YOUR reaction to the Rising Sun closing.
We reported last week the pub was due to close on April 16.
WHAT a terrible shame the Rising Sun pub has closed. It’s always full.
Families, OAP and many more use the pub.
There’s nothing left socially in Redditch.
Lionel Baird
Redditch
I WON’T really be sorry to see the pub close, I’ve witnessed some horrible verbal attacks from the drunken rabble who sit outside picking on people passing the place.
I’m not saying all their customers were to blame but it is definitely not a place you would want to take kids to for a meal.
Let’s hope it will be nicer if it ever gets re-opened.
Valerie Buck
Redditch
THE other Wetherspoons is not a larger one. It is scruffy and darker inside.
The Rising Sun is better by far!
Shame on them for closing it.
Redditch town just gets worse, Like a ghost town.
Sheila Haynes
VERY very sad that The Rising Sun closed on Sunday.
We have had many happy times eating, drinking and meeting people for coffee there.
l also liked just having a coffee and having time to myself, people watching as l am a carer for two adults with special physical and mental disabilities.
I never felt ill at ease walking in alone and there was always friendly staff serving.
The Rising Sun was easy to access, near to town and for pre-theatre meals for everyone when visiting the Palace shows.
I don’t like the Royal Enfield at all, only visited twice and always dirty surroundings and not welcoming.
It is like sitting in an empty theatre or cinema (which of course it was) with no atmosphere while The Rising Sun felt welcoming and friendly.
JD Wetherspoon is shutting the wrong pub.
Diane Dunnage
I WILL miss The Rising Sun.
I met so many local people in there – whole families sometimes and people I hadn’t seen since school days.
I am concerned that the name which belonged to the old Rising Sun in Alcester Street will be lost!
Shirley Stanley
IT IS with great sadness that Redditch is to lose the Rising Sun, I read the comments from CAMRA about the loss and whole-heartedly agree with all of their comments.
Another observation I have made and I use the pub extensively, is the community feel it had about the place, especially with senior citizens and older folk who felt both welcome and safe there.
It was a nice pub, the staff were all superb, it will be greatly missed.
Dave George
ABOUT time. All Wetherspoons should close.
Selling cheap stale beer.
Treating their staff atrociously during pandemic.
There is little good to say about JD Wetherspoon.
They have killed off lovely music venues to make their Aldi and Lidl taverns.
Only those who do not like good treatment of staff and good terms and conditions for staff should enter them and damn themselves to the purgatory of bland pubs.
The best that can be said is they are modern coffee bars with beer.
Nick Smith
IT’S a shame about The Rising Sun – it was the only pub in town with wide windows and happy staff in it!
For sure £9k to £10k-a-month rent and charges are a lot.
I just wonder what they will replace it with or who will reopen it!
Mexa Wee
THE ONLINE Safety Bill is due to be discussed in the House of Lords over the coming weeks and the NSPCC will continue to campaign for this crucial piece of legislation to be passed as soon as possible to protect children from harm online.
Years of inaction by tech firms means children don’t have basic protections on their sites and while we welcome the ambition of the legislation to protect children, we don’t think the current plans go far enough.
We’ve led a coalition of charities, politicians, and the public who are calling on the UK Government to do more to keep children safer online.
So, we’re backing an amendment that would result in a statutory user advocate being put in place to provide an expert voice and representation for children in the new regulated online world.
The advocate would act as a consumer watchdog for children and be funded by a levy on tech companies, so it wouldn’t be paid for by the public purse. This would help ensure children’s voices are not drowned out by large tech companies by providing direct representation for their needs in the new regulatory regime.
There’s overwhelming public support for this. When I speak with parents and carers in the West Midlands they often ask why tech companies aren’t doing more to help protect their children. Almost 40,000 people signed an open letter to the Technology Secretary Michelle Donelan asking for a voice for young users to be incorporated in the Online Safety Bill through a user advocacy body for children.
You can also support this amendment by writing to the UK Government to tell it why you think there should be an organisation that stands up for children and champions their safety.
Visit nspcc.org.uk/onlinesafety for more information on online safety.
Rachel Wallace
NSPCC Local Campaigns Manager for the Midlands
