public Hearing - Cafe Nero

[DiD]

Is anyone going to this?

http://www.southwarknews.co.uk/00,news,8529,5632,00.htm

[figgins]

"The inquiry is at 10am on Tuesday 29 January 2008"

Well, that's convenient. Should ensure that ninety per cent of the people who would like to go, don't.

[lozzyloz]

This was discussed on R4 today.

Cafe Nero are not alone in setting up shop before applying for a change of use from retail. Starbucks and others are equally guilty since the industry seems to have adopted this strategy as standard practice. It would appear that planning committees are powerless to stop the invasion of high street Coffee "Shops" which always win on appeal anyway. Part of the problem is lack of clarity regarding the regs which the government have so far not responded to. Cafe Nero et al see themselves as retail shops not restaurants and therefore feel justified to take over a bookshop and replace it with coffee and muffins. I guess if it's organic and fair trade, then why not!

*edited for spelling*

[Goose]

I know this has been discussed ad nauseam, but be careful what you wish for.

IF they were to close Nero, what would replace it? Might be derelict for a year - Are we better off?

Nero has been popular and would leave a gap in the market for easily available coffee on Lordship Lane (I know there are a few others but...). So within a year or two, another chain like Starbucks muscles its way in. Have we gained? I think not.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

Tesco do it a lot too.

[Louisa]

Dulwich already has a Starbucks, Nero is at least a British owned chain. It's overpriced and not my cup of tea (pardon the inexcusable), but having said that it has a nice shop front and puts life into the lane. So go forth and muliply my chain friend. :)

Louisa.

[Michael Palaeologus]

Starbucks on LL? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

[Keef]

What Louisa said.

[KalamityKel]

It obviously can't be all bad otherwise no one would go there...

[*Bob*]

figgins Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> "The inquiry is at 10am on Tuesday 29 January

> 2008"

> Well, that's convenient. Should ensure that

> ninety per cent of the people who would like to

> go, don't.

Someone has (correctly) come to the conclusion that, irritated as some people may be by Nero, they're probably not irritated enough to sacrifice half a day's holiday to fight the cause.

[mockney piers]

"It obviously can't be all bad otherwise no one would go there..."

This has to be false, else why did so many people keep buying Everything I Do for so long?!

Of course that said I've no particular gripe against Nero. I don't go to it in Dulwich, but I'm partial to their coffee at work.

[KalamityKel]

MP I wasn't saying it was good or bad. I don't really have an opinion about the business so I'm now butting out :))

[Keef]

Oh come on Mockney, surely worth it for the whammy bar use in the guitar solo alone!

[SeanMacGabhann]

only on expert level ;-)

[Brendan]

From modern consumerism to guitar trivia to game geek in 3 easy steps.

[SeanMacGabhann]

Brendan I love you - you may just have provided my epitaph!

Any way - quick chance to get this back on topic before lounging

Nero can stay but I draws the line at Starbucks

[jumpinjackflash]

Totally agree with Sean. Starbucks coffee is undrinkable pee water. Bring in Coffee Republic or a Costa, at least you can taste their coffee.

[Ladygooner]

Costa coffe is the worst - I want a Prets! Preferably down by the station under those expensive flats

[PeckhamRose]

KalamityKel Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It obviously can't be all bad otherwise no one

> would go there...

No-one would buy Chat or Heat or the Sun or eat McDonalds or KFC if that were the case.

We get/eat/buy/ what we deserve.

I hate all these chain coffee shops.

Don't all the other independent cafes and bars up Lordship lane do coffee? Exactly, so why do we need those chains?

God I'm feeling bitter. Need a cuppa off my Argos coffee machine. That's ?2.50 to you. And no fancy plastic wrapped biscuit, mind!

[Michael Palaeologus]

Clearly none of these things is "bad" if they were people would stop buying the coffee, the paper, the burger, the lads-mag, the single in question.

They just dont appeal to you, whoever "you" happens to be.

That doesnt mean that they should be denied existance.

The tendency to condemn the mundane, the mass produced and the common and demand that only the organic, the hand reared, the local, the environmentally benign should be concidered verges on the obsessive and hectoring.

Folks of the lentil-weaving persuasion might wish to allow the rest of us to quietly enjoy our mass produced, internationally branded coffee in peace.

[SeanMacGabhann]

you say "hectoring" like it's a bad thing MP?

Are there not things that need opposition?

This will get moved to the lounge if it goes down a chain good/bad route again so I'm not contributing either way as yet

[Cassius]

I've just read that one of these white chocolate hot drinks with full fat milk has over 600 calories - surely that's enough to put anyone off drinking these drinks.

[Michael Palaeologus]

"Hectoring" as in people who say that because they dont like Nero's coffee - it should be shut and so denied to the rest of us or that Starbucks shouldnt be allowed open because of ... why? Its an global brand - so is Greenpeace, it exploits developing world farmers - they sell Fairtrade coffee, it replaces local independent shops - not if they provide the same level of service, we dont like their coffee - so go to the independents.

Nero's is busy, its family friendly, people like it.

Some of the criticism starts to verge on the "holier than thou" variety - all brands bad, all indies good. it annoys me because these views seldom get challenged and when they are the challengers are condemned as reactionary, anti-envirnmentalists.

I studied the green-house effect and the fundamental threats to the ennvironment 25 years ago - awareness of the issues has been around for that long amongst the academic and professional communities. Over the past 10 years more people have come on board, which is great; but there is a thread of the wider public discussion which becomes hysterical and anti-everything, a view that wont be satisfied until we are all living in mud-huts, never venturing further than village boundaries and eating nothing but pulses and grains.

I for one will put a marker down - i have been an environmentalist for 25 years, I recycle, I limit what driving I do, I do my bit BUT I shop in supermarkets, I drink Starbucks coffee, I support fox hunting. Go ahead and tar and feather me.

[pk]

i agree with michael

(on most of it)

not all shops appeal to everybody, and those shops that don't appeal to enough people do not survive - coffee shops and betting shops included

[KalamityKel]

So is anyone here going to be attending then?