Disley Car Park Petition

Email to "The Management Team", 10th January 2013

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Dear Management Team,

Thank you for your detailed reply, I have read through this and noted the points you make. While I can see some basis of validity, I have to say that the points are generally vastly exaggerated and in some cases quite fatuous. Please can you address the following, and specifically respond to the queries at the foot of this email?:

You refer to “Most establishments owning a car park”, but the salient point here is that very few establishments I have ever come across own a car park of such disproportionate size. This goes to the crux of the problem – I can fully understand your desire to have sufficient parking for your staff and customers, but there is no need at all for you to maintain an empty car park of 70 or so spaces, when parking is in such demand in the area. I would suggest that, were you to limit access to only the “top” section of the car park, which I believe has capacity for around 35 cars, this would be entirely sufficient for any needs you have during weekdays. However you look at it, the wasted space of the near-constantly empty lower half of the car park can only be detrimental to the local community.

You talk of the car park becoming full, but I have talked to several local people who come to the pub during week days, and all say they have never had difficulty parking. I appreciate that you may occasionally have functions which require there to be a greater number of spaces available, but I am not prepared to believe that the number of spaces required for such exceeds 35 in anything but the most occasional of circumstances. The fact is, pretty much every other pub of your size in the country gets by just fine with a car park of that sort of size or smaller – what is so different about the Ram’s Head? I have to say that, by the time you start talking about workmen refusing to meet appointments due to lack of space in your car park, things are getting a bit far-fetched. There are several pubs in Disley with no car park whatsoever – are we to believe they are unable to get any tradesmen in to do jobs?

I find your talk of rail users “proving themselves to be very selfish” rather insulting and ignorant. These are people who are making arduous commutes every day in order to earn money for their families, and are already heavily charged to do so. With current economic realities, paying for parking is simply not an option for many, but you seem to view rail users as some kind of group of super-rich misers. The contempt with which you describe them is particularly ill-placed given that it is a lot of these same commuting wage-earners who make up the customer-base of your establishment, which I’m sure you would agree is targeted towards the more affluent end of the local demographic. You may want to drive middle-class professionals out of the area, but I would suggest that without such people the Ram’s Head would struggle to do much business.

You also come across as being very disparaging about commuters from neighbouring towns and villages who come to Disley station, but you should be bear in mind two things here: Firstly, I can assure you that it is not the free parking which draws people to Disley – such facilities are also available at other stations such as Whaley bridge and New Mills Newtown. In some cases people drive to Disley because of the excessive rail fares from Furness Vale and beyond, or in the case of those from Hayfield, because there is no rail line there at all. But were those the only factors, New Mills Newtown would address both, and is closer. The reality is that many commuters have no option but to travel from Disley in order to fit in with other family arrangements, such as dropping children off for the school buses or, in many cases, using the Blue Grass Purple Cow nursery at the top of Buxton Old Road. This nursery is an incredible success story, contributing massively to Disley’s community, but your actions are undermining its customers massively. Secondly, as with rail commuters in general, your tone suggests you would rather people from outside of Disley would keep away altogether. Once again you should consider the fact that due to the lack of similar quality pubs further down the Goyt Valley (The Old Hall is about the only one that springs to mind. They will certainly be benefitting from my custom going forwards… and their beer is 50p cheaper!), it is these same people, from Whaley Bridge, Hayfield, Chapel etc, who make up a large part of your customer base. I’m sure you are aware that there are plenty of other pubs in Disley who cater very well for residents of the village itself.

I was very interested to read that “the Railway has been approached in the past by The Rams Head but has expressed no interest in an increase to its own facilities”. This is certainly something I would like to take up with them directly. Please can you provide details of who has been contacted and when, and an overview (the more detailed the better, obviously) of what was discussed?

In addition, please could you let me know the capacity of your establishment, both in terms of number of seats / covers and any licence restrictions? As I’ve made clear, I’m struggling to understand why a pub of your size would need 70 parking spaces.

I look forward to your reply,

Regards

Aidan