AFTER A report came out in February 2010 suggesting that Blackpool was one of the worst places in Britain for childhood obesity, Cllr Sue Ridyard of Layton ward asked;
“Blackpool Council is doing all they can to prevent underage drinking, but legislatively what are they doing about unhealthy food and preventing obesity?”
She went on to say;
“Our research revealed Blackpool has the highest amount of fast food shops per school – ranking it the second highest in the country behind Brighton.
“The council has done nothing to regulate this. I want them to do the same as Waltham Forest in Walthamstow, London, which included a planning policy which bans fast food shops from opening within 400m of schools.”
In an attempt to control Blackpool’s obesity explosion, Blackpool Council have taken decisive action – they have approved plans for a further two multinational fast food restaurant chains in direct proximity to schools.
Opposite Devonshire School signs have just gone up for a new drive-thru KFC despite there being two other KFC restaurants less than a mile away. To further exacerbate the perceived health issues in Blackpool, the council have approved permission in principle for another Pizza Hut on Whitegate Drive just a short walk from Park School, where students are already clubbing together for a couple of trips per week to the £6.59 all you can eat pizza buffet.
I’m more of a KFC man myself and I’d be a bit gutted if I were at Park School and all I’d got was a Pizza Hut, but it seems if anything, the council are more than happy for fast food chains to set up in proximity to schools.
Is this a U-turn in policy or does the council reject the kind of statements that Cllr Ridyard has made?
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Another sign that this council is not listening to the people who elected them there was a large(ish) petition to stop Pizza Hut opening by local residents this was ignored.
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ah the sweet smell of freshly baked brown envelope beckons…………..lol
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If no one wants the restaurant, no one locally will be using it?
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The “Colonel” and healthy food are as synonymous as the council RM “Major” and hero.
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I must say on this subject though I remember there being a Gasjet headline a few months ago stating that there was rightly going to be a clampdown on unhealthy eating outlets. Partly from a health point of view but also to help shed Blackpool’s image as the ‘fish n chips’ capital. A label I loathe. I want to see some healthier but also more upmarket eateries in Blackpool. A friend of mine works at the Odeon on Rigby Rd and that McDonalds next door is about the worst branch I have ever seen. The staff are lazy and unmotivated, the managers are even worse and the state of the restaurant in general is appalling. But my mate also said it would be nice to have a healthier outlet like Subway there instead.
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Where on earth do you get the idea that Subway is a healthier outlet than Mcdonalds?
My sister is in the sandwich business and she told me years ago that Subway sandwiches were really bad for you due to very high amounts of sodium (salt) in them. I just lifted this from the web:
We all know that Subway (fast food restaurant) is one of the healthier alternatives to McDonalds or KFC. Well, if you just order lettuce, cucumber, onion and tomato on your sub with a lean meat, how harmful can it be.. correct? So how can eating a subway can be unhealthy? What am I missing here? Read on..
In a research study it was observed that customers at Subway, consistently underestimated the number of calories in each meal. Second, customers at Subway are more likely to choose higher-calorie side dishes.
I agree that, most of the subs that you could order at Subway are healthy as long as you use whole wheat bread and stay away from cheese and mayo. There are some bad choices in subs as well, for example “Footlong Sweet Onion Chicken Teriyaki” will give you 110 grams of carbs and 770 calories.
But what about the side orders and drinks? One of the biggest choices one can make when buying a meal is the DRINK you gulp along with your sub. Why? Well a 16 oz apple juice or Snapple from subway has about 320 calories (160 per 8 oz. serving). You get roughly 300 or so calories for a 20 oz coke. Not to mention these calories are from SUGAR. Did you know that there is 65 grams of Sugar in 20 oz Coke? I mentioned this because when you drink high sugar content, the pancreas go in overdrive mode and they get stressed out. Note that there are free refills on Soda, and if you go for that free refill, it is a doubly whammy on your health.
Also the chips, cookie, that go with the meal can add appox 200-400 calories of high glycemic carbs and or fats to the total caloric total. Especially if you are dining at a subway you get 300 calories from Soda, and the 200 from the whole grain chips equals 500 calories that go against your goals of trimming up, not to mention the insulin response from all the added carbohydrates.
