I get the feeling that it's all about to change........................can feel a rant coming on.
He did get pulled a while ago whilst going thru a Red light on Stourbridge Ring Road in the early hours of the morning having just overtaken a Police vehicle, so even the plods could'nt let him get away with that one - a bit of bad luck there, they would normally be either eating or on the mobile phone and he would'nt have been spotted. Either way the distinct bisybillic tone of 'hew-it, hew-it, hew-it' awoke some of the locals in the small hours.........
QUOTE -
Judge serves Oldswinford publican with £200 fine
3:45pm Wednesday 5th January 2011
AN Oldswinford publican who overtook a police van and drove through a red traffic light has been served a £200 fine.
At Wolverhampton Crown Court, Wayne Etheridge, aged 41, landlord of The Cross Sports Bar, pleaded not guilty to driving dangerously on Stourbridge Ring Road and his plea was accepted by the prosecution.
Etheridge, of Studley Gate, Wollaston, admitted driving without due care and attention and he was further ordered to pay £135 costs.
Judge Jonathan Gosling told Etheridge it was a "risky thing to do" going through lights on red but he said it was in the early hours of the morning and no other road users were inconvenienced.
The judge, after being told Etheridge already had three points on his driving licence, endorsed his licence with a further five points which meant there was no disqualification.
Mark Rees, prosecuting, said Etheridge undertook the police van before driving through the lights on red at speed.
Mr Rees added Etheridge stopped immediately when he saw the flashing blue lights on the police vehicle and heard the siren, he then provided the officers with a negative breath test.
Jas Mann, for Etheridge, told the court his client was driving a van with the name of his pub emblazoned on the side had not realised he had been speeding.
He said Etheridge had been a publican for 20 years and he accepted immediately he had driven through the lights on red when told by the officers what they had seenUNQUOTE -
The car, dark and....................More importanty - DISTINCTIVE! (Please note that the livery has now been recently removed, proving the point that there is such a thing as bad publicity.
The owner, pale and undistinctive.
I mean, you would notice one of these, would'nt you?
"Been drinking have we Sir?"
Below -Suitably admonished, Wayne, in his typical conciliatory manner duly presented his vehicle documents for inspection.
Waynetta finally got a job at the old Picture House place - another source of a shit-load of trouble further down the road and he recently appeard in the local paper because texts were being sent from a mailing list from the CROSS unsolicited to peoples' phones with regard to future events.
QUOTE -
Pub slapped for sending unsolicited texts
12:47pm Thursday 26th May 2011
AN Oldswinford boozer has been given another rap on the knuckles - this time by advertising watchdogs who upheld a complaint about text message marketing.
The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) has warned The Cross Sports Bar it must not send out unsolicited texts to customers to promote forthcoming events after one such advertisement plugging the Barcelona v Arsenal football match on March 8 was found to have breached database rules laid down in the UK Code of Non-broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing (CAP Code).
The complainant claimed she had been sent a message advertising the game despite previously being assured her number had been removed from the pub’s marketing database.
ASA watchdogs welcomed assurances from The Cross that the number had been removed from its list but it found the message had breached rules as the pub failed to prove the complainant had given her details in the first place in order to receive promotional texts.
The ruling is the latest fly in the ointment for The Cross landlord Wayne Etheridge, who has found himself embroiled in a series of bitter disputes with Dudley Council over marquees and a sandwich van parked on his car park - and even a spat with the town’s MP after she encouraged nearby residents to report anti-social behaviour emanating from the venue.
But this time Mr Etheridge says “someone’s playing a game”.
He said: “I think it’s a complete joke and waste of time.”
The controversial pub boss said The Cross keeps the mobile numbers and favourite football teams of 6,500 customers who are regularly texted details of sports matches to be shown at the pub.
But all punters no longer interested in receiving reminders have to do is to text ‘stop’ and their number and details will be deleted.
He added: “There’s a sheet on the end of the bar - where people fill in their names and football teams, they get added and deleted on a weekly basis, but this one customer keeps replying stop and adding her name.
“It’s been deleted four or five times and and added that amount of times.
“I think someone’s playing a game, possibly somebody I’ve upset in the past. I’m not too fussed about it.
“We’ve had one complaint out of 6,500 telephone numbers over the last six years. It’s effective advertising - it works.”
UNQUOTE -
I wonder who it might be? According to Wayne it's "possibly somebody i've upset in the past" - Well that kinda fuckin' narrows it down does'nt it Wayne?
Yes, it narrows it down to anybody who lives within 500 yards of The Cross or any other pub that he has had to move on from over the last 10 years!
