dorking doesn't need another pub particularly on this scale. Retail space is far more important. This planning application should not be approved.