There seem to be a lot of places where you can buy a meal in and around Blackburn Mall these days. Some sell good quality food, but the fast food outlets are also there.
They always seem to want to shove another culture on us, mainly the American way of life we see right across the broadcast media. They advertise themselves with cardboard cut-outs and star-spangled signs. Their unfortunate staff often have to wear baseball caps with a hole at the back where pony tails can be tucked through. These staff also have to say banal things to you like: ‘You got it’, or ‘Have a nice day’. What these fast food places don’t want you to know is how bad the American way of life can be for some people’s health.
I used to work in Blackburn town centre for the local council. My colleagues and I used to be continuously blitzed with interfering lifestyle propaganda. Posters were emblazoned on walls, even in the toilets, telling us to give up smoking, give up drinking at certain times, walk to work and even go on organised walks at dinnertime.
But we never received any emails or leaflets telling us to stop eating junk food. So it was all right to put at risk the jobs of workers in the brewery and nearby pubs and clubs by giving up drinking, even in moderation. But those fast food eateries and takeaways were never discouraged.
Sadly, nobody can deny Blackburn is one of the most deprived towns in the country. And this makes it a good example of where more of these fast food places seem to be opening up. No doubt our council is grateful to these new tenants taking up valuable space in our shopping Mall and people do have the right to be treated like adults and eat what they want – unless they are children of course. Here it seems to be open season on dragging them in by any means possible, with billions of pounds and dollars of advertising budgets. You don’t have to look so far to see what good value this advertising has yielded.
But our local politicians’ Westminster colleagues on the Parliamentary Health Select Committee are calling for fast food outlets to be banned from hospitals. They are also calling on local councils to get powers to limit the proliferation of fast food outlets in certain areas. Looks like their pleas may have fallen on deaf ears in Blackburn.
For the record, my favourite place for a good wholesome meal is underneath the Mall, in the Market and it’s called The Carvery. Amongst other nice food, they make a really good beef stew and dumplings and sell tasty fruit pies.
