Day: June 21, 2023

Fury as restaurant dangling over Waterloo memorial belts out ABBA hit on loop

A RESTAURANT is belting out ABBA hit Waterloo on loop — as it dangles over the 1815 battle site memorial.

The Dinner in the Sky attraction, which offers guests a £250-a-head airborne dining experience, has been branded tasteless.

, EXCL - pics here: https://brusselssignal.eu/2023/06/waterloo-memorial-made-into-e600-joyride/, , , OLD soldiers have blasted the “tasteless” launch of an airborne tourist restaurant over the Waterloo memorial - which belts out the ABBA hit inspired by the famous battle., , , The famous Lion’s Mound monument marking the site where 60,000 soldiers died is now overlooked by a restaurant dangling from a crane which plays the pop hit on a loop., , , War veterans say the move aimed at boosting tourism demeans the historic site where thousands of Brits died defeating French tyrant Napoleon in June, 1815., , , Outraged retired British Major General Ashley Truluck raged on Twitter: “Belgian commercial interests turning the Waterloo battlefield into Disneyland., , , “Crane-operated restaurant is raised to deafening strains of Abba’s ‘Waterloo’ Awful”, , , , Another Twitter user raged: “This is very disrespectful to the men who fought and died at Waterloo., , , , "War memorials should be a place of silent reflection and reverence not a venue for a gimmick noisy restaurant.”, , The flying restaurant is run by a company called “Dinner in the Sky” which charges £250-a-head for the unique experience., , , Based out of Belgium, the company describes its origins as being “a surrealist story of the kind Belgium loves so much”
The Dinner in the Sky attraction hangs from a crane over the Waterloo memorial
Supplied
Picture taken in 1974 in Stockholm shows the Swedish pop group Abba with its members (L-R) Benny Andersson, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Agnetha Faltskog and Bjorn Ulvaeus posing after winning the Swedish branch of the Eurovision Song Contest with their song "Waterloo". - Sweden's legendary disco group ABBA announced on April 27, 2018 that they have reunited to record two new songs, 35 years after their last single. The quartet split up in 1982 after dominating the disco scene for more than a decade with hits like "Waterloo", "Dancing Queen", "Mamma Mia" and "Super Trouper". (Photo by Olle LINDEBORG / TT News Agency / AFP) / Sweden OUT (Photo credit should read OLLE LINDEBORG/AFP via Getty Images)
But the restaurant has been blasted for playing ABBA’s Eurovision-winning song on a loop
AFP via Getty

It hangs from a crane over the Lion’s Mound site, where 10,800 soldiers died in the battle.

Retired British Major General Ashley Truluck, 75, raged online: “Belgian commercial interests turning the Waterloo battlefield into Disneyland.”

And Dennis Abbott, a British Waterloo battlefield guide and Royal Legion member, told The Sun: “I think it’s rather tasteless.

“Visitor numbers at the memorial have still not returned to pre-Covid levels and I think that’s behind this.”

Waterloo, the site of the decisive British and Prussian victory over Napoleon, is now overseen by a French company on behalf of four Belgian parishes.

It allowed Dinner in the Sky, which has run 5,000 similar events worldwide, to set up there until June 29.

But the sound of ABBA’s 1974 Eurovision winner as the restaurant is lifted up has visitors to the site wincing.

Marcus Cribb said: “After ABBA, there was some very loud dance music . . . shouldn’t happen on most battlefields.”

Dinner in the Sky declined to comment.

June 21, 2023
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