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Opposition to golf clubhouse Sunday opening        23/7/10

 

 

 

Stornoway Golf Club has received four objections to its latest bid to serve alcohol on Sundays.

 

In May, the Western Isles Licensing Board rejected - by 4-3 votes  its attempt to open its bar during Sundays.

 

Secretary Ken Galloway highlighted the club faced a financial battle to survive and Sunday trade offered a vital “business opportunity to keep the club afloat.”

 

In a second attempt, the club has lodged an identical application which goes in front of the same licensing board on Wednesday.

 

It has also received the same number of official objections though this time the Lord's Day Observance Society (LDOS) has added its opposition to the bid.

 

The golf club is applying to serve drinks in the club as well as off-sales from lunchtime until Sunday night.

 

The club is anxious to separate the operating the club house for meals and TV sports events on Sundays from the controversial issue of playing the course on the same day.

 

It is applying for permission to sell alcohol between noon and 11pm in its bar. Carryout sales would be from 12.30pm to 10pm.

 

Rev Donald Macdonald for the LDOS is concerned it would result in drunks disturbing strollers in the surrounding scenic Castle Grounds and create more crime and disorder.

 

He suggests that showing televised sports in licensed premises  exposes "children to violent behaviour and abusive behaviour" with an knock-on risk of domestic abuse and reduced family quality time.

 

He stressed: "The increased temptation for parents to spend their time in the golf club will cause untold harm to their children."

 

The Free Church Continuing warns that Stornoway suffers from alcohol fuelled violence and criminal behaviour.

 

They say that shut pubs on Sundays gives families with an alcoholic parent some sober relief on one day a week.

 

The church fears people could buy a carryout to drink it, outwith the control of the club, in the surrounding tree-secluded vicinity, possibly leading to anti-social conduct.

 

Murdo Murray who was an independent Christian candidate in the general election, argues it presents temptation to people enjoying a walk in the Castle Grounds on a Sunday afternoon and that there is more than sufficient licensed premises opened on Sundays in Stornoway.