So - this, again, begs the question..............Where's Wayne???
An overnight 'flit' from Oldswinford with the Police over at Studley Gate at 11.30 one evening is not the normal behaviour of somebody calling it a day whilst still technically running another premises over in Wollaston namely The Britannia. What does the future hold for the local residents?
Is Wollaston ready for a Sports Bar? I mean all those big flat, bright, noisy TV screens have to go somewhere..............Not to mention all the shitty, tasteless signage which has also vanished into seemingly thin air. There has already been a meeting between local residents and the Council after the Police were called because of excessive noise from a Karaoke night.............
Wollaston - you have been warned!
.Above - The Cross devoid of tasteless signage and now looking like a 'proper' pub for the first time in years.
Below - even the old fag-butts have done a runner!
No - not those sort of fag butts!
Above - first contact, the only sign of the 'new' residents.
Indeed the only signs of life were a couple of dimly-lit rooms on the upper floors perhaps some of Waynes friends had come to 'pub-sit' for him? Possibly the 'Waliens' from another planet and a previous post (See Marquee post).
Below - Marston's temporary manager.
Posing in front of the one, remaining, flat screen.
Rumours are now reaching me with regard to a Bankruptcy order of some £40,000 for trading not in accordance with his licence agreement - depending on your viewpoint and definition of licence agreement that's all he has ever done. The Cross is just the latest in a long line of failed boozers that have milked the goodwill of its' customers and pissed off the local residents!
When will he ever learn? Again, Wollaston, you have been warned - Hurricane Etheridge is in town and the collateral damage will be severe.
ECU
Meanwhile military sources inform me of the deployment of the much-feared ECU, the Etheridge Cleansing Unit. This crack cadre have been on standown since they were last deployed to take care of the 'local problem' at The British Oak' (see previous post).
Below - ECU operatives training for 'Operation Pussy Hunt'
Although the Etheridge Cleansing Unit have been tecnichally 'stood down' for several months mainly due to Waynes inactivity with regard to headlining the local press (that is about to change, big time methinks). He has also been moving between 'safe' houses and rumoured to use the extensive cave systems located in the Kinver area indeed it is thought that a rare geological feature linking Kinver with the Tora Bora mountains in Northern Afghanistan may actually exist which would be unique for a Limestone and Sandstone feature.
TRAIN TO FIGHT -
That is the raison d'etre of the ECU - They exist solely to dismantle the fabric of the nefarious Etheridge empire and although they are the 'tip of the spear' so to speak, they also work closely with the Local Authority, Police, County Court, Customs and Excise, Tax Inspectors, Marstons Brewery, the Express and Star, Stourbridge News and the Stourbridge Chronicle and anybody else with an axe to grind! Oh and somebody called Margot James............
THIS TIME ITS 'PERSONAL' -
Above - 'Roberto'.
One ECU operative, known only as 'Roberto', a short, stocky man of muscular build and undeniably intimidating, brutish appearance spoke in low, measured tones.
"I have personal reasons, that is why i am one of the few volunteers in this unit. There is bad blood an unfinished business and when we find him i will snap him like a dried twig!"
As if to illustrate the point he swiftly pulled a piece of copper piping from his overalls and bent it in half until it.........snapped".
I made my way to the briefing tent, somewhere deep in the woodland several kilometres from Kinver Edge. Here the ECU have been carrying out final exercises before 'Operation Pussy Hunt'. Here i was privy to some recent footage of Winter training carried out in the remote tribal areas of central Ragheadistan which included testing of new ordnance and simulated attacks on mountain and cave terrain in order to prepare them for 'Search and Destroy' operations in the tough bandit country of South Staffordshire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gor3nbzHMcI
Test of new weapons system.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDBKU74VjtQ
'Softening up' strikes on Kinver Edge.
'Arkan', the units' unofficial spokesman says since the campaign at the 'British Oak' we have been on 'Ethcon4' that has now been raised to 'Ethcon2' and we fully expect to go to 'Ethcon1' should we be called to 'The Brittania'.
Watch this space for further updates!
IF YOU LIKED THIS THEN YOU MIGHT LIKE THIS
http://stourbridgerantboy.blogspot.com/2010/08/cross-swordscross-words.html
AND THIS
http://stourbridgerantboy.blogspot.com/2010/08/waynes-world_11.html
OR THIS
http://stourbridgerantboy.blogspot.com/2010/07/at-home-with-etheridges.html
AND POSSIBLY THIS
http://stourbridgerantboy.blogspot.com/2010/07/cross-sports-bar.html
Winston says - 'Best of luck at The Brit'.
Remember -
'You 'aint seen me......right'!