Now coming back to my original point of how eating at Subway could be harmful. If you would repeat the daily routine of Soda/Juice and Chips / cookies along with your sub frequently, your pancreas are bound to get tired of going in overdrive to produce insulin. That could results in a condition called, pre-diabetes.. which if not corrected.. would result in Diabetes. Diabetes and associated heart disease are the leading causes of death in USA and worldwide.
I hope this is an eye opener and you quit making unhealthy choices at seemingly healthy places such as Subway. Why I picked on Subway? Well, most people know that fried products of McDonalds and KFC have high calories and are unhealthy. Subway offers a choice that combines healthy as well as unhealthy food.. and you could get caught off guarded. Some people may just give themselves credit assuming they have eaten a healthy food, while in reality they would have loaded up carbs and sugar.
I understand, changing eating habits toward a more healthy life style can be difficult but if you follow the simple rules of drinking water, or occasionally diet soda, and avoiding chips (no matter what kind) and mayo and cheese than you can pretty much win the battle when eating out.
Details on Jared Fogle: You would have also heard the story of “Jared Fogle”, the young man who lost 245 lbs. by eating nothing but Subway sandwiches for almost a year. He had a 6-inch “Subway turkey” for lunch and a “foot-long Veggie Delite” for dinner. He sometimes drank “DIET Soda” and rarely ate Chips. Jared also included lots of walking as part of the diet program that he invented, which allowed him to lose 245 lbs. in about a year.
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Excellent points Jonbamboro, but I more want to see the back of that crappy McDonalds on Rigby Rd because it is an appallingly managed branch and I have made official complaints about it on 3 occasions and I would rather see it closed down and a better restaurant in its place, its more of a personal vendetta.
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What Blackpool is crying out for is YO! Sushi, correction thats what Blackpool should be crying out for. Blackpool is happy with a Pizza Hut and a new Starbucks and why arn’t people investing in Blackpool?
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Well said interested, I love Yo Sushi!, I ask myself that same question everyday. Those are just the sort of restaurants I want to see in Blackpool. What annoys me is that we still don’t have a Caffe Nero. I have written to them and so has Paul Maynard and we both got the same reply ‘There are no suitable locations’. It gets on my nerves, I am sick to death of Blackpool being full of greasy spoons, bookies and chip shops.
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I don’t go into Blackpool but I do know there are a couple of coffee chain shops in Blackpool Caffe Nero knows if Blackpool could support them or not the fact that they are not here suggest that they feel Blackpool can’t. Perhaps if Blackpool had a good council……
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What annoys me is that Caffe Nero now have several branches in virtually every major town/city in England but not Blackpool. Preston has 2, Southport has 2, Lancaster has one, Wigan has one, Bolton has 2 and Manchester has god knows how many but not a single one in Blackpool. I think Blackpool could support them. When I wrote to them they claimed they are struggling to find a suitable site but were very very keen to quash rumours the Gasjet had started they were ‘too posh’ for Blackpool. But I am getting extremely annoyed with their boycott of Blackpool. They have now expanded into airports and train stations but NOT Blackpool.
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If Yo! Sushi thought they had a market in Blackpool they would be here!
Personally, I would prefer a good KFC.
Having said that, I still think the Winter gardens has the potential to be a very special place and could quite easily house a range of dining experiences new to Blackpool such as Cafe Rouge, Nando’s etc….. as well as some exciting new bars. The Winter Gardens requires a management team that are prepared to think out of the box – we all know that it isn’t Leisure Parcs!!!!
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I do like KFC, it is probably my favourite major fast food chain although I love a good curry. I agree Jonbamboro, I think the Winter Gardens would be absolutely perfect for something like that, like Blackpool’s own Printworks. After the plans I have seen so far for the Tower I am expecting good things from Merlin, I just wish they could work their magic on the WG.
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You have to eat at Yo Sushi on regular bases to appreciate how good they are and once you do you realise how shit KFC is compare to Yo Sushi.
