Pub chain JD Wetherspoon said it will open its first motorway pub after being given the green light at services on the M40.
The group said the bar and restaurant will open at Extra in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, after a successful submission to the local council.
It said its licence grants permission to serve alcohol between 8am and 1am seven days a week.
Road safety charity Brake said as the company was “putting temptation in front of drivers”, it should make its drink-drive warnings “extra clear”.
The news comes during a government consultation on the lifting of alcohol sales restrictions at service areas.
An increasing number now sell alcohol through retail partners such as Marks & Spencer, and two weeks ago Harvester restaurants opened its first motorway restaurant serving alcohol at a service station on the M1 at Donington Park in Leicestershire.
Before lodging its application, the group met with Thames Valley Police and South Bucks District Council to outline its plans. JD Wetherspoon said the application had received no objections.
It is anticipated the £2 million development with service area operator Extra will create 50 jobs.
Wetherspoons founder and chairman Tim Martin said: “The company has always been innovative and this is an exciting new development for us.
“Hopefully it will be the first of many Wetherspoon’s on the motorway.”
A spokeswoman for Brake said: “The opening of a pub on the motorway could be of real concern unless safeguards are put in place with strong messages to warn about the dangers of drink-driving.
“As it is putting temptation there in front of drivers, it is doubly important the messages are extra clear. Our advice to drivers is if you are driving; don’t drink any amount of alcohol.”
The charity says every month in Great Britain 23 people are killed and 108 people are seriously hurt by drivers over the drink-drive limit.
Chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance, Sir Ian Gilmore said: “To reduce alcohol-related harm, we have to reduce its availability, not increase it.
“Opening a bar at a service station sends out completely the wrong message if we are trying to prevent harm from alcohol-related traffic accidents.”
The pub which still has no name is expected to be open by Christmas.
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