No beer rule at event was so small minded

MY wife and I attended Foodie Friday in August for the first time in a while, for a few drinks and some street food.

First stop the Boar’s Head for a beer, deliberately bought in plastic glasses so we could take them outside.

Imagine our surprise when we were politely but firmly prevented from taking our drinks from the pub to one of the food outlets by a steward manning a barrier.

When we asked why, he told us that the Boar’s Head had not paid to take part in the event (presumably unlike other licenced outlets within the cordon of barriers) so its drinkers were not permitted to take their drinks into the market square!

Frankly I am surprised that it is legal to impose this sort of restriction in a public space at a public event.

There were no signs on the barriers to suggest this rule was in place, nor was there any indication in the pub that we would be prevented from taking our drinks into the food outlet area.

Even if there is some bylaw that allows Foodie Friday to impose this rule, it is symptomatic of the ‘small-minded’ attitude of so many Stockport initiatives and ultimately counterproductive as we decided to cut our losses and bypass the food outlets on our way home.

There must have been upwards of a dozen stewards manning the barriers at the various entry points to the market square.

Each will have been paid for several hours stewarding at a cost of several hundred pounds, presumably paid for by the licenced premises inside the barriers.

Of course, they would likely pass their costs onto the paying public by charging more for their beers so, in the end, Joe Public foots the bill.

Come on Stockport. This sort of petty behaviour just gets peoples’ backs up! John and Hilary Stirling Davenport