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The food at Yo Sushi is fantastic, the only trouble is I have to wait until I am on a day visit to Manchester, Trafford or Liverpool to savour their delights.
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I worked five years in London ate there evey lunch i can honestly say I could have gone every day and not have had the same meal. Can you say the same about KFC?
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I’m a bit of a saddo – The main thing I like about KFC is that is more or less the same wherever you go!.
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Totally agree! Can’t beat the colonel’s finest!
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Not really no, as much as I love fast food I would get totally fed up of KFC after a while not to mention put the weight back on I am trying to lose. If only Blackpool offered more choice with restaurants. I went to London for a few days about 3 years ago and it was bliss, no greasy spoons, bookies and chippies for miles but trendy coffee bars on every corner and classy restaurants. I am not saying Blackpool should turn into London, it would be a dream but that’s not going to happen, but we should at least aspire.
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Thats not true they do have greasy spoons, bookies and chippies but not just greasy spoons.
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I had a curry in the curry capital of the North this weekend and it wasn’t fit for the trough.
I overheard a conversation – as it wasn’t very quiet – about a restaurant, as the bus passed. There was this lovely lady waxing lyrical about the place, BUT she had never visited!!!
Why do people accept others critique without hesitation? The number of ENGLISH who tell me they won’t eat stuff because it is foreign is appalling. The best Mac D’s I have found have been in Budapest and in Australia where expectations are not as low as they are here. If people want to spend about £30 on a cooked chicken let them go KFC, it is their right and I used to enjoy one myself. But I preferred the Portuguese deli with its’ chicken piri-piri, truly fresh bread and salad.
Fish and Chips can be a meal in a million but too many establishments have untrained staff – family members and the old lass on a couple of quid in her hand – because the average person accepts sh*t if it costs nothing, eats garbage because it has been advertised on the telly or drowns it all in over sugar saturated fizzy drinks because “the kids love it”.
We live on an island where most of the excellent fish is exported abroad, the wonderful cheeses are ignored because “they taste funny”, our bread is mass produced steam packages of gluton and salt, the weight of our prime beef, mutton and porkers are burnt on funeral pyres because of the criminal activities of Government departments empowered to legislate and supervise themselves. All the time the PEOPLE would rather eat apples from Chile or New Zealand, Mange Tout from war torn central Africa because they think they are helping the natives, tomatoes from Spain where in fact they are just buying neat little packets of water from a country soon to be desperate for the stuff…
So really, who gives a shit if Blackpool gets another 50 KFCs’? Not those who care for their family’s lifestyle. Bon appetite
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That’s capitalism for you.
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If you had your socialist way then KFC would be state owned and we would have no competition in business.
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No I wouldn’t but neither would I let companies neglect their social responsibilities. Hy but lets make mass generalization what people think because that’s proves peoples arguments.
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I didn’t mean that comment seriously, but you were being very generalistic about me on other posts.
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Bollocks. That’s ignorance.
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I am fortunate that there are hundreds of eateries in my neighbourhood from Burger Chains to high class restaurants. I love the Texas Roadhouse where a huge huge steak costs less than a Mc Donalds or KFC meal back home, also Pappadeaux with fresh fish/crab/Lobster as well as red meat, these meals cost not much more than the ‘meal deals’ in the fast food joints at home and the meals them selves are so big that almost everyone who leaves a restaurant after eating takes a carry out of the food they had on their plate. Not everyone that frequents these eateries are fat/obese, in all honesty I’ve seen more porkers going in and out of the greasy cafes and fast food chains back at home than I have here. Is it not down to educating oneself and teaching the young the possibilites of over eating on certain foods, just a thought!
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Of course it is, but the Gasjet and Council prefer top-down control because the people in the town are incapable of making the right choices for themselves!
If education doesn’t work, don’t spoil it for the rest of us. Just let people get fat and let their hearts explode by the time they’re 40.
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The gasjet says: http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/blackpoolnews/Finger-Lickin-Jobs-Boost.6513320.jp
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Good innit, the Gasjet spin that seems oh so positive compared with the hysteria they were whipping up about fast food restaurants in proximity to schools!
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