Are you sick of going into pubs and being disturbed by mobile phones ringing and pinging and people dragging everyone else into their conversations? Well Blackburn’s Drummer’s Arms may have come up with a peaceful alternative.
Renovation work is currently taking place in this popular town centre micropub to fix its roof and ceiling. While work is being carried out, suggestions have been put forward to extend the wire mesh not only from its ceiling, but throughout the rest of its downstairs bar. The idea behind this is to create what is known as a Faraday Cage. It is named after British chemist and physicist, Michael Faraday, who contributed to the study of electrochemistry and electromagnetism. He is familiar to most people, appearing on £20 notes.
A Faraday Cage or Faraday Mesh, as it is also known, is a way of blocking electromagnetic forces to the area it covers. This would mean Wi-Fi reception could be impeded or even blocked off altogether. How this would go down with customers in the pub remains to be seen. The Drummer’s Arms is already a magnet for real ale drinkers.
No doubt there will be mixed views on having no Wi-Fi available in this pub. Some people just want to go in a pub, sit down and go on their phones, which is their prerogative after all. But other customers are bound to have different views on mobile phone usage in pubs, i.e. they can’t stand them.
One of the strange things going in pubs these days is seeing whole tables of people playing on their mobile phones and the only time you hear them speak is when they talk into their phones. This can be very annoying to a lot of people. Blocking Wi-Fi might not be the answer to this problem, but it may help create an atmosphere leading to people talking to each other. After all, is this not what going in pubs is all about?
If a Faraday Cage is installed in the Drummer’s Arms, there will always be the option for H or Lark to switch it on or off. In instances of it being switched off, customers may be able to log in to the Wi-Fi emanating from the Rock Box next door. Another aspect of the Faraday cage is it cannot block using a compass. So any ramblers who come in the pub, who have lost their way, will have a ‘lode’ off their mind – able to find their bearings in the Drummer’s Arms.
